Obama takes risky stance against the rich

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Financial Times:

With the US economy suffering through its deepest slump since the Great Depression, the Obama administration has designed a political strategy to match, with echoes of the campaign rhetoric deployed by Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s.

Throwing out the standard presidential playbook dictating an aspirational pitch to centrist voters, the White House is cementing a high-risk message that strikes firmly at wealth and privilege.

“There is surging sentiment out there among voters that the economy is weighted towards the wealthy,” said a senior White House official. “Public opinion has changed dramatically.”

The White House strategy will make the 2012 election a generational test of the Republican push of the past three decades for cutting taxes, in ways their critics say have been constantly skewed towards the highest earners.

The after-tax income of the wealthiest 1 per cent of US households increased by 275 per cent over the past three decades, compared to an average of 62 per cent for all Americans, the independent Congressional Budget Office reported this week. For the poorest 20 per cent, the growth was only 18 per cent.

The “Occupy Wall Street” protests that are spreading raggedly across the US and the world have thrown a spotlight on mounting popular anger at economic stagnation and income inequality.

But the factors driving the White House go further, to their inability to strike any substantive deals on their terms with congressional Republicans emboldened by their smashing victory in last November’s mid-term elections.

The failure of the economic recovery to yield many jobs during its mild upswing of the past two years has also transformed the political calculus for a president facing a perilous re-election battle.

“In normal circumstances, this pitch might be suicidal. But these are not normal circumstances,” said William Galston of the Brookings Institute.

Mr Galston has been reading the speeches of Franklin Roosevelt’s winning campaign for the 1936 presidential election and finds striking comparisons to the emerging line from Mr Obama.

“Roosevelt wasn’t just saying: ‘I am fighting for you.’ It was: ‘I am fighting against them,’” he said.
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Well, like FDR, Obama is "one of them," judging by who attends his fundraisers...

[clearvision]

The after-tax income of the wealthiest 1 per cent of US households increased by 275 per cent over the past three decades, compared to an average of 62 per cent for all Americans, the independent Congressional Budget Office reported this week. For the poorest 20 per cent, the growth was only 18 per cent.

This CBO study is setup to maximize difference. The 3 decades considered are 1979 to 2007. Some how I think if you looked at the wealthy difference in 2011 it will be lower. Housing prices and stock markets peaked in 2007.