9 Charts That Prove Barack Obama's War on Income Inequality is Futile and Destructive

  

Kyle Becker | On 06, Dec 2013
Barack Obama’s policies are harming economic freedom in the United States and are doing nothing to solve the perceived problem of income inequality. Furthermore, they will spread poverty and misery, as the following charts easily show.

1. Global Happiness

First, let’s take a look at global happiness, from a University of Leicester report from a little while back (2006 is apparently the most recent) that maps out the “Satisfaction with Life Index“:

Bluer is happier, and redder is less happy. This will be important to bear in mind as we take a quick look at some other charts

2. Wealthier is Happier

Now, let’s see how wealthy people are in about the same time-frame (2007 PPP):

Greener is richer, and redder is poorer. The U.S. was both one of the happiest and wealthiest countries in the world in 2007. Australia is another example of a happy nation that is wealthy.

3. Freer is Happier and Wealthier

Now let’s briefly look at economic freedom in the world (Fraser Institute 2008):

Greener is freer and redder is more unfree. As one can see, richer nations are more economically free. (Data are missing for Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states, as well as a few others.)

4. Wealthier is Less Unequal

Alright, but what about economic inequality? It must be that that the richer the nation, the more unequal the distribution of income, right? No, that’s not true at all.

Greener is more equal, redder is more unequal, and purple is in the middle. The lower the number here, the less unequal a country is. (Norway and Sweden have very low scores, but are also export-led countries that rely heavily on natural resources.)

5. More Equal is Not Wealthier

A comparison of the U.S. with other nations by inequality shows no connection (data from 2006):

Richer nations are more economically free, and more equal (45 and under). Poor nations are all over the place in terms of inequality (lower is more equal, higher is more unequal).

6. Global Economic Freedom is Up

Now, let’s take a look at the trend of economic freedom in the world.

Obviously, it’s on its way up. Now what about global poverty? It should be increasing, right college professors? Actually, that’s really, really wrong.

7. Global Poverty is Way Down

As one can see the trend if mostly up from 1995: having gone from 57.6 to 59.6. What has happened to global poverty in this time period?

Both Yale Global and Oxford Studies confirm that the spread of market reforms to nations around the world (and especially socialist nations like China and India) have led to major improvements in the world in the area of global poverty.

8. Economic Freedom in U.S. is Down; China is Up

But what has the United States chosen to do under Barack Obama? Limit economic freedom!
Here it’s easy to see: The U.S. is becoming less economically free and more unequal. As the president himself admitted on national television, the top 1% are now getting 95% of the gains.

9. U.S. is Declining Relative to Nations Freeing Their Economies

No wonder poverty in the United States is at its highest rate since the 1960s. So what is happening to America’s standing in the world under President Obama?

That’s right – America’s influence is shrinking due to the rise of nations freeing their economies. Or in the big picture the world’s becoming more “fair,” as some people might see it.

Conclusion

RICHER nations tend to be FREER and MORE EQUAL than poorer ones – contrary to popular belief. The key to reducing inequality and boosting happiness is improving economic freedom.
Washington’s policies are increasing poverty and unhappiness, as more face frustration while their prime years are spent in part-time or dead-end jobs, or are without jobs at all. Now is that “fair”?
Obama’s crusade against income inequality is thus a foolish and destructive quest. What matters for increasing wealth and allowing people to pursue happiness is economic freedom!