The Perils for Obama of Not Talking About Poverty in America

[BDBoop]

Joseph A. Palermo: The Perils for Obama of Not Talking About Poverty in America

Did Obama really think he could "jump start" the economy by leaving millions of home "owners" to the tender mercies of Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America? Did he really believe he could "stimulate" the economy with a largely Republican package of tax incentives when virtually every dollar of federal "stimulus" money was erased by draconian budget cuts at the state and local levels? Does he really think that "triggers" inside the debt ceiling "deal" are going to have a moderating influence on his nemeses among the Far Right?

Without a significant tax hike on the richest people in this country the $825 billion bailout of the big investment banks and insurance companies of September 2008 represents a massive transfer of wealth from working people to Wall Street and another hit against ordinary taxpayers. Where's the fairness in that? Where's Obama's sense of outrage toward those who ransacked the middle class? Why doesn't he feel any righteous anger toward those who promulgated the terrible policies during the Bush years that kicked the country to its knees economically? Why is Obama so implacable and emotionless in the face of those who have done so much damage to the country he supposedly loves? That guy really must have ice water running through his veins. He simply takes in stride the onslaught that has so crippled the nation, destroyed the lives of millions of unemployed Americans who had no responsibility whatsoever in bringing about this sorry state affairs. He and other "leaders" sit on the sidelines while many of our most important public institutions that bind us together as a people are ruined or cut back to nothing including public schools, public health, public services, public parks, public safety.

I'm sending this article to Obama.

 

[eflatminor]

I'm sending this article to Obama.

No surprise there. Posting articles is all I've ever seen from you. Not much on the 'thinking for yourself' thing eh?

Anyway, is this the kind of poverty in America you're referring to:

What is Poverty in the United States: Air Conditioning, Cable TV and an Xbox

Oh those poor, poor Americans, playing X-Boxes with A/C on...must suck.

 

[BDBoop]

Additionally,

Why the center-left is fed up with Obama - The Washington Post

So why am I so mad at Barack Obama?

I know I’m not alone. In conversations with folks across the center-left in recent days, everyone’s basically had it with the president. I’ve had policy frustrations before: Obama’s never aimed high enough on school reform and he’s failed miserably to advance a real jobs agenda, to name just two. I’ve said repeatedly that we need a third party to shake things up. But at the same time a part of me has always cut the president some slack — after all, look at the mess the man walked into! Yet somehow the debt-ceiling fiasco and the downgrade, punctuated by these horrific jobs numbers and stock market gyrations, has made something in me (and, I suspect, millions of others) snap.

It’s the sound of confidence in Obama’s leadership breaking.

Yes, other forces may be “responsible” for the bad news. But in the end a president has the most power to shape the debate. How could Obama have let the entirely foreseeable debt-ceiling standoff turn into a hostage drama? Why didn’t he have the spine to say “send me a clean debt limit increase or I’ll raise it myself and see you in court”? How could he leave us in a position where every future debt-limit hike now becomes an occasion for blackmail? And where Chinese officials can blithely say that “the U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone”?

 

[eflatminor]

Posting articles is all I've ever seen from you.

Wow. You really rushed to prove my point!

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Posting articles is all I've ever seen from you.

Wow. You really rushed to prove my point!

That's all this stupid twit is capable of.
She has to be spoonfed her opinions mixed with baby food.

 

[BDBoop]

Obama’s claim that the debt problem can ‘go away’ - The Fact Checker - The Washington Post

“And by the way, these choices are not radical. When it comes to getting a sustainable debt level, if we went back to the rates that existed when Bill Clinton was president and we made some modest adjustments to Medicare that preserved the integrity of the system, our long-term debt and deficit problems would go away. And most people here wouldn’t notice those changes.”

— President Obama, August 8, 2011

The president made these remarks during a fundraiser in Washington on Monday night, and they struck us as interesting, given the political turmoil in Washington over exactly how to reduce the federal budget deficit.

Would it really be that easy to make the debt problem “go away”?

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

ECHO.......ECho....................echo

 

[waltky]

Poor economy strainin' charities ability to help...

Charities Struggle to Cope With Rising US Poverty
September 17, 2011 - Recent U.S. Census Bureau figures show that more than 46 million Americans now live in poverty. That’s the highest amount on record since the agency began tracking poverty rates in 1959. Additionally, about 50 million Americans are living without health insurance. The increasing number of people seeking assistance is a growing concern for agencies helping the poor.

Gina Zbikowski says struggling to find a job while living on a meager disability allowance is not the American dream. “To me the American dream was owning your own home, owning your own business, having your own car, you know, living life to its absolute fullest. I can’t even do that now… I can’t even dream about that now," she said. Gina’s boyfriend John Ohlerich works a part-time job with no health insurance. And he has epilepsy. “The prescription is really expensive, and I pay for it every month. When I don’t have money to pay for it, I have to rely on my grandmother. And so that’s money right out of my pocket right there because I have to have my medication, I have to pay for my doctor's visit, otherwise, I don’t want to die," he said.

One out of six Americans, like Gina and John, lives in poverty. “Poverty is a struggle every day to decide if you put food on the table or if you pay your rent, if you can feed your children or buy them medicine," said Kim Perez, who runs the People Resource Center in DuPage County, Illinois. They operate the food pantry that helps Gina and John get by. “People who have led successful lives, who were educated, are now finding themselves in poverty because they cannot bring in enough, their unemployment benefits have ended and there are not enough federal, state or local programs, to be quite honest, that are available to help support their needs," she said.

With more people living in poverty, aid agencies find their resources stretched thin. Lisa Mayse-Lillig is with Heartland Human Care Services, a suburban Chicago agency that tries to prevent homelessness. She says only a small fraction of those who need help get assistance. “The dollars just aren’t as plentiful as they used to be. So as those funding sources dwindle, the need increases, and the differential between those two things just gets bigger and bigger," she said.

Gina Zbikowski knows there are limits to the help agencies can provide. She says she would rather have a job so she can take care of herself. “I’m hoping one of these days to get out of this, but things look grim right now," she said. Zbikowski says unless something is done to reverse the unemployment rate, now just above nine percent, the lines of people looking for help will continue to grow.

Source

 

[The Rabbi]

Joseph A. Palermo: The Perils for Obama of Not Talking About Poverty in America

Did Obama really think he could "jump start" the economy by leaving millions of home "owners" to the tender mercies of Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America? Did he really believe he could "stimulate" the economy with a largely Republican package of tax incentives when virtually every dollar of federal "stimulus" money was erased by draconian budget cuts at the state and local levels? Does he really think that "triggers" inside the debt ceiling "deal" are going to have a moderating influence on his nemeses among the Far Right?

Without a significant tax hike on the richest people in this country the $825 billion bailout of the big investment banks and insurance companies of September 2008 represents a massive transfer of wealth from working people to Wall Street and another hit against ordinary taxpayers. Where's the fairness in that? Where's Obama's sense of outrage toward those who ransacked the middle class? Why doesn't he feel any righteous anger toward those who promulgated the terrible policies during the Bush years that kicked the country to its knees economically? Why is Obama so implacable and emotionless in the face of those who have done so much damage to the country he supposedly loves? That guy really must have ice water running through his veins. He simply takes in stride the onslaught that has so crippled the nation, destroyed the lives of millions of unemployed Americans who had no responsibility whatsoever in bringing about this sorry state affairs. He and other "leaders" sit on the sidelines while many of our most important public institutions that bind us together as a people are ruined or cut back to nothing including public schools, public health, public services, public parks, public safety.

I'm sending this article to Obama.

Obama can't talk about poverty because he caused most of it. The poor are still, incredibly, his biggest supporters.

 

[Stephanie]

I guess they figure he hasn't stirred up ENOUGH class warfare. So now they need to drag the poor into it.

Progressives have no problems USING people for their political agenda.

 

[The T]

Why would he talk about what he and the Statists are creating?

 

[Stephanie]

Did you ever think we'd see this day? Where some people in this country would be so into Taxing others. It's a sad testament to what our country has become.

Whatever happened to...and liberty for all?

 

[Oldstyle]

Joseph A. Palermo: The Perils for Obama of Not Talking About Poverty in America

Did Obama really think he could "jump start" the economy by leaving millions of home "owners" to the tender mercies of Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America? Did he really believe he could "stimulate" the economy with a largely Republican package of tax incentives when virtually every dollar of federal "stimulus" money was erased by draconian budget cuts at the state and local levels? Does he really think that "triggers" inside the debt ceiling "deal" are going to have a moderating influence on his nemeses among the Far Right?

Without a significant tax hike on the richest people in this country the $825 billion bailout of the big investment banks and insurance companies of September 2008 represents a massive transfer of wealth from working people to Wall Street and another hit against ordinary taxpayers. Where's the fairness in that? Where's Obama's sense of outrage toward those who ransacked the middle class? Why doesn't he feel any righteous anger toward those who promulgated the terrible policies during the Bush years that kicked the country to its knees economically? Why is Obama so implacable and emotionless in the face of those who have done so much damage to the country he supposedly loves? That guy really must have ice water running through his veins. He simply takes in stride the onslaught that has so crippled the nation, destroyed the lives of millions of unemployed Americans who had no responsibility whatsoever in bringing about this sorry state affairs. He and other "leaders" sit on the sidelines while many of our most important public institutions that bind us together as a people are ruined or cut back to nothing including public schools, public health, public services, public parks, public safety.

I'm sending this article to Obama.

Ah yes, another progressive California college professor whining about the looming cuts to education! "Our most important public institutions"? Professor Palermo's panties are in a bunch because fiscal reality has finally caught up with California and he's upset that forty years of runaway spending is coming to a close.

 

[editec]

While I am on the same page regarding the unfairness of the tax codes, and certainly am cupportive of doing something about getting working people back to work, I do NOT think that raising taxes at this time is sage policy.

All that will happen is a FLIGHT OF CAPITAL out of this economy.

It won't help it will actually hurt the economy AND the deficit.

Raising taxes will hurt this nation far more than raising the national debt level.

The time to raise taxes and to pay down the national debt is when the economy is sound and thriving, not when it is weak due to a lack of consumer spending.

 

[The T]

Did you ever think we'd see this day? Where some people in this country would be so into Taxing others. It's a sad testament to what our country has become.

Whatever happened to...and liberty for all?

The people have found that they can vote themselves into the largess of the treasury aided and abetted by politicians that do so for thier power over the same people.

 

[Vanquish]

The flight of capital won't just happen because of taxes. It will happen ANY time any company can identify a way to become more efficient overseas to make more money. But what does that do? It takes money overseas and puts it in the hands of India, Mexico, and other countries that ARENT the United States of America.

Where is your patriotism there? Why won't they lose a little profit to help American workers? "Oh you can't ask them to do that!! That's not fair!!"

Wait wait wait. They're creating the problem by moving jobs overseas, but yet you want to defend their right to profit? The gap in logic is astounding.

Continue to blame Obama and your stereotyping of liberals as tax and spenders. I don't disagree that Obama and liberals have their faults, but the conservatives in this thread just dont want to face facts that people with money and power in big business are using their money and power to suck up all the money and power...and it's not as easy as Joe Plumber just starting his own business and living the American success story.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Progressive economic are supposed to fail the economy, the entire point IS TO CREATE MORE POVERTY AND GOVERNMENT DEPENDENCY!

 

[bripat9643]

The people who "ransacked the middle class" are called Democrat members of Congress. The approved the bailouts, forced the sub-prime mortgages on banks, and approved a "stimulus" that went primarily to union thugs.

Joseph A. Palermo: The Perils for Obama of Not Talking About Poverty in America

Did Obama really think he could "jump start" the economy by leaving millions of home "owners" to the tender mercies of Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America? Did he really believe he could "stimulate" the economy with a largely Republican package of tax incentives when virtually every dollar of federal "stimulus" money was erased by draconian budget cuts at the state and local levels? Does he really think that "triggers" inside the debt ceiling "deal" are going to have a moderating influence on his nemeses among the Far Right?

Without a significant tax hike on the richest people in this country the $825 billion bailout of the big investment banks and insurance companies of September 2008 represents a massive transfer of wealth from working people to Wall Street and another hit against ordinary taxpayers. Where's the fairness in that? Where's Obama's sense of outrage toward those who ransacked the middle class? Why doesn't he feel any righteous anger toward those who promulgated the terrible policies during the Bush years that kicked the country to its knees economically? Why is Obama so implacable and emotionless in the face of those who have done so much damage to the country he supposedly loves? That guy really must have ice water running through his veins. He simply takes in stride the onslaught that has so crippled the nation, destroyed the lives of millions of unemployed Americans who had no responsibility whatsoever in bringing about this sorry state affairs. He and other "leaders" sit on the sidelines while many of our most important public institutions that bind us together as a people are ruined or cut back to nothing including public schools, public health, public services, public parks, public safety.

I'm sending this article to Obama.

 

[The Rabbi]

The flight of capital won't just happen because of taxes. It will happen ANY time any company can identify a way to become more efficient overseas to make more money. But what does that do? It takes money overseas and puts it in the hands of India, Mexico, and other countries that ARENT the United States of America.

Where is your patriotism there? Why won't they lose a little profit to help American workers? "Oh you can't ask them to do that!! That's not fair!!"

Wait wait wait. They're creating the problem by moving jobs overseas, but yet you want to defend their right to profit? The gap in logic is astounding.

Continue to blame Obama and your stereotyping of liberals as tax and spenders. I don't disagree that Obama and liberals have their faults, but the conservatives in this thread just dont want to face facts that people with money and power in big business are using their money and power to suck up all the money and power...and it's not as easy as Joe Plumber just starting his own business and living the American success story.

Once again proving yourself a nincompoop.

Companies are not in business to be "patriotic". They are in business to make money for their owners.
More jobs in the manufacturing sector have been lost to efficiency than to outsourcing. In fact, the US is a net beneficiary of outsourcing.
None of that has diddly squat to do with poverty. Poverty recently is the function of a 9+% unemployment rate, combined with a higher underemployment rate. People are simply making less money than they used to. The reason for this is solely the policies of Obama and teh Democrats.

 

[Stephanie]

I'm sorry, but I'm still laughing at the thought that the booper is going to send this wailing gibberish article from Hufferpost to the Obama..