Biden Talks Income Inequality at $2,800-a-Head Manhattan Fundraiser
Joe Biden is really upset.
The former vice president can barely contain his anger and frustration.
And he wants you to be upset too. You see, the Democratic presidential front-runner is on a mission to do something about this so-called problem of income inequality.
This issue really means something to Biden and he wants — nay, he needs — your support to help stop it.
Income inequality is the terrible social ill that that some people have more income than other people. It’s similar to Joe-Groping inequality — where some people get groped by Biden more than others — except with income.
Much of the hullabaloo over income inequality is based around the notion of fairness.
The leftists rant and howl that the rich did not earn their incomes and therefore it is unfair that they have it. Remember that leftists love to judge fairness by equal outcomes rather than equal opportunity.
And if Biden can get you thinking about fairness, he might get you on his side. But first, you need to pay the $2,800 it will take to get in the door, according to Washington Examiner.
That was the price to attend a recent Biden fundraiser in Manhattan.
Oh, you didn’t get an invite? Me neither. I wonder if this is an example of invite inequality.
All joking aside, the myth of income inequality is a more insidious fallacy because it appeals to a real weakness of the human heart: jealousy and discontentedness.
It causes us to stop trying hard and to look over our neighbors’ fences and see what they have and then blame fate, or family, or luck or whatever else, that the grass may be greener over there.
Americans don’t generally disagree with the premise that people who produce more should get more. But according to the International Journal of Business and Social Research, Americans are more likely to resent it when a person inherits money rather than gains it from his or her own entrepreneurial production.
While the fact that my neighbor may have inherited his trust fund does mean he didn’t earn it, that fact doesn’t mean that some of it somehow belongs to me. But the human heart is full of darkness. The leftists have leveraged that sinful covetousness into a platform to gain votes.
On top of that, the economic data show that inherited wealth plays a small role in how Americans become wealthy. In fact, fewer than three out of 10 American billionaires inherited their wealth, and “the share of self-made billionaires has been expanding most rapidly in the United States” according to a Peterson Institute for International Economics study.
If you look at the rich who aren’t billionaires, the number made so by inheritance is even smaller. The Bank of Montreal Financial Group found that “two-thirds of high-net-worth Americans could be considered self-made, compared to a mere 3 percent who inherited the majority of their wealth.”
The myth that the rich mostly inherited their wealth is not the only myth circulating about income inequality. A Cato Institute report took a deep dive into several myths surrounding income inequality. I encourage you to check it out.
This fantasy of income inequality helps perpetuate the narrative that those on the political right are greedy and lack compassion.
However, despite so much data to show the opposite is true, leftists such as Biden continue to use the income inequality myth to drive a wedge between people and garner political favor with their base.
Poverty is real, and Christian people should respond as the Bible says — be sacrificially generous.
But the income inequality myth doesn’t ask the rich to give to the poor. Rather, it empowers the less fortunate to resent others, to turn discontented, or to grow bitter.
Wealth is not the problem. And it isn’t necessarily the solution.
Regardless of our lot in life, we should be diligent, be generous and be content.
And you don’t have to pay $2,800 to hear that.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.