Can you have enough?

President Obama recently gave a talk.  And he said the one thing that his right wing antagonists just cannot abide, “it’s possible to have enough money”.  Now, I’m not exactly sure how much is “enough money”.  And I don’t think that anyone should set a maximum amount for anyone else.  But I do agree, he has a point.  And if you can leave your politics aside for a moment, there is a ring of truth in what he says. 

Just to be clear, I think it has been reported that he and the first lady made $5.5 million last year.  Even after they paid upwards of $1.7 million in taxes, that seems like enough to me.  But once again, it’s not for me to decide how much is enough for them.

What’s more interesting to me is how these kinds of comments are manipulated into propaganda.  I once used the quote “that propaganda is to a democracy what a bludgeon is to a dictatorship”.  And if I took the hysteria from the right seriously, I would feel battered and bruised.

Obviously, Obama is a Democrat and Democrats are supposedly the party of the people.  Which leaves the Republicans searching vainly to “increase the size of their tent”.  (Their metaphor for bringing more diversity into the fold.)  Heck they went as far as putting a black man in the position of chairman of the Republican National Committee.  But based on his performance, I would bet that he is a plant put there by the Democrats.  Except that would take some planning and coordination.  I digress.

Here’s a few facts to help resist the bludgeoning coming from the right wing echo chambers:  “The income gap is growing faster in the United States than in any other developed nation. For the last three decades the U.S. worker pay and inflation remained approximately equal, while corporate profits rose 93% and CEO pay rose 571%. Meanwhile, the portion of federal revenue derived from corporate income tax has decreased from 33% in the 1950s to 11.9% in 2005, reaching a low of 7.4% in 2003.

The average American family:  makes $43,000 per year, has $3800 in the bank, 40% have no emergency funds, has a house worth $160,000 but owes $95,000 on it, 50% have no retirement savings, the other 50% have $35,000, can’t manage to pay off a credit card balance of $2200.

And the Republicans are complaining about the President saying that there is a point when people have earned enough money.  Wow!  It seems to be that both parties are completely out of touch with the sad situation that the average family contends with every day.

In a nut shell, we have a president lecturing on earning too much.  We have his antagonists screaming foul.  We have the average American family struggling to make it.  Could any of them be more out of touch with the concerns of the American people? 

By the way, so that my Democrat friends don’t think I’m being too biased by pointing out the Obama’s income;  Sarah Palin brought in $12 million since she quit her governorship.  Glen Beck made about $24 million and Rush comes in at about $28 million last year.  And Rush is worried about the fact that 47% of Americans didn’t pay any income tax last year.  Given their circumstances, how could they?

Well, the propaganda will continue.  The political think tanks will throw all kinds of controversial issues into the public discourse so we can continue to fight with each other.  We’ll react like we always do, that is, take sides.  And the real issues will continue to fester unresolved.

In the meantime, Wall Street will continue to ruin our financial futures.  K Street will continue to lobby our politicians into doing their bidding.  Main Street will continue to close stores and businesses.  And the average American family will continue to struggle.

Robert DeFilippis