John Balentine states that “unlike liberals and progressives who preach that income inequality lowers one’s happiness quotient, conservatives realize that one’s happiness is not tied to income.”

Could he really be that obtuse? He actually believes that someone who has to work two minimum wage jobs to get by, but still can’t afford health care, who has to choose between putting food on the table for the family or heating their living space, who can only afford to live in a high crime area, who doesn’t have the time or energy to even attend their children’s school concerts, who lives under constant stress from financial worries, and couldn’t afford the blood pressure medicine he requires even if he could see a doctor, could possibly live as happy a life as someone whose high-paying job easily covers all life’s necessities and leaves plenty more for relaxation time, travel, whatever whim he chooses to indulge, luxurious feasts, the best schools, and guaranteed access to health care?

Reducing the vast effects of low income to the cost of a bigger Christmas tree is insulting and shows total blindness to the actual struggles low-income people face every day of their lives.

Nancy O’Hagan
Portland


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