Middle Class

Here We Go Again: Republicans Want Tax Increase For Middle Class And Don’t Care About Unemployed Millions!

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The Republican Party, which wants constant tax cuts for the top two percent and for corporations, is making clear its unwillingness to support a continuation of the payroll tax cut of 2 percent on Social Security to help middle class families, by continuing an average $1000 tax cut over the payroll year, which will expire at the end of the year.

At the same time, the fact that we have more long term unemployed than we have ever had since the 1930s does not phase the party, which is against an extension of unemployment compensation for those who have been out of work for more than 99 weeks, feeling that the lack of jobs is not the issue, but the “lazy” attitude of workers who would rather collect a check than go to work!

What an outrage to call for tax increases at a difficult time, and to have no concern if the unemployed are homeless, starving, and have no medical care!

We are seeing the Republican Party going back to the concept of the 19th century Social Darwinists–basically having no concern for the unfortunate, including millions of children, about 25 percent of all children, taking the view that poverty and deprivation is a character flaw in those people, and basically, let them starve, as that would help, somehow, to produce a better society!

Shame on the GOP, and the voters in 2012 will richly reward them for such hardhearted attitudes by throwing them out of office!

Police Brutality at University Of California-Davis Against Peaceful “Occupy” Demonstrators: Must Be Condemned And Prevented From Happening Again ANYWHERE!

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The shocking action of police at the University of California-Davis against peaceful, nonviolent “Occupy” demonstrators, utilizing pepper spray into their faces, debilitating them, and sending eleven to the hospital, must be condemned by all decent citizens, and prevented from happening ever again ANYWHERE in America!

The police involved must be fired and prosecuted, and the Chancellor who allowed these actions needs to resign!

The right wing is spreading the myth that the “Occupy” demonstrators at Wall Street and in hundreds of other demonstrations all over America are a bunch of bums, drifters, drug addicts, and petty criminals, and that there are widespread crimes, property damage, and sexual activity taking place. Also, it is being claimed that these are just people who want a handout, and don’t want to work.

This is an outrage to attack Americans who have become victims of the Great Recession, and that is most of us in some form, who wish to use their First Amendment rights to call for action against the one percent who control the economy and dominate the national income, with greater stratification than at any time in American history.

If the police and law enforcement authorities are going to react like the Southern states acted toward civil rights demonstrators in the 1950s and 1960s, then there is the danger of a much more violent action, which would be highly regrettable, and is no solution to the issue.

The “Occupy” demonstrators all over the country include students who see no future with their skyrocketing education costs and lack of job opportunities; senior citizens who have seen their pensions and 401 Ks decimated; middle class homeowners who have been foreclosed on, after losing their employment; veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, who have few opportunities after sacrificing for their country; and every day average Americans who insist on a sense of fairness and equal opportunity for all, not just the wealthy and corporations!

If mayors and college administrators decide to use police in a forceful way against peaceful demonstrators, they should be forced out as working against American traditions of the right of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and the right to petition for the redress of grievances!

And those conservative talk show hosts who condemn these demonstrators and condone police violence against them need to be boycotted by all decent Americans, who are tired of their backing of the wealthy and the corporations!

The “Near Poor”: A New Category Of Poverty

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In the past, we have known that poverty existed, and the fact that about 49 million people, one out of six in this country, are in that sad state, a large percentage of them being children.

But now the Census Bureau, through gathering of new data, has come up with a new category, the “near poor”.

This category is approximately 51 million people, making for a total of about 100 million people, one out of THREE, who are either in poverty or in “near poverty”!

Of course, the “near poor” are better off than those defined as “poor”, in the sense that they work and own a car, but they own a car with a lot of mileage, do not make enough to have a sense of “getting ahead”, and often do not have health care coverage, which means if they get sick or have an accident, it sets them back with heavy bills that can push them over the line into poverty.

There is no room for error among this group, as they teeter on the verge of bankruptcy from unexpected bills that may crop up, and they are unable to have much hope about the future.

One third of the “near poor” are elderly, and 39 percent are children. The “American Dream” is not coming through for these people at both ends of the age spectrum! The group of 51 million people is just “scraping by”, and there is a sense of hopelessness.

If one has an income under $50,000 in major metropolitan areas, he or she fits into this group if part of a family of four, and they have suffered from a decade of flat wages, as well as the economic collapse of the Great Recession. The fact that many live in the suburbs is misleading, as we are witnessing the growing poverty of many suburban communities, and the foreclosures on many homes, decimating what were once middle class neighborhoods.

As the saying goes, there is no “wiggle room” for this category of “near poor”, as they struggle every day to stay “above water”, with the danger of “drowning”, falling into poverty.

The Collapse Of The Middle Class: Threat To American Stability

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Growing income inequality is turning many middle class neighborhoods into slums or ghettos, as poverty spreads rapidly, accelerated by the Great Recession, which began in 2008.

A Stanford University study demonstrates this reality: In 2007, only 44 percent of families lived in middle class neighborhoods, down from 65 percent in 1970. And one third of families lived in neighborhoods of affluence or poverty, up from just 15 percent in 1970.

The affluent are being segregated from the declining middle class, and becoming less willing to support broad based schools, parks, and public transportation projects that benefit the general public. Fourteen percent of families now live in affluent neighborhoods, compared to seven percent in 1970.

The effects of the growth of poverty is that children from poverty backgrounds have less access to quality education and support networks to encourage accomplishment and work goals.

This reality is showing up in educational accomplishments, as the standardized test scores now show a gap of 40 percent, a bigger gap than four decades ago. And college completion of children from high income families is more than half the population, up about one third from twenty years ago, and less than ten percent among low income families, up from five percent.

As everyone should know, education is the bridge to success and social mobility, so this Stanford study is extremely troubling for the long run of social stability in America.

This is one of the major reasons for the Occupy Wall Street movement, as it is manifesting itself, not only in New York City but all across the nation.

Congressman Ron Paul And College Student Loans: Denial Of Educational Opportunity!

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Libertarian and Republican Presidential candidate, Texas Congressman Ron Paul always draws interest when he makes his statements and announces his platform, because it is so contradictory to that of all the other GOP candidates.

He is much loved by many young people, including college students, who have a utopian view of having very little government in the complex world of the 21st century.

However, with his new suggestion that college student loans be ended over a period of time, along with the Department of Education itself, many young people and other Americans who are enamored with him might have second thoughts.

His comment that anyone who wants an education will be able to get one is preposterous on its face, as realize how many poor whites and minorities go into the military precisely for the chance to get a low cost education, something that should not be a factor in volunteering to put oneself in harm’s way!

While many students may graduate with high levels of debt, to eliminate the government promoting education is a guarantee of FEWER college graduates, which even with the tough realities of unemployment problems today, is still the best way to promote job success and increased standard of living long term!

What Paul is doing is condemning millions of people not so fortunate to have wealthy parents, and facing the problems of constant struggle to survive, to have no way out of poverty or the struggling lower middle class!

That is only to be condemned as heartless, uncaring, narrow minded, and elitist, and certainly, Senator Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, with a father who was a doctor in his younger years, did not face that kind of personal struggle, which might have prevented him from his career as an eye doctor before seeking public office!

This is more than enough reason to eliminate Ron Paul as a serious Presidential candidate, although it is certain that the GOP electorate will do that effectively in the early caucuses and primaries!

Reverse Robin Hood: Republican Class Warfare On The Middle Class And The Poor

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The Republican Party loves to accuse the Democrats and President Barack Obama of conducting “class warfare”.

In reality, what the GOP has been doing is conducting reverse “class warfare” on the middle class and the poor!

It is as if they are a reverse Robin Hood, and have no conscience about defending Wall Street, the banks, and the corporations, the one percent, against the 99 percent!

The only principle they have is to promote greater acquisition of wealth, and redistribute wealth to those who already have much more than anyone needs, and show no concern about those less fortunate, those unemployed due to their policies over a decade, those victimized by the stratification of society encouraged by these Republicans, as they believe in no regulations economically, but certainly wish to intrude on and control a person’s private rights and social existence!

Eric Cantor At It Again: Calls Wall Street Protestors “Mobs”!

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Eric Cantor, the Republican House Majority Leader, is condemning the “Occupy Wall Street” movement in New York and dozens of other cities in America, as “mobs”!

The fact that the movement is one to challenge banks, corporation, and Wall Street, which have victimized the middle class, is overlooked by Cantor, who had no problem with the hate mongering and anarchism of the Tea Party Movement in the past two and a half years!

The horrible behavior of the Tea Party gatherings were not seen as a “mob” by Cantor or other Republicans, but once the “99 percent” marched against the unfairness of one percent controlling a growing percentage of the entire wealth of the nation, all he can do is criticize it, and promote it as dangerous and unjustifiable!

Eric Cantor should be ashamed of himself, but he has no shame and no humility, and how anyone can support his behavior and rhetoric is impossible to justify!

It is clear that if nothing is done to deal with the income disparity, the greatest since 1929, we may face violence and bloodshed in America, and that would be truly tragic!

Barack Obama’s War On Terror: Reason Why, No Matter What The Economy, He Will Win Reelection In 2012!

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Barack Obama decided early on in his administration that he was NOT going to use the term “War On Terror”!

But forget what it is called: Barack Obama has waged a very effective “War On Terror”, has shown he is tough and decisive, has demonstrated aggressiveness in military matters, and has protected the homeland more effectively than George W. Bush and Dick Cheney before him!

His military and intelligence people have hunted down and eliminated dozens, if not more, terrorist leaders of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and related groups. Of course, the most famous is Osama Bin Laden!

He has utilized drones effectively, and made arrangements for new drone locations to go after terrorists in Somalia and Yemen.

He has given private warnings, now becoming public, to Pakistan and Afghanistan about connections to terrorists.

He has made Iran aware that we will not tolerate their connections with Hamas and Hezbollah in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, and while we are trying to withdraw our involvement with ground troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are not abandoning the fight against terrorist elements.

Barack Obama is often called too nice, lacking in aggressiveness in dealing with Republicans, but even that is starting to change as he pursues an economic plan to promote fairness in taxation, and stop victimizing the middle class in favor of the rich!

He cannot quickly create jobs, but he is showing his intent for the long term, and while he is doing this, he has made perfectly clear his aggressiveness and single mindedness to protect us from terrorism and root it out wherever it exists!

This is a long battle that may never fully end, but the waging of the War on Terror worldwide is the ultimate reason why, no matter what the economy, he will win reelection in 2012! The Republican Party will be helpless on this issue, unable to criticize Obama, and they will lose the election and seats in Congress, and possibly control, because of that reality!

The Myth About Barack Obama, The Wealthy, And Taxes

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The average American, if asked, would certainly say that George W. Bush is remembered for major tax cuts. After all, the term “Bush Tax Cuts” is a word in the political vocabulary often used.

So if one was told that actually Barack Obama cut taxes more, the reaction would be disbelief. But that is true, which even conservatives and Republicans try to hide from the American public!

Between the tax cuts in 2009 and 2010, over $900 billion in tax cuts will have been enacted in Obama’s term, almost double what Bush brought about in his first term by signing tax legislation!

Beyond the dollar amount, and accounting for inflation to raise the numbers for Bush, there is also the issue of WHO received the bulk of the tax cuts!

85 percent of the tax cuts under Obama are to the bottom 80 percent, while more than half of the Bush tax cuts went to the richest 20 percent!

And, finally, the Obama tax cuts are TEMPORARY, as compared to Bush, where it was meant to be PERMANENT, which is what has led to the economic disaster we now face!

With the growing responsibilities and problems this nation face, we all have to chip in and pay for the present and the future, rather than glorify greed and selfishness on the part of the wealthy!

And it is not as if the wealthy have not paid higher levels of taxes in the past, and it did no harm, as they still remained wealthy! The propaganda regarding this, how harmful it is to tax the wealthy, claiming they work so hard and are being penalized, is unjust when compared to how hard the average person works, and yet he is expected to contribute higher levels of taxation percentage wise than the rich. It is the great myth believed by millions of people who should know better!

The Obama Tax Plan: “Class Warfare”, Or Fairness And Simple Math?

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President Obama has just proposed a deficit reduction plan that would return tax rates for the wealthy back to what they were in the 1990s under Bill Clinton, before George W. Bush gave that elite class a tremendous tax cut, leading to the tremendous deficits we now experience, a major contributing factor to the Great Recession!

Why should the wealthy pay a lower tax rate than the average person? Why should they feel an entitlement to such tax cuts permanently, rather than take on the responsibility to appreciate their success and do their part to contribute to the economic welfare of the nation? Why should they be “privileged characters” who can evade taxes through loopholes and gimmicks?

As Obama said this morning, it is an issue of fairness and simple math!

If anything, the fact that the wealthy have evaded taxes and paid a lower percentage for the past ten years is the true “class warfare”, against the MIDDLE CLASS, which has been decimated by that tax policy!

All polls show the VAST majority of the American people want higher taxes on the wealthy, so Obama is proposing something that is both proper and MORAL at the same time!

Let the Republicans fight it, and Obama will have a great issue against them in the Congressional and Presidential races of 2012. It reminds us of Franklin D. Roosevelt using that issue in the 1930s and winning a landslide second term in 1936!

So let 2012 be like 1936, when unemployment was still very high, but FDR went on to a smashing victory, because the people KNEW he cared about them, and that the Republicans cared only about the wealthy!

What is new about that 75 years after 1936? NOTHING HAS CHANGED!