Thank You EPI

See http://www.epi.org/publication/the-top-charts-of-2015/  (Sorry, it appears as though the EPI site has been hacked and the link I tried to provide here does not work.  Try a search. They will probably solve the problem soon.)

I am sure the Republicans will be quick to point out that as EPI said in its article entitled “Top Charts of 2015:”

“... the economy remains far from fully recovered—and is still failing ordinary Americans, who have endured decades of stagnant wages despite working more productively than ever.

But [what the Republicans will not tell you is that] the charts also make clear that it doesn’t have to be this way. They show that policies that enhance low- and middle-income Americans’ economic leverage—such as keeping interest rates low, raising the minimum wage, making it easier for workers to bargain collectively, expanding access to overtime pay, and eliminating discriminatory practices that contribute to gender inequality—can go far toward creating an economy where prosperity is broadly shared.”

In other words what you get from starve the beast and trickle down are stagnant wages, and what the Democrats have been trying to do would work if the Republicans stopped blocking them. The EPI' charts and EPI's comments about what the charts demonstrate are really quite illuminating! It is a pity that the woeful believers supporting Trump and other right wing Republicans are not bright enough to look at or understand the evidence, but that is just the way they are.

Let us not engage in a futile task. Let the base Republicans* wallow in the fear and loathing so generously supplied to them by demagogues like Trump and Cruz. Fortunately those people, who are suffering from bottom runger syndrome and refuse to share even when sharing is in their best interests, are in the minority. This is not a country where people have traditionally asked “who am I better than?” Rather it is a country where people have traditionally asked “how much better can I become?”

So let us focus our attention on the majority of our citizens and appeal to their better nature. You know the majority; they are the productive people who understand that resolute actions on behalf of all our citizens benefit everyone, whereas divisive tantrums born from ill-informed frustrations benefit no one! As I said in a post entitled “Farewell Mario,” Mario Cuomo reminded us that “this country is at its best when it offers opportunities to all and struggles to right its historical wrongs. It is at its best when it rewards the hard work of the many rather than trying to satiate the greed of the few.” It is Mr. Cuomo's appeal to our better nature and his belief about what makes our country so great that now distinguishes Democrats from Republicans. The evidence presented by EPI shows that following this better part of our nature is also a better economic plan than the failed Ayn Rand alternative the Republicans want to continue inflicting on us!

*In the unlikely event that the Trumpster or the Canadian Texas Turd should read this post, I am sure they would cast aside their objections to political correctness long enough to criticize me for calling their supporters base Republicans rather than the Republican base. Sorry but “base” (used as a pejorative adjective) is a fitting description of people who are so desperately afraid of a democracy in which they no longer constitute the majority that they fall easy prey to the dangerous fear mongering of divisive demagogues.