Lower Middle Income Americans Had Large Gains Under Obama – And Voted for Trump

Because a Lot of Them are, Sorry to Say, Misogynistic Bigots

One of the many myths of America is that those hardworking non-college educated voters did not gain anything from the Obama years and in reaction they voted for Trump. Now new data says that is just not so.

Americans who were left behind as the country pulled out of the Great Recession — African Americans, Hispanics and people without college degrees — saw large gains in net worth over the past three years, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.

So why did these people go for Trump? Because, as we now know, Trump personified their intolerance towards non-white racial groups. The economics was just conventional wisdom that was wrong.

Of course, as everyone knows the gap between very wealthy Americans and the rest of us has not gotten better because yes, the system is rigged.

 The share of America’s income held by the top 1 percent of households reached 24 percent in 2016, a record high, and the median net worth of white households, at $171,000, was nearly 10 times larger than for black households.

The findings suggest that while a robust economy has benefited all economic groups, the wealthiest and most educated have been in a position to benefit even more because they began with such a significant advantage.

If the Dems were not so inept they could win elections on making the system fairer. But as we say, if the Dems were not so inept . . . .