Another example of Fox News pundits talking up the benefits of poverty. We know Foxies think the poor don’t pay their fair share of taxes and that they’ve already got more than enough social services. Last Saturday (2/18/12), the panelists on Bulls and Bears argued that income inequality in our country is a good thing. Of course, none of them seemed to be on the struggling end of that equation!

The discussion was packaged as a defense of some recent comments by presidential candidate Rick Santorum. He not only praised income inequality in America but said he hopes it continues. Panelist Gary B. Smith thought so, too. He said, “Income inequality, or the ability to achieve income inequality is what made America great. It allowed people… like Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie and Bill Gates, even, to go out there and take a lot of risks so they could earn a lot of money, and they did so, and they brought great innovation and productivity to the country…For people that want income equality, all you have to do is look back at America in the 30s. We had great income equality then, and it was a terrible time, or look at the Soviet Union or look at communist China.” He said under an unequal system, people can thrive and grow, and it’s really “what’s best for America.”

Tobin Smith, a fellow panelist (and Gary’s brother), agreed. “This is about a meritocracy issue, and I think that’s the point that Santorum makes, and to Gary B’s point, has what made America great.”

Democrat Steve Murphy got to the heart of the problem: “In the 30 years after the war, we had our greatest period of economic growth, and the benefit of that was spread out throughout all social classes. Basically, because you could work in a factory at that point in time, obviously, and earn a good income. The last 30 years, that’s not the case. The middle class has been completely stagnant… The top 1% …has tripled their income.” 

Host Brenda Buttner turned to guest Bob Froehlich and said hopefully, “I’ll bet your statistics tell a different story.”

Actually, they didn’t. Bob Froehlich merely continued the previous cheerleading for inequality. He said, “It is the basic foundation of this country. It’s what puts the fire in the belly. It’s what creates motivation... Ineqality, that’s what it’s all about… That’s the whole system that’s in place.”

According to the Smiths and Froehlich, the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer is a good thing, and it’s just what we need.