Income Disparity: Social Injustice or Socialist Jealously?

On a recent MSNBC "Morning Joe" program, former President Carter's National Security Adviser, Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, claimed that the United States is one of the most socially unjust nations in the world (Click here to See the Story and The Video). To prove this, he pointed to our ranking in something called the GINI coefficient where we were clustered at the top of the most "unjust" country's list along with countries like Brazil, Mexico, India, and China. Simply speaking, the "Gini" is a measurement of the disparity between the rich and the poor in any given country. It was developed by a socialist, for socialist propaganda, and the results are generally skewed to make socialism look better than capitalism because it favors countries that have little or no individual exceptionalism and countries where the government dictates salaries. Lastly, Brzezinski claimed that Europeans are more upwardly mobile than Americans.

There's a reason that Jimmy Carter wears the "worst President ever" crown. He basically hired idiot socialists like Brzezinski.

Once again, we have a another leftist -- in concert with Obama -- playing class warfare. People like Brzezinski seem to think that income disparity is the only measurement of a society that counts. But, what they ignore is that fact that Americans enjoy one of the highest standards of living; including our supposed 30 million poor. Many of the so-called poor of this country enjoy a more comfortable lifestyle than the poor of hundreds of other countries. According to a study conducted by our own Department of Energy on energy consumption by social class, 99.7% of those defined as poor have refrigerators and 95% have stoves and ovens. Nearly 98% have TV's. Most have cars and nearly 75% have home air conditioning. In Europe, even some of the most posh apartments don't have air conditioning because energy prices are too high. That's why over 5000 people died in 2003 in France when they had several days of 100 degree heat.

I'm not saying that people aren't hurting in America but, we have several safety nets to help those people survive who have little or no income. 1.2 million of our poor live in some form of low rent or rent-free public housing. 40 million receive food stamps. 57 million Americans receive health care support through Medicaid. We have free school lunch programs in support of the poor. Additionally, people, having low incomes can actually file an income tax return, pay no taxes, and get paid in the process through something called the Earned Income Tax Credit. And, list goes on.

When it comes to income disparity, the only thing that comes to my mind is social jealousy and not the lack of social justice. Does it really matter if Jay Leno has a warehouse full of expensive rare cars? Does his having those cars prevent anyone else from having a car? Not hardly. What really matters is that almost all Americans who "need" a car have one.

It also amazes me that Brzezinski used Europe as an example of a more upwardly mobile society to live in than the U.S. Aside from Germany, Europe is in a mess and either partly or wholly teetering on collapse. The social unrest is unbelievable. Brzezinski is just totally off his nut. Again, it all comes down to standards of living and the purchasing power of Americans versus Europeans. The average new home being built in the U.K., for example, is just under 800 square feet; the worst in Europe (Click here to See Story). In the U.S., that number is over 2300 square feet. Even in the more affluent country of Denmark, the average new home size is still nearly half that of the U.S. The average American household owns 2.3 automobiles. In Europe, the statistic is half that and Europeans depend heavily on public transportation. But, there's a reason for this and it all has to do with the fact that Europeans have less disposable income than Americans. That's why the average age of an automobile in Europe is 13 years compared to only 9 years in the U.S.

Over and over again, liberals love to hate America. If Brzezinski thinks Europe is such a great place, then move there and take his daughter, Mika (Joe Scarborough's Co-Host on "Morning Joe"), with him. If the "Gini" is so important, he should think about moving to a country like Botswana, where there is such "low" disparity of income. A place, where so many people get to enjoy all the amenities of a one or two-room, dirt-floor house or hut that has no running water, no electricity and, certainly, no air conditioning. Yes sir, that "Gini" is fine way of measuring social justice.