Economy
Related: About this forumHow We Got Economic Inequality and Why the President Needs to Talk About It
On Tuesday night, President Barack Obama is going to give his fifth state of the union address. The president is likely to call for policies that will help working people, like an increase in the minimum wage and the extension of unemployment benefits to the long-term unemployed workers.
But what will his larger message be? In December, he gave an exceptionally blunt and powerful speech about economic inequality. But the speech had two serious problems. He described inequality as a problem affecting the poorest Americans, while in reality the majority of America's workers are no longer advancing economically. Second, the president described inequality as something that just happened without anyone making it happena piece of bad luck or an act of God.
But for the kind of people who pay the bills in Washington, the fact that the president used the word inequality is too much, and the chorus of insiders urging the president to back off is growing.
So the president faces a choice of rhetoric on Tuesday nightbut that choice is not just about political gamesmanship. It will have serious policy implications. But there is also an issue of simple credibility. The American people are watching, and they are furious about inequality. Large majorities in poll after poll want a more progressive tax system, accountability for bankers, less power in public life for corporations and the rich and, most of all, higher wages.
More at link: http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/How-We-Got-Economic-Inequality-and-Why-the-President-Needs-to-Talk-About-It
Who thinks the President is going to address the REAL issues here? My guess? He'll discussion economic inequality, the minimum wage, opportunities for success, etc., but he won't make the links that need to be made been extreme wealth, extreme political power, and the elites writing the rules to benefit themselves and keep the rest of down.
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)agreements are the way to fix this problem?
Then we'll have freed up enough Americans from working so that setting up as Soylent Green plant will be economically feasible.
OrwellwasRight
(5,170 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)Not in this universe...maybe an alternate one.
OrwellwasRight
(5,170 posts)Podesta and Rahm Emanuel!