Why Obama Frets About Income Inequality, Not Family Breakdown

From James Pethokoukis, at AEI:

The Obama White House argues hard that rising US income inequality makes it tougher for Americans to climb the economic ladder. When President Obama gave a big speech on “social mobility” earlier this month – liberal pundits called it the “most important” of his presidency – he mentioned inequality more than two dozen times to pound the point home. And Team Obama has much publicized its chart illustrating the “Great Gatsby Curve” which suggests strong correlation globally between high income inequality and low earnings mobility.

How many times in such an important speech did Obama mention anything about American family breakdown perhaps impeding economic mobility? Just a couple of passing references.

Yet the issue of family breakdown deserves at least as much attention, if not more, from Obama than income inequality. Using data on local jobs markets from the Equality of Opportunity Project, e21 economist Scott Winship can’t find much of a statistical relationship between inequality – particularly of the 1% vs. 99% sort — and economic mobility. The EOP authors also find “a high concentration of income in the top 1% was not highly correlated with mobility patterns.”

What does seem to be highly correlated with mobility is family structure. In these communities, the share of families with single moms predicts mobility levels “quite well all by itself,” according to Winship’s analysis. Again, this result is not real surprising. Researchers on the left and right have found that kids raised by both biological parents fare better financially, educationally, and emotionally. And as the EOP scholars conclude: “Some of the strongest predictors of upward mobility are correlates of social capital and family structure.”

Some nice data plots at the post, so continue reading.

But seriously, leftists don't want to hear about family structure, because then the tangles of pathology that really drive poverty and structural unemployment for the underclass will blow up the left's lame inequality scam. It's all they've got to run on. The New York Times has more on that, "Democrats Turn to Minimum Wage as 2014 Strategy."

How Impoverished is Our Discussion of Poverty?

Pretty impoverished, if you listen to Katrina vanden Heuvel, at the Washington Post, "During the holidays, remember our ‘least’."

But Josh Painter took exception after I tweeted this earlier.

.@KatrinaNation @AmPowerBlog Jesus said feed the hungry, clothe the poor, heal the sick. He never suggested that was Caesar's responsibility

— Josh Painter (I-TX) (@Josh_Painter) December 24, 2013

Millennials to Obama: You Suck, Mofo

At USA Today, "USA TODAY/Pew poll: Obama struggles with Millennials":

WASHINGTON — Millennials have provided invaluable political support to President Obama over the course of his presidency, voting for him by a roughly 2-to-1 margin in his two successful campaigns against Mitt Romney and John McCain.

But as Obama tries to climb out of a 2-month-long malaise that saw his popularity sink with the fumbled rollout of the federal health care exchange, the president appears to have nearly as much work to do with young people as he does with older Americans.

Forty-five percent of 18- to 29-year-old Americans say they approve of the way Obama is handling his job; 46% disapprove of his job performance, according to a year-end USA TODAY/Pew Research Center Poll. The president's approval rating with young Americans — which stood at 67% just ahead of his second inauguration less than a year ago — now mirrors the general population, according to the poll.

The USA TODAY/Pew sample is of only 229 young Americans -- a subset of 2,001 adults polled from Dec. 3-8 -- and has a margin of error of +/- 8 percentage points.

But the findings mirror other recent polling that suggests Obama has seen his approval rating slide with young Americans....

In the USA TODAY/Pew poll, just 41% approve of his signature health care policy, while 54% disapprove. Overall, 40% of Americans approve and 55% disapprove of his health care policy, according to the poll.

The tough polling numbers with young Americans offer a snapshot of the road ahead for the Obama administration in repairing damage caused by the troubled rollout of Obamacare, which has even worn on some of the president's most ardent supporters.

The administration has dedicated much of the president's time and political capital toward making implementation of Obamacare a success after battling with early problems -- the glitch-riddled online exchange and the outrage that ensued when millions of Americans on the individual insurance market received cancellation notices because their policies didn't meet minimum benefit requirements set by the law.

Key to making the Affordable Care Act a success is enrolling plenty of young, healthy people whose participation will offset some higher risk and older uninsured Americans who are expected to flock to the exchanges.

Kyle Olberding, 23, an Army veteran who now works at a candy shop, said that he admires Obama for ending the war in Iraq and winding down the war in Afghanistan and credits the president for pursuing a diplomatic solution with Iran over its nuclear program.

But Olberding, of Wichita, Kan., said he is unhappy with the president's efforts on the economy, reducing the federal budget deficit and implementing the health care law. Olberding, who said he works full time but doesn't make much money, said he remains uncertain about whether he can afford health insurance and resents being required to purchase it.

"At this current point in my life, I have other things that need to be paid for and the extra cost is just not something I can afford right now," said Olberding, who said he hasn't yet explored the website or looked into the level of subsidy he might qualify for.

So true.

And here's that killer Harvard poll from earlier this month, "Millennial Generation Abandons Obama."

With O getting trashed like this all the time, this next year is going to be fantastic! Embrace the suck, Dems!

Obama to Paint the Golden State Red?

Well, it'd be a feat of Biblical proportions.

California's the deepest of blue states, but then again, they say he's a "light worker."

From George Skelton, at LAT, "California Democrats are facing risk of voter turnoff":

President Obama's popularity is falling even in California, a deep-blue state he has won twice by landslides. It means Democratic politicians should worry about suffering fatal falls in the polling booths next November.

That's not necessarily because voters turned off by the president will take it out on Democratic congressional and legislative candidates, although some of that could happen. More important, Democratic voters may be so disenchanted with Washington and politics generally that they don't turn out to cast ballots at all.

And there's little on the horizon in California to excite them about voting. A gubernatorial race between Gov. Jerry Brown and some obscure Republican won't be a draw.

A USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll last month found widespread ambivalence about the Democratic governor. More than half of those surveyed approved of his job performance, but less than a third said they were inclined to reelect him.
Of course, Republicans are staring at their own turnout dilemma. There's no sign of a strong gubernatorial candidate at the top of the ticket to attract GOP voters to the polls.

But small-turnout elections tend to benefit Republicans, whose voters habitually cast ballots more consistently. Just look at some recent special elections to fill legislative vacancies, where turnouts have been dismal and Republicans have fared better than expected. They picked up one state Senate seat in the southern San Joaquin Valley.

"How enthusiastic will the voters who supported the president in 2012 be about voting in 2014?" asks Mark Baldassare, president and pollster of the Public Policy Institute of California. "From a Democratic perspective, it raises some concerns....

In a poll released Wednesday, the policy institute found that Obama's approval rating had dropped 10 points since July and now is at 51% among California adults, with disapproval at 45%. That matches a record low from 2011. Among likely voters, slightly more disapprove of his performance than approve.

But Congress? A scant 10% of likely voters approve of how it's working.

The Field Poll released a similar survey Tuesday, showing 51% approval and 43% disapproval of Obama's job performance among a third group, registered voters — an eight-point increase in negativity since July. It's his worst showing in two years.

Blame the embarrassing rollout and broken promises of the president's signature program, Obamacare. But the pollsters also cite two other things that have upset Obama's Democratic base: His failure to achieve immigration reform. And his National Security Agency's spying on American citizens and foreign leaders.

Obama's rollout of the Affordable Care Act website was "seen as inept," says Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo.

And although California developed its own website that has been relatively successful, the national media spotlight has been focused on the federal fiasco. "It creates a lot of anxiety" among Californians, Baldassare says. "People think 'somehow it's going to affect me. What else isn't going to go well?' It's a lack of confidence more than anything."

This is all very interesting, but Obama won California last year with nearly 60 percent of the vote. We're deep blue, and marinated in disgusting left-wing collectivism and moral depravity.

But hey, things aren't getting better, and Californians are pragmatic people. Perhaps folks will rip the wool off their eyes and say, "WTF!"

I'll be following up on this, in any case. Obama could possible force a realignment in the strongest of Democrat strongholds.

Obama Attacks 'Proudoundly Unequal' Economy in Push for Minimum Wage Hike

At the Hill, "Obama: 'Profoundly unequal' economy a 'fundamental threat'," and LAT, "Obama on income inequality: 'I take this personally'."

But see Pamela Villarreal, at IBD, "Big Hike In Minimum Wage Will Be Self-Defeating For Workers":

This week, another fast-food walkout will take place in 100 cities.

Evidently, this one claims to be much larger than previous protests.

And no doubt the Service Employees International Union and other organized labor groups play a major role in supporting the walkout and also make up the lion's share of the protestors.

The goal? To push for an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

But as the old adage goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

The arguments made by advocates of a living wage are flawed on so many levels, and will end up hurting the people they purport to help.

One need look no further than the evolution of large retailers. Thirty years ago, there was no such thing as a self-checkout lane.

I used to walk in to my local big-box retailer, and there was very little that was high-tech about checkout lanes. Scanners were just starting to be used to price and sell merchandise, but the clerks had to scan each item personally, with a hand wand. In spite of the burgeoning computer technology, a warm body was still needed.

But much of the retail transformation can be attributed to increasing labor costs and decreasing technology costs. How does this relate to this week's walkout? It is simple. If higher wages are forced on the fast-food industry, capital eventually will replace labor in that industry as well.

Sadly, this is all under the guise of helping people, but the result will be that teenagers and low-skilled workers get the shaft.

The unemployment rate among teenagers is the highest of all age groups.

In some areas, such as Washington, D.C., it is above 50%. Teenagers there would be happy to work for $8.25 an hour.

Recently, Washington's council almost passed an ordinance that would require the area's newly established Wal-Mart stores and other large big-box retailers to pay a "living wage" of $12.50 an hour.

Given that 23,000 applications were submitted for the 600 jobs that were available when Wal-Mart opened its first stores in the D.C. area, it is evident that many job-seekers are willing to work for less than $15 an hour.

The fast-food industry will also seek out those people.

But once those who are willing to work are employed, any excess demand for labor will be supplied in the form of whatever is most efficient, either by enticing more workers with a higher wage or using technology instead of human capital.

It does not matter what is mandated by a city or the federal government, or what is demanded by protesters. Businesses seek to maximize profits, and if they must replace or supplement human capital with automation they will do it.

Continue reading.

The full speech is here, "President Obama Speaks on Economic Mobility."

RELATED: At Heritage, "Obamacare and a Minimum Wage Hike Pricing Many Unskilled Workers Out of Their Jobs."

EXTRA: At the Wall Street Journal, "The War of the Wages."

How to Improve the Economy!

I'm having a hard time believing this, but it's real, apparently:

Here's how to improve our economy and create hundreds of thousands of jobs: #RaiseTheWage. http://t.co/NLM2t9NyhS pic.twitter.com/UDTcTSaqZJ

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 4, 2013

And Twitchy has the response, "Phase 3: Profit! @BarackObama reveals sure-fire plan for jump-starting the economy."

.@BarackObama I see somebody missed a whole semester of Columbia economics smoking choom.

— Sam Valley (@SamValley) December 4, 2013

I have more on the minimum wage scheduled for overnight.

Millennial Generation Abandons Obama

This is amazing, although not surprising.

From Ron Fournier, at National Journal, "Millennials Abandon Obama and Obamacare."

It's worth spending some time with both the article, and the complete survey, "IOP Releases New Fall Poll, 5 Key Findings and Trends in Millennial Viewpoints."

A commenter at the Harvard page captures my thoughts exactly: "52% of Young Americans want Obama recalled. Wow. That's a stunning indictment of his failures."

We've got finals at my college next week and I'm into the wrap up mode in my American government classes. I discussed the survey in classes today. I've got a large number of die-hard Obama supporters among my students, especially minority students, but overall I'm seeing a lot of the same disenchantment with Obama on campus that we see at the poll. Young people especially hate the insurance mandate, because it's harming their interests directly. A number of other Obama disasters are more remote, and they're unable to make the connections. But as this White House has transformed the workplace into a part-time economy, more and more young people will be waking up to how disastrous this president's been for the country.

And by the way, the numbers on student debt at the poll are also devastating. America's youth are taking it up the ass for the left's ideological program of unicorns are rainbows. William Jacobson's got more, "Harvard Survey: Obama and Obamacare push Millennials support off cliff." (Via Memeorandum.)

Youth Unemployment

Via Gabriella Hoffman.

Americans Worked Less, Watched More TV in 2012

Shoot, I blogged a lot in 2012. But I'm watching more TV this year.

But check WSJ:

With the economy struggling to find its footing, Americans spent less time at work last year and found more time for leisure activities such as watching television, a new government survey finds.

The average American aged 15 or older spent three hours, 32 minutes a day doing work-related activities last year, according to the American Time Use Survey released by the Labor Department on Thursday. That is down from 2011, when time spent on work jumped from three hours and 30 minutes to three hours and 34 minutes. While such changes may not seem big, average yearly changes in time spent on different activities tend to be small, and even minor changes are significant.

The survey, which has been conducted annually since 2003 and includes both employed and unemployed persons, suggests America's sluggish recovery continues to hamper workers. While the U.S. unemployment rate fell last year from 8.3% to 7.8%—it is now at 7.6%—other trends are likely holding down average hours spent at work. The number of part-time workers was higher in 2012 than the year before, for example.

"The recovery has basically been a recovery for a tiny fraction of the population," said Geoffrey Godbey, professor emeritus at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of "Time For Life: The Surprising Ways Americans Use Their Time." "What you're seeing is people who might want more work but aren't getting it," he said.

Meanwhile, the share of the population working or looking for a job dropped to 63.6% at the end of last year, compared with 64% in December 2011. That number, known as the labor force participation rate, has been falling as a result of a combination of discouraged workers dropping out of the workforce and baby boomers retiring.

The aging of America's population means fewer people are working and more retirees are at home watching TV, Mr. Godbey said. At the same time, women have become a larger share of America's labor force, but tend to work fewer hours than men do. And there's a growing informal economy, he said, that might not be captured by government surveys.

I'd work more if I could.

Watching television's nice though, and blogging, so what the heck?

More at the link.