OH, SUCH AN EMBARRASSMENT – AT 10:07 A.M. ET:  There is a lot of talk about income inequality these days, and some of it is justified.  But just where is the problem?  Don't tell this to Ms. Hillary.  It may upset her.  From IBD: 

Inequality: The most liberal states in the country are the worst run and have the widest gaps between rich and poor. Could it be that spread-the-wealth policies make things worse?

The list of worst-run states — compiled by the news site 24/7 Wall St. using things like pension funding, credit ratings, unemployment, poverty, crime and high school graduation rates — shows that three of the bottom five are liberal. Illinois ranks dead last, followed by New Mexico, with Rhode Island coming in at No. 5.

At the other end of the spectrum, only one of the top 5 best-run states — Minnesota — is liberal. North Dakota comes in first, followed by Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa.

Liberal states also show up, amazingly enough, as having the greatest levels of income inequality. That's according to another 24/7 Wall St. list, which based its ranking on state-level income inequality data from the Census Bureau.

The state with the widest gap between rich and poor is New York. Also among the top 10 are Connecticut, California, Massachusetts, Illinois and New Jersey.

These six states also just happen to be ones that have pushed hardest on redistributionist policies — imposing among the highest taxes rates in the nation and spending the most on transfer programs.

COMMENT:  The statistics don't surprise me.  The greatest antidote to income inequality is a strong economy, especially one with a good deal of manufacturing.  But liberals look down on manufacturing, or oil exploration, and even on the working class itself.  Policies in liberal states tend to be business-unfriendly. 

All this might change when average Americans realize that liberalism, as it is currently defined, is holding them back.  The Democratic Party is now based on race, gender, and ethnicity.  It has little to do with enhancing the economic position of working Americans.  Indeed, it has lost touch with the very people who used to be its base. 

December 5, 2014