Quote:Inequality is a problem when the rich get richer at the expense of the poor. That's not happening in America.

As he came to the end of his awful year Barack Obama gave an awful speech. The president thinks America has inequality issues. What it has—what he has—is an envy problem.

I'll get to the point in a moment, but first a word about the speech's awfulness. To illustrate the evils of income inequality, the president said this:

"Ordinary folks can't write massive campaign checks or hire high-priced lobbyists and lawyers to secure policies that tilt the playing field in their favor at everyone else's expense. And so people get the bad taste that the system is rigged, and that increases cynicism and polarization, and it decreases the political participation that is a requisite part of our system of self-government."

This is coming from the man who signs legislation, such as Dodd-Frank, that only high-priced lawyers can understand; who, according to the Guardian newspaper, has spent much of 2013 on a "record-breaking fundraising spree," making "30 separate visits to wealthy donors," at "more than twice the rate of the president's two-term predecessors." more