Income Inequality Comes to the Ritz Carlton

This past weekend the Democracy Alliance, a secretive organization made up of uber liberal donors, kicked off their annual meeting.

Many of America’s most rich and famous liberals came together to once again plot ways to use their riches to shape the future course of our country.

The irony and hypocrisy surrounding this gathering is palpable. One of the issues these well heeled donors intend to address at their meeting held at the tony Ritz Carlton in Chicago was naturally, income inequality.

Rich liberal donors have ideas on how to bridge the income inequality gap - while these feast on expensive treats and indulge with vintage wines. An image from Occupy Wall Street. (Image Source: talkingbiznews.com) 

While discussing the plight of the impoverished, attendees were feted with food prepared by top chefs and wines flown in from vineyards owned by Democracy Alliance members.

The irony only begins with the choice of venues and the menu. When one looks at the policies that these elitists advocate, it becomes overwhelming.

Many of the very policies they are assembled to plot have contributed to the gutting of the middle class. The policies they advocate may be salve for these elitists’ guilt, satisfaction to their egos, or in many cases, healthy for their bottom line. But for working class Americans, not so much.

One of the star players at the meeting in Chicago is Tom Steyer, a billionaire former hedge fund manager. Steyer has made it his life’s mission to prevent 20,000 jobs associated with the extension of the Keystone Pipeline from ever coming to fruition. One reason, of course, may be that Steyer has profited handsomely from investment in a competing pipeline.

Environmentalists stage a protest to coincide with a fundraising event by U.S. President Barack Obama on May 13, 2013 in New York City. Hundreds of demonstrators marched to protest the building of oil pipelines and calling for the end of hydraulic fracking for oil and gas. Credit: Getty Images 

Aside from opposing job creating projects, these plutocrats fervently advocate a host of other policies that cost Americans dearly.

The ethanol mandate, for instance, is a hidden tax on all Americans that the Congressional Budget Office found responsible for a large portion of increases in food prices.

A carbon tax would decimate employment in America — not for these trust fund babies — but for blue collar Americans. One study found that a carbon tax would cut the income of a family of four by $1,900 per year in 2016 and lead to average losses of $1,400 per year through 2035.

Elimination of coal as a form of energy would devastate large portions of the country and jack-up the electricity costs for everyone else. Don’t forget the urgent demand to raise the minimum wage that will, even according to the Congressional Budget Office, destroy thousands of entry-level jobs for workers.

Workers celebrate after U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order to raise the minimum wage for federal contractors from $7.25 to $10.10 during an East Room event February 12, 2014 at the White House in Washington, DC. President Obama spoke on 'on the importance of raising the federal minimum wage for all workers' at the event. Alex Wong/Getty Images 

The essence of progressive politics is a top-down, "we know best" attitude that permeates everything they do and every policy they advocate. Americans won’t be better off if we eliminate oil and gasoline or force everyone to drive an electric car. Americans won’t be better off if the Keystone Pipeline is sacrificed at Tom Steyer’s altar.

Funding groups and politicians who will make the “tough choices” to “fundamentally transform” the country may make them feel better but it will not help income inequality for anyone except perhaps the class of professional leftist troublemakers. It will, however, destroy everything that is America.

Just ask one of the six million Americans who have lost their health insurance policy because of ObamaCare.

Edward Woodson hosts the nationally syndicated The Edward Woodson Show. He can be heard weekdays 7-8 am ET on WZAB 880 AM in Miami, FL & 5-6 am MT on KFNX 1100 AM News-Talk Radio in Phoenix, AZ and can be reached at www.edwardwoodson.com.

Read TheBlaze coverage by Business Editor Becket Adams of the secret list of donors that joined the Democracy Alliance this year.

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