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MiddleClass
Who Exactly Counts as Middle Class?
By Tamara Lytle - AOL News(Feb. 28) -- Vice President Joe Biden knows what he wants to do to help the middle class, and on Friday he laid out a series of proposals to help them. But does he -- or anyone -- know what middle class is? Is it Americans earning less than $250,000 -- who President Obama promised to protect from tax increases? Is it people making less than $85,000 -- who Biden's Middle Class Task Force would help through several new benefits like tax credits for saving and for child care? Is it folks earning around the nation's median household income of just over $50,000 a year? Or is it 72 percent of ...
Opinion: The Middle Class Still Has It Pretty Good
By not in system - AOL News(Feb. 3) -- In the run-up to the release of his new budget, President Barack Obama painted a dire picture of the middle class. It has, he said, "been under assault for a long time ... barely able to stay afloat despite working harder and harder for less, [with health care] premiums that were doubling, tuition fees that were rising almost as fast, savings being used up, retirements put off, dreams put on hold. That was all before the middle class got pounded by the full fury of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression." And many of the president's budget plans are aimed at easing ...
For Washington, It's All About the Economy
By Joseph Schuman - AOL News(Jan. 25) – Once again, it is all about the economy. That political truth has again emerged as the most politically resonant theme in Washington, from the Obama White House crafting its first State of the Union address to a nominally nonpartisan Federal Reserve under fire from both ends of the political spectrum to a Republican Party hoping this fall to capitalize on the anger fueled by widespread economic uncertainty. President Barack Obama, his health care ambitions put aside, looks set to focus his annual speech to Congress on what the White House described Monday as its major ...
Obama to Propose Help for Middle Class in State of the Union Address
By David Sessions - Politics DailyPresident Obama's State of the Union address on Wednesday will focus on easing the economic pain of the middle class, the New York Times reports. Obama plans to introduce a number of modest measures designed to reassure Americans that he is taking their economic plight seriously: tax credits for child care and retirement savings, caps on student loan payments, and funding for programs that help families care for aging relatives. The speech, which is still being written, is also expected to address job creation and change in Washington, senior aides said Sunday. It will come as Obama's first ...
Health Care Reform: You'll Learn to Love It
By Donna Trussell - Politics DailyI know you conservatives are upset about the health care reform bill clearing the House, but let me spin it another way for you.Gone are the days when you could pay the doctor with chickens and rutabagas, and those days are not coming back unless we're in a nuclear winter (in which case our current problems will seem small).Who among you can say you haven't looked at Medicare recipients and wished you too were 65 years old? Probably the first time in history that an adult longed for old age. Likewise, Medicaid for the poor may have looked like a pretty good deal if you earned too much to ...
Obama Tax Hike Hits the Poor Hardest
By Mark Impomeni - Politics DailyAn increase in the federal tax on cigarettes went into effect yesterday, raising the levy to $1.01 per pack. The increase was sought by President Obama and Congressional Democrats to help finance an expansion in SCHIP, the federally funded children's health care program. Leaving aside the obvious irony in relying on smokers – on whom the government spends money on programs designed to help them break their habit – to finace a health care program, the tax increase violates an oft-stated pledge made by both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on the campaign trail.As candidates, Obama ...
Obama's Middle Class Tax Cut in Jeopardy
By Mark Impomeni - Politics DailyWhite House Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag laid the groundwork in a conference call with reporters last week for the Obama Administration to drop one of its signature campaign promises from this year's budget. President Obama repeatedly promised during the campaign to enact a "tax cut" for 95% of Americans as part of his economic rescue plans. But now, as Congressional leaders scale back the president's $3.6 trillion budget proposal, the Administration appears unwilling to press for the tax relief the president campaigned on.Orszag told reporters in advance of President ...
Obama's Expensive Designer Suit Habit
By Mark Impomeni - Politics DailyThe Politico has a hit piece out today on Republican vice-presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin and the money spent by the Republican National Committee to outfit her and her family for appearances on the campaign trail this election season. The article breathlessly reports that the RNC has spent upwards of $150,000 on makeup and designer clothes for the Palins since her nomination in late August. The unstated context of the article, immediately picked up upon by some liberal commentators, including in this space, is that Palin is a hypocrite, pretending to be Joe Six-pack while prancing about ...
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