Time to put middle class front & center

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Time to put middle class front & center
12
Fri, 01-30-2009 - 12:56pm

Time to put middle class front and center


Commentary by Joe Biden


http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/01/time-to-put-mid.html#more


For years, we had a White House that failed to put the middle class front and center in its economic policies.


President Obama has made it clear that is going to change. And it's why he has asked me to lead a task force on the middle class.



America's middle class is hurting. Trillions of dollars in home equity, retirement savings and college savings are gone. And every day, more and more Americans are losing their jobs.


For the backbone of the USA, it's insult on top of injury. Over the course of America's last economic expansion, the middle class participated in very few of the benefits. But now in the midst of this historic economic downturn, the middle class sure is participating in all of the pain. Something is seriously wrong when the economic engine of this nation — the great middle class — is treated this way.


President Obama and I are determined to change this. Quite simply, a strong middle class equals a strong America. We can't have one without the other.



An economy for all Americans



Right now, our most urgent task is to stabilize our nation's economy and put it back on track. That is what our economic recovery package moving through the Congress is all about. We need to make these critical investments to jump-start our economy.


On top of this urgent task, though, we have an important long-term task as well. Once this economy starts growing again, we need to make sure the benefits of that growth reach the people responsible for it. We can't stand by and watch as that narrow sliver of the top of the income scale wins a bigger piece of the pie — while everyone else gets a smaller and smaller slice.


One of the things that makes this task force distinctive is it brings together — in one place — those agencies that have the most impact on the well-being of the middle class in our country. We'll be looking at everything from access to college and training with the Department of Education, to business development with the Department of Commerce, to child care reform with Health and Human Services, to labor law with the Department of Labor. With this task force, we'll have a single, high-visibility group with one goal: to raise the living standards of middle-class families.


Over the upcoming months, we will focus on answering those concerns that matter most to families. What can we do to make retirement more secure? How can we make child and elder care more affordable? How do we improve workplace safety? How are we going to get the cost of college within reach? What can we do to help weary parents juggle work and family? And, above all else, what are the jobs of the future? Here, we'll be looking at green jobs, better-paying jobs, better-quality jobs.



Open to the public



At the end of the day, it will be our responsibility to offer clear, specific steps we can take to meet these concerns and others.


Unlike some previous government task forces, our task force will operate in a fully transparent manner. We will consult openly and publicly with outside groups that have thought long and hard about these issues and can help us bring the most far-reaching and imaginative solutions to these problems. All the materials from our meetings, and any report we produce, will be up on our public website. None of this will happen behind closed doors.


In government, as in life, you need clear goals to succeed. In the Obama/Biden administration, we have set a very clear goal: Our administration will have succeeded if the middle class once again starts to share in the economic success of this nation.


Joe Biden is vice president of the United States.


Biden to lead middle-class task force


President Obama and Vice President Biden just officially announced the creation of a White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families that will be chaired by the vice president.


http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/01/62147832/1

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2008
Fri, 01-30-2009 - 7:24pm
The middle class has always been the class that drives this country's economy.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-25-2008
Sat, 01-31-2009 - 7:27pm
so, please define "middle class"
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-04-2009
Sat, 01-31-2009 - 8:56pm

There apparently are a good number of ways to define middle class.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-25-2008
Sun, 02-01-2009 - 8:38am
exactly my point - so who, in fact, is this supposed to help?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Sun, 02-01-2009 - 10:58am

Because middle class is difficult to define the problems of the average citizen shouldn't be ignored. The definition is irrelevant IMO.


I'm

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Sun, 02-01-2009 - 11:05am

This is an excellent definition IMO........






middle class





Definition

Social class usually comprising of white-collar (non-manual) workers, lower-level managers, and small business owners, often constituting about one-third of the employed population of a country. The income of this class is higher than that of the working-class but lower than that of the upper-middle class (doctors, engineers, lawyers, middle-size business owners) and upper class.


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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-25-2008
Sun, 02-01-2009 - 11:48am
the question though is what will Obama use?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Mon, 02-02-2009 - 9:05am

Tax cuts for the "middle class"....


Barack Obama and Joe Biden's Plan
Provide Middle Class Americans Tax Relief

Obama and Biden will cut income taxes by $1,000 for working families to offset the payroll tax they pay.



  • Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families: Obama and Biden will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama and Biden will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans.
  • Eliminate Income Taxes for Seniors Making Less than $50,000: Barack Obama will eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year. This proposal will eliminate income taxes for 7 million seniors and provide these seniors with an average savings of $1,400 each year. Under the Obama-Biden plan, 27 million American seniors will also not need to file an income tax return.
  • Simplify Tax Filings for Middle Class Americans: Obama and Biden will dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes. Obama and Biden will ensure that the IRS uses the information it already gets from banks and employers to give taxpayers the option of pre-filled tax forms to verify, sign and return. Experts estimate that the Obama-Biden proposal will save Americans up to 200 million total hours of work and aggravation and up to $2 billion in tax preparer fees.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-25-2008
Mon, 02-02-2009 - 7:31pm

That still doesn't answer the question:

Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families: Obama and Biden will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama and Biden will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans.

This includes people who don't make enough to pay income taxes.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Tue, 02-03-2009 - 10:47am

>"The Obama campaign estimated that about 150 million Americans making less than $200,000 would qualify, including those who make too little to pay federal income taxes but would receive a check that would offset Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes."<


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/us/politics/05spend.html

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