28 Say Mr. Obamas policies favor the rich
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Brilliantly
the Occupy Wall Street 99 theme has shifted debate and focus from the days when President Obama spoke of raising taxes on families that made more than $250000. Many people could see a future in which they might make $250000. But very few see a future in which they would be a member of the 1. Have the Occupy Wall Street protesters touched a nerve with their We are the 99" slogan?
A look at the finances of those vying for the presidency shows that almost all of them rank at the very top of the countrys earners. In other words they are the 1.
And wealth is not limited to Republicans.
Though President Obama was not in the 1 in 2006 before his entry to presidential politics he earned between $1.8 million and $6.8 million last year largely from book royalties.
Democrats have more or less embraced the Wall Street protesters while Republicans have wavered between dismissing them and trying to redirect their anger from Wall Street to the White House.
To many Americans perhaps it has focused attention on the gains made by the rich as brutal Obama Administration policies have pushed the typical American family backward while businesses sit on the sidelines awaiting a more certain economic outlook. Economic inequality may or may not have become a major theme issue in the presidential race yet but many of the candidates have reason to hope it does not.
The possible exceptions are Congressmen Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Ron Paul (R-TX) whose annual household earnings may not exceed the estimated cutoff of $700000 for the top 1 and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas who has yet to file a financial disclosure.
But Mitt Romney whose fortune is estimated at as much as $250 million dollars dwarfs those of his rivals; Jon M. Huntsman Jr. whose father owns a global chemical company; Newt Gingrich a
successful author; Herman Cain a businessman who reports earnings of over $1.2 million; and Rick Santorum the former senator who took in over $700000 last year are all solidly in the 1 percent as measured by assets income or both.
The gap between the candidates and the electorate is especially striking in an election season in which the economy is foremost in peoples minds and politicians are trying to demonstrate that they can feel the pain. Many people believe that those responsible for the financial crisis escaped punishment with the help of political allies.
The protesters are far from the only potential voters disturbed by what many economic analysts say is a growing wealth divide. In a recent New York Times/CBS News poll:
- 28 of respondents said that Mr. Obamas policies favored the rich
- 69 said the same of Republican policies
- 23 thought Obamas policies favored the middle class
- 66 said the countrys distribution of wealth should be more even
The wealth of the candidates exacerbates the sense that politicians are far removed from middle-class American lives.
You want to know that elected leaders understand the consequences of their political decisions. Does that candidate understand what Im going through right now? What my family is going through? Do they know what its like to lose your home to lose your job?" said Kathleen Hall Jamieson the director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
Of course presidential politics has long been a sport for the rich and candidates need not be middle-class themselves to convince voters that they understand. Some like Mr. Cain and Mr. Perry may win people over with their stories of ascent from humble beginnings.
A rich person can represent the 99 percent" said Judy Goldstock a retired social worker protesting in Zuccotti Park. Look at Kennedy."
Mr. Romney has scolded his audiences at times for attacking people based on their success." And
Mr. Cain proclaimed If you dont have a job and youre not rich blame yourself." (Or he later amended blame Mr. Obama.)
The alienation is evident in a study of mothers who shop at Wal-Mart where pollsters found that the women did not believe their elected officials could understand what it was like to be consumed by the price of milk gasoline and college tuition.
We asked If your elected officials knew about your life what would they do? and somebody said Cry " said Margie Omera the founder of Momentum Analysis a Democratic polling firm that along with Public Opinion Strategies a Republican firm has been tracking the women since May 2010.
They always want to know When is my bailout going to come? "
In focus groups the women discussed the satisfaction they derived from watching Undercover Boss" a reality show in which top executives take a turn at the bottom of the ladder in their own companies.
Membership in the 1 can be measured by wealth or by income.
- Household Wealth: The cutoff point would be a projected $9 million in 2010 according to an analysis of the Federal Reserve Board (Survey of Consumer Finances by Edward Wolff New York University).
- Annual Household Income: The cutoff would be about $700000 Mr. Wolff said. (Using Internal Revenue Service figures which count earnings differently the Congressional Budget Office puts the earnings cutoff at $350000 for the 1 percent in 2007.)
At Zuccotti Park protesters described the 1 variously as people who
can just make money with money the ones so interested in making profits that theyre willing to lay off 100s of 1000s of people a year" and anyone who doesnt create a product."
Even by the numbers though it is hard to tell precisely where the candidates stand. The majority have not released tax returns and their financial disclosure forms give only a range of assets and income. Mrs. Bachmanns income was listed at $280000 to $840000 and Mr. Pauls was
$360000 to $1.1 million which included their Congressional salaries of $174000.
The disclosures exclude the candidates homes and other noninvestment property as well as the salaries of their spouses. The candidates were likelier to rank in the elite in income rather than in assets. Mr. Cains net worth topped out at $6.6 million for example and Mr. Santorums at $2.6 million.
Mr. Perry appears to be among the least affluent of the leading candidates. He earns $150000 a year as governor and his wife makes $60000 a year at a nonprofit organization. But the couple have made money in real estate deals including one that pushed their income above $1 million in 2007. Various news organizations have estimated the Perrys net worth at just over $1 million.
