Obama Econ Adviser Admits Trump's Economy Is Working, Even for Poorest Americans
“The rich get richer, while the poor get poorer.” That’s the claim spread by many liberals, at least … but even one of Barack Obama’s former economic advisers just admitted that it’s a load of bunk.
Conservatives have frequently taken the stance that a rising tide lifts all boats. In simple terms, the upper, middle, and lower economic classes in America are able to advance together, and just because somebody is doing well doesn’t mean they robbed success from someone else to get there.
Now, there’s evidence that under Donald Trump’s presidency, so-called “poor” Americans — actually very well-off by global standards — are getting ahead at a faster rate than the wealthy.
Jason Furman chaired the Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama era. During an interview with CNBC on Friday, the former Obama adviser revealed that wages are rising the fastest for the poor, not the rich.
“One hypothesis is a lot of slack in the economy, I don’t see that,” Furman began when asked by the CNBC host what factors are impacting economic growth.
“Another hypothesis is a lot of inequality in the economy,” the expert continued.
Then he dropped the bombshell: “You are actually seeing faster wage growth at the bottom than at the top, so I don’t see (widespread inequality) either.”
That statement drives a nail in the coffin of the liberal view that it is the lower classes who are left behind in a strong, conservative-leaning economy.
If there was any doubt that President Trump deserves strong credit for the current boom, the former Obama adviser cleared everything up.
“I don’t think it’s hugely surprising that you do a nearly $250 billion fiscal stimulus tax cut spending increase and you get some extra growth out of it,” he said, referring to the Republican-backed tax cuts that led to numerous bonuses and new hiring.
That’s the same tax cut that Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi mocked as “crumbs,” indicating just how out of touch she is with American small business owners and working families.
Even outside of the United States, the facts show that the rich and the poor can both move forward at the same time. Wealth is not a zero sum game; it is able to expand as technology and capitalism solves new problems.
“When measured as a percentage of the world’s population living on less than $2 a day, the numbers of people in extreme poverty is now less than 10% for the first time in history,” reported Forbes Magazine a few years back, based on data from The World Bank.
“This is the best story in the world today — these projections show us that we are the first generation in human history that can end extreme poverty,’’ said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim.
That is happening even as the world population continues to grow, and as free-market capitalism — not socialism — has been the recent trend in historically poor places like India and many countries in Southeast Asia.
“Not only is the proportion of people in poverty at a record low, but, in spite of adding 2 billion to the planet’s population, the overall number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen, too,” as the Foundation for Economic Education pointed out.
Keep that in mind the next time wild-eyed socialists like Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez try to insist that the only way forward is to attack the successful.
When it comes to the economy, there isn’t just a single, unchanging pie. It turns out that we can make the pie bigger, and there is plenty of room for all people to advance if we use free market, conservative principles to get there.
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