President Obama “made clear that job creation and bolstering the middle class would top the list” of his priorities, but we know that when all the GOP wants to do is cut programs that help the middle and working class, the President will need our help to pressure our legislators into taking action.
State of the Union analysis: Obama challenges GOP to do more than just cut deficit - Chicago Tribune
President Obama called on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour from $7.25 and to automatically adjust it with inflation.” Although it’s a good start, work place abuses, retaliation, and income inequality will continue to grow unless we strengthen our country’s unions.
Raising Minimum Wage Would Ease Income Gap but Carries Political Risks - New York Times
“‘We can’t just cut our way to prosperity’ by forcing communities to lay off teachers, police and firefighters.” “Federal workers have already sacrificed $103 billion toward deficit reduction in the form of pay freezes and reduced retirement benefits for future hires.” If we want to get out of this fiscal mess, we shouldn’t be focusing on cutting wages of folks in the middle class. We should be focusing on making mega corporations pay their fair share in taxes, while eliminating the offshore tax havens that harbor billions of dollars in potential revenues.
State of the Union: What Obama did and didn’t say about the federal workforce - Washington Post
