The U.S. Year That Was

It was, 2013, arguably, not a very good year. Not for the country particularly, and certainly not for the man who led the country. When 2013 was rung in on a fairly high note, President Barack Obama enjoyed a fairly decent popularity rating. Hope remained high that he would fulfill the pledges that eluded him during his first term, and that he clearly meant to bring to fruition during his second term.

America under his firm hand and guidance of a social contract in the works, would be transformed toward a more economically egalitarian reality. Where the huge gap in entitled riches that the wealthy 1% enjoyed outdistancing the sightlines of hope for the future of the unwieldy mass of Americans -- who were underemployed in dead-end jobs, their unemployed counterparts, the working poor who had to rely on food stamps and any other forms of social welfare that would allow them to feed and clothe their families -- would be rectified.

Moreover, the estimated 45-million Americans who had no hope of ever being able to afford let alone qualify for medical insurance would be rescued from the plight of being unable to afford desperately needed medical care, and of the fear of being sent into the poor house by the cost of medical care that might make the difference between life and early death.

It might have been achieved as a resounding success had there been bipartisan resolve to stitch the bleeding wound in the American psyche through somewhat amending social inequality. But it seems that this is a hugely conflicted government, where the ability to work together has been so sadly compromised that political snubs and resistance have become the disorder of the day under the Obama administration.

In January of 2013 the approval rating for President Obama was a cautious and hopeful 52%. What with promises to effect a gun control law, tax reform, immigration reform, a budget. Battles royal on all fronts resulted in little accomplishments and a plummeting approval rating sunk down to 39%. There were simply too many political straitjackets, too many conflicts, and too many crises.

His signature social welfare project, the rolling out of the subsidized health care program thudded to a halt when aspirants logging in for the long-awaited registration for ObamaCare found themselves facing the frustration of a software program that failed spectacularly. People satisfied with the level of their health insurance and content with the medical practitioner they relied upon found themselves out in the cold.

Now, the Obama administration attempts to portray its foreign affairs in a brighter light of serene accomplishment. Where, with the guidance of the Kremlin, Washington succeeded in persuading Syria's President that abandoning his chemical weapons would succeed in preventing NATO and the US to intervene leaving his regime free, under the guiding hand of Iran, to bomb the living hell out of Syrian civilians on the pretext of battling rebellion and terrorists.

And Iran is complacently relieved that through its clever diplomacy, with its Russian ally it has succeeded in manipulating the United States and the rest of the G5+1, to an agreement that it is completely justified in pursuing a "domestic" nuclear program, and need only spend six months acceding to the pretense that if it enriches uranium to a certain level there will be no further need to compromise its real nuclear objective.

Of course there was the bombshell unleashed by a rogue contract intelligence IT worker, and the fallout from those revelations relating to foreign snooping remains ongoing, but the good news on that file is that a more recent opinion on the bulk records collection by the National Security Agency fulfills a distinct and needed purpose, to restrain al-Qaeda's continuing sinister plans for attack on American soil.

But the social justice champion who promised Middle America the world at their feet simply has failed to materialize. The national income gap is growing. Since the 2008 recession the top 1% income has grown by 31% while the 99% has seen a pathetic 0.4% growth in income. The minimum wage of $7.25 doesn't represent much of a wage, and has been stuck there for years.

As for tax rates under this progressive government for which the underprivileged and the lower middle class and the educated voted so hopefully, that has changed. Full time employment gains someone working at minimum wage $15,000; well, well below the poverty line for a family; the Fair Minimum Wage Act is stuck in limbo.

On the positive side, if you're independently wealthy, are low tax rates. Lower than what the low and middle classes pay. Where the rich pay lower tax rates than their cleaning staff. How does that work, anyway?