Jeb Bush is all-in with economic inequality message

As a growing number of Republican officials and White House wannabes begin to realize that economic inequality is a real concern among voters heading into 2016, Jeb Bush seems determined to get out front on this issue.

In his speech Wednesday at the Detroit Economic Club, Bush outlined one of his presidential campaign themes – the “Right to Rise” – and he lamented an economic ladder to success that seems impossibly out of reach for many Americans.

"How do we recapture the prosperity and opportunity that once defined cities like Detroit," he asked a crowd of about 600 people. "How do we restore America's faith in the moral promise of our great nation that any child born today can reach further than their parents? This is an urgent issue: Far too many Americans live on the edge of economic ruin."

"Roughly two out of three American households live paycheck to paycheck. Any unexpected expense can push them into financial ruin. We have a record number of Americans on food stamps and living in poverty."

The former Florida governor was careful to avoid class warfare rhetoric but he has been laying the groundwork for an “opportunity gap” campaign message for several months.

In an October mailer he signed that focused on the economy, Bush went further, making the argument that the U.S. now ranks last in upward economic mobility among all advanced nations.
"Americans could always count on hard work leading to higher incomes and improved lives. The American dream was real and within reach," Bush said in the letter. "But today, among the developed nations, we are the least economically and socially mobile country in the world."

That sounds like a bit of political hyperbole. But PolitiFact checked it out and … it’s true.

“We found … data suggesting that, yes, America does lag behind most every developed country in terms of being able to move from the bottom rungs of the income ladder to the top,” Politifact reports. “Experts we talked to said it was a fair claim …”