PROGRESS...I THINK

For some reason I can't fathom, prominent Reublicans are admitting that income inequality in America is a problem:

Speaker of the House Boehner:

“We do have an issue of income inequality in America,” the House speaker told Texas Tribune editor-in-chief Evan Smith in a one-on-one interview.

Mitt Romney:

Mr. Romney signaled that a potential third campaign for the White House would focus in part on lifting Americans from poverty. He said that while the economy in the short term was “looking up,” income inequality had worsened.

Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Rand Paul:

On Fox News after the State of the Union speech, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) denigrated the administration’s economic track record by doing his best Bernie Sanders impression.

“We’re facing right now a divided America when it comes to the economy. It is true that the top 1 percent are doing great under Barack Obama. Today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our national income than any year since 1928,” he said, quoting an oft-cited (by liberals) statistic from the work of economists Piketty and Emmanuel Saez.

Jeb Bush, too, has newfound interest in the lower income groups and deep inequity flourishing in our nation. His State of the Union reaction: “While the last eight years have been pretty good ones for top earners, they’ve been a lost decade for the rest of America.” Sen. Rand Paul, as well: “Income inequality has worsened under this administration. And tonight, President Obama offers more of the same policies — policies that have allowed the poor to get poorer and the rich to get richer.”

Senate Majority Leader McConnell:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on 60 Minutes on Sunday that “the so-called 1 percent that the president's always talking about have done quite well. But middle- and lower-income Americans are about $3,000 a year worse off than they were when he came to office.” In the same interview, House Speaker John Boehner said Obama's “policies have made income inequality worse.”