Op Ed: Bush Budget Should Reflect Middle-Class Needs »
Posted By Spadecaller 1 year, 8 months ago in NewsIn early February, the president has a historic opportunity to submit a federal budget to a Democratic-controlled Congress that will expand the middle class, reduce the enormous gap between the rich and the poor and lower the poverty rate. But don't hold your breath.
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Spadecaller1 year, 8 months ago
"At a time when millions of Americans are struggling to keep their heads above water, the last thing we need to do is to make the president's tax cuts for the wealthy permanent.
What is needed in Washington instead is the political courage to roll back the president's tax breaks for the wealthiest 1 percent and stand up for the middle class and working poor."
The showdown begins when Bush presents his budget; then we will see if Congress will again forsake the middle-class to garner their lobbyist's support. Or will they come to "respect and serve" their constituents, who will threaten to vote them out of office if they make the wrong choice. It is up to us to remind them of the consequences. We, the people, must determine the direction our government will take.
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Amazing11 year, 8 months ago
Good for Bernie Sanders. I hope he will help spread the message throughout Congress. The piggies have had it good for far too long while the middle class and the poor have been getting the short end of the stick. And thank you, Spadecaller for posting this.
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Harbeas1 year, 8 months ago
The wealthy can afford to do anything they want and still have their taxes raised. We will have serious problems if this situation is not addressed and soon. We must reduce the tremendous gap between the rich and the poor. We have people who are retired on social security of 15,000 per year and then you have the ex-CEO of Home depot getting 214 million for quitting! Huh!
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bubba21 year, 8 months ago
Webster's definition --
wealthy - adj: having an abundant supply of money or possessions of value; "an affluent banker"; "a speculator flush with cash"; "not merely rich but loaded"; "moneyed aristocrats"; "wealthy corporations" [syn: affluent, flush, loaded, moneyed]
More definition at http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wealthy person
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not2needy1 year, 8 months ago
I certainly won't hold my breath, he's not looking at reelection, and he has made it perfectly clear that he will allow no one, not even Congress to stop him from a troop surge in Iraq, so what does he care about the middle class, as far as that goes, he could care less about any of us.
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ETproductions1 year, 8 months ago
The President's claims about the booming economy are true, but as with everything else he does, this only applies to the corporate elites. Wall Street is at all time highs. Corporate profits are at all time highs and tax breaks have been heaped on them to boot.
In 1960, average CEO pay was 40 times that of the average worker. By 2000, it had hit 525 times that of CEO pay. http://www.faireconomy.org/research/CEO_Pay_charts
Real income (adjusted for inflation) of American middle-class workers has been declining since Ronnie Raygun started the trickle-down economics theory. http://nymag.com/news/imperialcity/26014/index.htm http://www.alternet.org/workplace/41192/
Bush brags that he's added 7.2 million jobs. http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/economy/ Truth is good paying manufacturing jobs have been shipped offshore at an alarming rate. In place of them we get jobs flipping burgers, selling the merchandise we no longer manufacture. These are mimimum wage and low wage jobs.
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bubba21 year, 8 months ago
NET job creation during the Clinton administration was 22 MILLION jobs. Bush is way behind ...
The wages of 80% of the workforce have risen an average of 3.9% over the last 6 years. That doesn't even keep up with inflation.
Meanwhile, the cost of health insurance premiums (for those that have them) have increased over 80%, the cost of gasoline has increased over 50%, and the cost of home heating has increased 70%.
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newsquew1 year, 8 months ago
The biggest sector of the economy contributing to inflation is the Govt.
That sector is the problem... and it isn't all the war. Employees,education & healthcare & SS as entitlements receive increases regardless of economic conditions in those sectors.
Out of control - expanding Govt is our problem
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ETproductions1 year, 8 months ago
Bubba, let's not forget the cost of higher education. In a time when it is ever more important to go beyond a high school education, the cost of doing so has been far outpacing inflation too.
In the 1980-81 academic year, the average tuition cost of a public college was $804 and a private 4-year school was $3,617.
Fast forward to 2005-06 and the public tuition is $5,491 (up 683%) and the private tuition is $21,235 (up 578%).
The Bush administrations solution to help the middle class? Gut the Federal Pell Grant fund so even more money can be shipped off to the poor, starving people in the mansions of Malibu and Beverly Hills.
Stats from http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:8Kb2LrrCZ24J: cost of college over time&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2
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newsquew1 year, 8 months ago
ET, Ther are "shortages" of people in the health fields, engineering and sciences. Not every job in America is minimum wage level. It makes for nice points, but is weak in content.
Much of the off shoring is the result of ill prepared or over priced labor poll.
As robotics continues to emerge, an economy based on human manufacturing may not be the best place to be. Your argument proves that point because total reliance on it gets us to where we are at; unemployed/retraining workforce.
Innovation & flexibility is where the future is & old paradigms are no longer valid.
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ETproductions1 year, 8 months ago
Real income for average Americans has been declining since Reagun's Administration. The middle class is a disappearing bred. You're right there are lots of reasons for this. Bush is not controlling them all. But in the face of it, what he has done is assure that the very wealth get an even greater share of the pie, make sure that Medicare can't negotiate with drug firms for better prices even though they are a massive purchaser, and I could go on and on. And yes, the explosion in government size is part of the problem, and that lies at Bush's feet too.
There are a lot of things the legislative and executive branches could do to improve the employment possibilities in the USA and to ensure a strong and vibrant middle class. The Repuglicans have done just the opposite of these things. They have presided over the most massive legal robbery in recent times and made sure the beneficiaries of these moves were a tiny handful of the very wealthy and the massive multinational corporations.
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bubba21 year, 8 months ago
This is what SO ANGERS me about Bush's and the Republcans' budget cuts over the last 6 years -- they have CONSISTENTLY CUT Veterans benefits.
Yes, veterans benefits!
THOUSANDS of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are HOMELESS. Thousands more are suffering from PTSD and CANNOT get ANY help, thousands have gone thru divorce and are BANKRUPT, and thousands of others cannot get the health care they not only need but DESERVE.
From the article --
"I don't think that the former CEO of Exxon-Mobil, who managed to get a $400 million retirement package, needs more tax relief. In my view, it is far more important that we keep our promises to the veterans of this country who now find themselves on waiting lists to get the health care they need."
Amen!
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Spadecaller1 year, 8 months ago
Your right Bubba.
The selfish misplaced priorities are reflective of a very sick element in our country that cares nothing for the society of their fellow human beings; apparently they feel we are only here to serve them and their needs.
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