Marx versus Issa

Darrell Issa, the richest member of the plunderbund known as Congress, has said that he cares about income inequality. But he can't care that much, because he didn't miss a beat in backpedaling, saying that

"America is the richest country on the earth because we've been able to put capital together. And we've been able to make our poor somewhat the envy of the world. If you go to India or to any number of third world countries, you have two problems. You have greater inequality of income and wealth. You also have less opportunity for people to rise from the have-not to the have. The quality of public education, the availability of that access. So I think America is a good example. Can we do better? I think we can."

This is an old argument -- our poor shouldn't complain because other people are poorer. But Issa himself uttered one half of the obvious counter-argument: America is the richest country in the world. So why are there poor people at all?

Or, as Marx said a long, long time ago:

"A house may be large or small; as long as the surrounding houses are equally small it satisfies all social demands for a dwelling. But let a palace arise beside the little house, and it shrinks from a little house to a hut. The little house shows now that its owner has only slight or no demands to make, and however high it may shoot in the course of civilization, if the neighbouring palace grows to an equal or even greater extent, the occupant of the relatively small house will feel more and more uncomfortable, dissatisfied and cramped within its four walls."