Kathleen Parker—who, despite ample evidence of unfitness for the position, is still a professional newspaper columnist—seems confused today. Is all this "income inequality" talk even a real thing?

To a financially comfortable woman like Kathleen Parker, years of massive public outcry about America's well documented rising income inequality is little more than "verbal distortion" by the left, explicitly designed to contradict the fundamental American values of "merit, talent and hard work." Why is there really such a huge gap between the rich and poor?

Other factors include: a growing retired population, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the population; a dearth of entry-level jobs for college grads saddled with $1 trillion in loan debt (which the government guarantees); the appalling rate of children born out of wedlock, a now-systemic condition that condemns a new generation to another cycle of poverty, as Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan pointed out five decades ago and Obama has reiterated.

Add to these the grinding down of low-skill wages thanks to a global economy that rewards the professional class — lawyers, doctors, engineers and, yes, television talk-show hosts. And, voilà, a growing income gap.

But is it inequality?

Yes.

[Please feel free to email us any questions you have prior to publication, Kathleen. Photo: Getty]