Weekly Address: We Do Better When the Middle Class Does Better

[cal04]

Source: White House

In this week’s address, the President highlighted that six years after the Great Recession, thanks to the hard work of the American people and the President’s policies, our economy has come back further and faster than any other nation on Earth. With 10.3 million private-sector jobs added over 55 straight months, America’s businesses have extended the longest streak of private-sector job gains on record.

But even with this progress, too many Americans have yet to feel the benefits. The President reiterated the vision he set out earlier this week for steps that can lay a new foundation for stronger growth, rising wages, and expanded economic opportunity for middle-class families.

Read more: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/10/04/weekly-address-we-do-better-when-middle-class-does-better

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Transcript
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/10/04/weekly-address-we-do-better-when-middle-class-does-better

(snip)
I’m at Millennium Steel in Princeton, Indiana, to have a town hall with workers on National Manufacturing Day. Because in many ways, manufacturing is the quintessential middle-class job. And after a decade of losing jobs, American manufacturing is once again adding them – more than 700,000 over the past four and a half years.

In fact, it’s been a bright spot as we keep fighting to recover from the great recession. Last month, our businesses added 236,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate fell to under six percent for the first time in more than six years. Over the past 55 months, our businesses have added 10.3 million new jobs. That’s the longest uninterrupted stretch of private sector job creation in our history. And we’re on pace to make 2014 the strongest year of job growth since the 1990s.

This progress has been hard, but it has been steady, and it is real. It is a direct result of the American people’s drive and determination, and decisions made by my administration.

During the last decade, people thought the decline in American manufacturing was inevitable. But we chose to invest in American auto industry and American workers. And today, an auto industry that was flatlining six years ago is building and selling new cars at the fastest pace in eight years. American manufacturing is growing almost twice as fast as the rest of the economy, with new factories opening their doors at the fastest pace in decades. That’s progress we can be proud of.

What’s also true is that too many families still work too many hours with too little to show for it. And the much longer and profound erosion of middle-class jobs and incomes isn’t something we’re going to reverse overnight. But there are ideas we should be putting into place that would grow jobs and wages faster right now. And one of the best would be to raise the minimum wage.

more at link

[hatrack]

1. Class Warfare! Hating Sucess! Destroying Capitalism! Benghaziiiiiiiiiii!!!!

[dotymed]

2. The minimum wage

should be a living wage...
CEO's have seized upon it to pay workers slave wages while they pocket huge profits.
Unions are a must to protect workers rights, benefits and pay.
Unions are made up of the workers, they realize that companies must be profitable while the worker shares in that profit.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Thanks for posting!

I didn't get chance to hear his remarks at the steel mill yesterday (had walked by a TV that had it on just before the event started), but good to see him continue to push for the living wage. I did listen to the broadcast this morning as I always try to do. I was one who bought a new American car this year and hope that doing this also helped to contribute towards the web of American entities that supplied the parts for creating that car beyond the car company itself!

[valerief]

4. Tell it to the Bravo housewives. nt

[candelista]

5. Number of people who say they're middle class has fallen by nearly a fifth since 2008

Since 2008, the number of Americans who call themselves middle class has fallen by nearly a fifth, according to a survey in January by the Pew Research Center, from 53% to 44%. Forty percent now identify as either lower-middle or lower class compared with just 25% in February 2008.

According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans who say they're middle or upper-middle class fell 8 points between 2008 and 2012, to 55%.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/mo
ney/personalfinance/2014/04/02/more-americans-see-middle-class-status-slipping/7220635/

[MannyGoldstein]

6. And that's why we need the TPP now more than

only then will the 99% feel the full benefit of the Banker White House collaborating with rabid-dog Republicans.

[JoePhilly]

10. When's that (non-existent) bill going to be signed into law?

When will the agreement be signed?

Got any predictions?

[MannyGoldstein]

11. One can never know.

But my guess is well before the repeal of the 82% of the Bush tax cuts that Obama made permanent.

Austerity now!

Austerity forever!

[jtuck004]

7. Then why do you screw the middle class and make your friends at the banks richer on their backs? n/t

[Leontius]

8. So what the fuck have you been waiting for Mr. President?

[eilen]

13. He always shows up at manufacturing plants

with populist speeches during election season.

[JDPriestly]

9. We have a long way to go, but Obama is, almost single-handedly responsible for at least getting

as far as we have come with our recovery against terrible resistance brought by the reactionary Republicans.

Great job, Mr. President.

Of course, I reserve the right to call for even more improvement. I must say though that Obama's only fault as far as I can see is his inability to stand up strongly enough and confront Republican obstructionism. In spite of the Republicans, we have a lot of reason to thank our President.

[candelista]

12. Such adoration is impressive.

Such faith is itself a miracle, especially in light of our experience in the past 6 years.

[JDPriestly]

14. I'm the first to criticize him, and I very much agree that his appointments of Geithner, Bernanke

and others were huge mistakes. But he has had to deal with a conservative movement that owns the broadcast media and the military as well, apparently, as the Secret Service.

He is in a corner.

The real problem is with us. We have not formed a movement strong enough to meet the conservative challenge.

I'm for Bernie Sanders and/or Elizabeth Warren.