Americans for Inequality, a satirical Facebook group promoting inequality, endorsed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, in a New Hampshire event on Monday, according to a press release issued on its Facebook page:
(Manchester, New Hampshire)-The Board of Directors of Americans for Inequality, a citizen’s advocacy group which promotes the benefits of inequality, voted to endorse former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R) for President. “The Board of Directors voted to emphatically endorse Governor Romney’s candidacy for President” said Warren Bancroft, interim Chair of Americans for Inequality. “Americans for Inequality is prepared to commit considerable resources to help make Mitt Romney the next President of the United States.”
In the 2012 Presidential campaign, Americans for Inequality has been the first organization to educate voters about the benefits of vast inequalities. Americans for Inequality has been a pioneer in changing the narrative away from the costs and perils of inequality---and toward a new appreciation of how inequality plays an important and beneficial role in our economy.
“For far too long the poor, unemployed, and elderly have been coddled by America’s generous welfare system and exempted from contributing their fair share in taxes, while banks and companies have suffered under an oppressive regime. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan’s budget plan will mostly rely on ending the era of entitlement and providing tax relief for upper-income households. That’s the beauty of the Romney/Ryan plan: the higher the income, the higher the tax break. Their budget plan will ensure that inequality will remain with us, as it should, for many years,” said Bancroft.
The Americans for Inequality endorsement was not, however, a unanimous one. One member of the Americans for Inequality Board voted against the Romney endorsement.
Chester Prattfield noted how inequality has accelerated under President Obama, and that it could continue for another four years. “The current recovery has been the weakest and most unequal recovery since WWII, both in terms of income and wealth. The financial industry is back on its feet and corporations are making record profits. Class mobility and opportunity are declining as inequality becomes entrenched, and that’s what we want to see. But there is room for improvement. Job creators do 100% of the work, but from 2009-2011, they only received 88% of the national income. And companies such as Exxon Mobil pay as high as 2% in federal taxes—they need relief.”
“While I voted to endorse President Obama, and will continue to personally support his campaign, I understand and respect the decision of the Americans for Inequality Board,” said Prattfield, Americans for Inequality co-founder. “I appreciate the thoughtfulness the Board of Directors has put into this decision.”
Income inequality has risen dramatically over the last 40 years, with some economists and public advocacy groups pointing to the issue as an important problem that needs to be addressed. Americans for Inequality is trying to do just the opposite.
"After analyzing the Ryan budget plan as well as other aspects of the social and economic policies of both presidential candidates, we support Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan because they will ensure that inequality will remain for some time -- as it should," an Americans for Inequality spokesperson, who calls himself Warren Bancroft, said in a phone interview with The Huffington Post.
During its first three days of existence, the group's Facebook page has obtained nearly 500 supporters. And although some of the advocates are in on the joke, others haven't picked up on the satire and are serious endorsers of both inequality and the Romney-Ryan ticket, Bancroft said.
Bancroft also defended Americans for Inequality's information, saying that it comes from veritable sources. But the spoof is not made explicitly clear on the group's Facebook or Twitter page, providing closeted supporters of inequality a platform on which to speak out.
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