LIVE NOW: Obama attacking inequality "We are a better country than this"

[flamingdem]

On MSNBC etc now

[Coyotl]

1. LIVE

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

[flamingdem]

3. Thanks Coyoti!

[Coyotl]

8. The White House dot gov is where the best quallity video is found.

[flamingdem]

2. Rising inequality and decreasing mobility is bad for our democracy

Earlier he pointed out that countries like France have more mobility than we do.

"People get the sense that the system is rigged"

"This increases cynicism and lack of engagement in the process"

Why has Washington failed to act?

The reason is the myths around issue of inequality. The reason is that people
think it's about blacks, latinos, native americans .. who historically suffer from
higher poverty rates. Women still make 70% on the dollar compared to men.

We're going to need immigration reform, take people out of the shadow..

The decades long shift has hurt all folks, men and women, urban rural, all races
Social patterns that contribute to declining mobility, inner cities, now we're
seeing it everywhere.

[freshwest]

18. K&R here.

[Cha]

38. Thank you for these highlights, flamingdem! nm

[hfojvt]

44. has Washington failed to act?

Under Obama's leadership, they took steps to permanently INCREASE inequality. But we are not supposed to know that.

Oh, if only they had failed to act, we would be in a better place now.

[NuclearDem]

4. Good, now do something about it. Like, say, abandoning TPP.

[flamingdem]

10. Those negotiations need to be transparent

The unions are not happy about it

[NuclearDem]

12. Agreed.

From what's been leaked, it really needs to be abandoned, but at the very least we should know what's going on.

[tblue]

24. HAHAHAHA!

Speeches are nice. They do serve a purpose. But they have to be backed up with appropriate action. Let me know when that happens.

[WowSeriously]

28. Agreed. Walk the walk. I've had it with talk.

[Marr]

46. Exactly. Who could take this bullshit seriously when they're currently working on the TPP,

and a whole slew of other top-down, corporate economic policies?

[Coyotl]

5. Epic address!

[flamingdem]

7. It really is

I think this is new information for many who have their heads in the sand.

We still want to believe in mobility in the USA, but it's losing ground.

[Whisp]

6. ty nt.

[Coyotl]

9. Applause for minimum wage increase.

[pinboy3niner]

13. Good timing with Fast Food Worker strikes planned in 100 cities tomorrow (D5)

To find a Thursday lunch hour rally near you use D5 Protest Locator (enter Zip Code at link):
http://events.lowpayisnotok.org/

Follow the action on Twitter with the hashtags #FastFoodStrikes and #HardWorkFairPay.

[flamingdem]

23. Great! Now the media has more reason to

cover those protests, we'll see!

[tblue]

25. Walking shoes.

Time to put them on and go there. What in the world has he got to lose now by openly supporting unions?

[Cha]

40. That is Great Timing, pinboy.. thank you! nm

[Coyotl]

11. Make high quality pre-school available to every child in America.

Give all of our children that chance

[Coyotl]

14. Really loud applause for raising the minimum wage.

[Coyotl]

15. "Good for our economy, good for our families"

[Mira]

16. Thank you so much! n/t

[Coyotl]

17. "Elephant in the room" Seeming inability to get anything done in Washington

In other words, the Republicans!!!

[Skidmore]

19. I do believe he address this as well when he called for those critics to

explain what they are for rather than going through a litany of things Rs are generally against. Next step is to not nudge the Rs a bit but get out to the polls in 2014 and push them out of office.

[Coyotl]

20. He threw down a real challenge to Republicans.

[flamingdem]

22. I love Elephant in the Room!

That sounds like a good campaign slogan he he

[Berlum]

29. .

[Oldtimeralso]

32. I Think...

That congress (both House and Senate), cabinet members, and federal judges should wear emblems
such as in post 29 on their outer clothing while in public. Maybe uniforms like NASCAR drivers. Doing this shows who they really represent!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

35. + one zillion!

That's a sticker I'd love to have.

Wouldn't mind seeing Bain Capital on there too. And Clearchannel radio. And News Corp and 21st Century Fox. etc.

[Cha]

41. "Elephant in the room" is a good f**king expression for

those Do-Nothing Republicons!

thanks C

[UtahLib]

21. Thank you. Good speech and discussion afterwards. n/t

[SidDithers]

26. He sounds just like the Pope...

except without the homophobia, misogyny and bigotry.

Sid

[BlancheSplanchnik]

36. hee.

[polichick]

27. Talk is cheap.

[WowSeriously]

30. Walk the walk, Mr. President. I've heard all the talk.

[randome]

31. I thought it was 'walk the talk'.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]

[Ed Suspicious]

39. I think "walk the talk" is a new variant of...

"If you're gonna talk the talk you need to walk the walk."

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/walk+the+walk

[WowSeriously]

48. I thought it was "don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk".

[Cha]

42. The President does Walk it.. he's talking to Congress to get it done.

There's 3 Legislative bodies.. he doesn't Get it Done by himself.. for all those whining about the Walk.

[WowSeriously]

49. Technically there are two legislative bodies and an executive body.

The President needed no help to let the Bush tax theft end. He chose not to let it end.

The President invokes Commander-in-chief and TERRORISTSTSTS to drone. He could do the same with Gitmo.

The President could have put on his walking shoes with Wisconsinite. He chose not to.

But that's just my opinion.

[840high]

43. Yes. So what's his plan?

[WowSeriously]

53. Make a speech. Abandon the pulpit. Move on.

[pansypoo53219]

33. reagan + grover norquist have made DC the grinch.

karma needs to hit grover hard.

[Phlem]

34. Stop signing Free Trade agreements then!

-p

[pampango]

37. That won't solve the problem. Progressive taxes and pro-union legislation will.

The countries with good distributions of income all trade more than the US does.

[NuclearDem]

45. Giving corporations more power to fight environmental and labor laws

While also shipping jobs to other Pacific rim countries won't help either.

[pampango]

50. You are right. Trade should be structured to enhance environmental and labor laws.

And enhancing environmental and labor laws will make diminish the competitive advantage of poor countries and their workers.



http://www.people-press.org/2013/12/03/public-sees-u-s-power-declining-as-support-for-global-engagement-slips/

[Phlem]

52. Something seems odd about the pie chart on the left.

It might be just me but the 66% "Good thing because it exposes the US to new markets and opportunities for growth" Doesn't seem to account for the fact that, as we're currently structured, "new markets and opportunities for growth" profits go to the 1 % while jobs just go to the lowest bidder.

Are 66% of the US population millionaires cause I sure as hell wouldn't be in that camp.



-p

[pampango]

54. Unfortunately, profits/income from all trade - international and domestic - go to the 1%.

I think people realize that does not make trade the villain, but the way our regressive tax system and anti-union legal environment is structured to benefit the 1%.

[Cha]

47. Here's the Vid, flamingdem, if you want to add it to your OP..

http://theobamadiary.com/2013/12/04/coming-up-74/

[indepat]

51. My Dear Mr. President: We are not a better country than this for this is the essence of

our country fostered by laizze-faire capitalism run amok because government has long almost exclusively done the bidding of large corporations and the uber-wealthy at the expense of we the people and detrimental to promoting the general welfare. Please do all you can to reverse this perverse misfeasance, a virulent pox upon our society.