Its importance lies in stirring his base to action and gathering more supporters for his initiatives. It’s exciting; especially when you can really connect with the President’s message. I do; “you have to be FOR something!” President Obama did solidify his vision for the economy by outlining what he would like to work toward on his every last remaining day in office. Expanding an economy “that grows from the middle out ….that’s where I’ll focus my energies”. And added that “growing inequality is not just morally wrong, but is bad economics”. He insists, “When middle-class families have less to spend, businesses have fewer consumers”. Supply-side economics just doesn’t work that well for trickling down wealth from on-high. Raising the minimum wage (especially the minimum wage for those who work for tips, which is slightly over $2. an hour, and hasn’t increased since the early 1990’s), helps raise more families above the poverty line. And going back to school for more training to get a better job requires that schooling be affordable, and student loan rates be lowered. The President said, “If you think that the cost of education is high, wait until you see the price of stupid in the next century”. Recently Speaker of the House, John Boehner, said, “Congress shouldn’t be judged by the number of bills passed, but the number repealed”. That’s stupid! The GOP is FOR protecting tax breaks for their billionaire backers. They don’t want to see The Affordable Care Act succeed, and therefore represent a success or legacy for Barack Obama; and they don’t want to see anything else he tries to implement succeed. According to The New York Times, “Congressional Republicans are moving to gut many of President Obama’s top priorities with the sharpest spending cuts in a generation and a new push to hold government financing hostage unless the President’s signature health care is stripped of money this fall”. This means that they will be threatening a government shutdown. The President’s latest round of visits and speeches is the precursor of the showdown. The President has said, “change doesn’t happen from the top down, but from the bottom up”, and has called upon us to help. If we believe at all in the President’s vision for our country, we need to vote in more Democrats, like Cheri Bustos, who will work to pass reasonable legislation that helps more of us hard workers to share in the American dream. Reasonable legislation like: precise deficit reduction measures, increased education funding, and a minimum raise hike would be part of an economic policy that would benefit the middle class. Former House Republican Bobby Shilling, who is again running against Cheri Bustos, said “Liberal economic policies have done nothing but hurt Illinois and the country”. I was glad to hear Obama point out again in his recent address in Galesburg that he inherited this economy from his predecessor. Let’s not forget, folks, that this country was on the verge of a huge economic collapse, with financial institutions failing, when Obama took office. It takes time to “bounce back” from such a serious depression (that the “Right” likes to call a recession). The President said that, “Jobs have begun to rebound; over 7 million jobs have been added in the last 40 months”; and that “this year has seen the most growth in private sector jobs since 1999”. Obama said, “Despite the successes, the middle class needs more help”. And we can help ourselves at the ballot boxes by selecting those candidates that most closely represent our combined best vision for the future of our country.
Jul 26 2013
What is the significance of a visit to Galesburg by a sitting president?
Its importance lies in stirring his base to action and gathering more supporters for his initiatives. It’s exciting; especially when you can really connect with the President’s message. I do; “you have to be FOR something!” President Obama did solidify his vision for the economy by outlining what he would like to work toward on his every last remaining day in office. Expanding an economy “that grows from the middle out ….that’s where I’ll focus my energies”. And added that “growing inequality is not just morally wrong, but is bad economics”. He insists, “When middle-class families have less to spend, businesses have fewer consumers”. Supply-side economics just doesn’t work that well for trickling down wealth from on-high. Raising the minimum wage (especially the minimum wage for those who work for tips, which is slightly over $2. an hour, and hasn’t increased since the early 1990’s), helps raise more families above the poverty line. And going back to school for more training to get a better job requires that schooling be affordable, and student loan rates be lowered. The President said, “If you think that the cost of education is high, wait until you see the price of stupid in the next century”. Recently Speaker of the House, John Boehner, said, “Congress shouldn’t be judged by the number of bills passed, but the number repealed”. That’s stupid! The GOP is FOR protecting tax breaks for their billionaire backers. They don’t want to see The Affordable Care Act succeed, and therefore represent a success or legacy for Barack Obama; and they don’t want to see anything else he tries to implement succeed. According to The New York Times, “Congressional Republicans are moving to gut many of President Obama’s top priorities with the sharpest spending cuts in a generation and a new push to hold government financing hostage unless the President’s signature health care is stripped of money this fall”. This means that they will be threatening a government shutdown. The President’s latest round of visits and speeches is the precursor of the showdown. The President has said, “change doesn’t happen from the top down, but from the bottom up”, and has called upon us to help. If we believe at all in the President’s vision for our country, we need to vote in more Democrats, like Cheri Bustos, who will work to pass reasonable legislation that helps more of us hard workers to share in the American dream. Reasonable legislation like: precise deficit reduction measures, increased education funding, and a minimum raise hike would be part of an economic policy that would benefit the middle class. Former House Republican Bobby Shilling, who is again running against Cheri Bustos, said “Liberal economic policies have done nothing but hurt Illinois and the country”. I was glad to hear Obama point out again in his recent address in Galesburg that he inherited this economy from his predecessor. Let’s not forget, folks, that this country was on the verge of a huge economic collapse, with financial institutions failing, when Obama took office. It takes time to “bounce back” from such a serious depression (that the “Right” likes to call a recession). The President said that, “Jobs have begun to rebound; over 7 million jobs have been added in the last 40 months”; and that “this year has seen the most growth in private sector jobs since 1999”. Obama said, “Despite the successes, the middle class needs more help”. And we can help ourselves at the ballot boxes by selecting those candidates that most closely represent our combined best vision for the future of our country.
By spiritspeak • Community Roundtable 0