AMAZINGLY ACCURATE QUOTES!

Repubicans suggest: "We left him a total mess, he hasn't cleaned it up fast enough, so fire him and put us back in charge!"
(Former Presidnt Bill Clinton)

Who better to make that endoresement for President Obama than the president who was in charge during the most prosperous 8 years in the histroy of the United States!

“When you've…walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. You reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.” –Michelle Obama

(Who better to deliver the message above than Michelle
Obama, representing her husband, President Obama?)

Heddric Smith worte: WHO STOLE THE AMERICAN DREAM? (reviewed on August 1, 2012)

This review of his book is worth your time. He wrote the article, that I will add to the "comment" location below, for yesterday's NYT. It's a very important

 article that explains what's been going on in recent decades that has resulted in: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=241307762617157&set=a.241307759283824.57184.241304559284144&type=1&theater



Remarkably comprehensive and coherent analysis of and prescriptions for America’s contemporary economic malaise by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Smith (Rethinking America, 1995, etc.).

“Over the past three decades,” writes the author, “we have become Two Americas.” We have arrived at a new Gilded Age, where “gross inequality of income and wealth” have become endemic. Such inequality is not simply the result of “impersonal and irresistible market forces,” but of quite deliberate corporate strategies and the public policies that enabled them. Smith sets out on a mission to trace the history of these strategies and policies, which transformed America from a roughly fair society to its current status as a plutocracy. He leaves few stones unturned. CEO culture has moved since the 1970s from a concern for the general well-being of society, including employees, to the single-minded pursuit of personal enrichment and short-term increases in stock prices. During much of the ’70s, CEO pay was roughly 40 times a worker’s pay; today that number is 367. Whether it be through outsourcing and factory closings, corporate reneging on once-promised contributions to employee health and retirement funds, the deregulation of Wall Street and the financial markets, a tax code which favors overwhelmingly the interests of corporate heads and the superrich—all of which Smith examines in fascinating detail—the American middle class has been left floundering. For its part, government has simply become an enabler and partner of the rich, as the rich have turned wealth

What do you think of the trends in our economy that these two graphs detail for the periods from 1947 to 2008?
Do you see any solutions to these trends that can be taken at the national or state level?
The incredible good fortune for those

earning over $500,000 per year mirrors the falling of the chances for most everyone else to be upwardly mobile in social and economic areas?
Why do you suppose that is?
Decades ago, the U.S. led the world in the chances for its citizens to be upwardly mobile - moving from low to middle or middle to high economic levels. Why do you suppose the U.S. has been falling behind in the ability of its citizens to be upwardly mobile and has been passed up by Denmark, Australia, Norway, Finland, Canada, Sweden, Germany and Italy?
Do you see the impact of this data on our children, and their children and basically everyone who has joined the workforce since 1979?
Do you think it is merely a coincidence that the good fortunes of those earning more than $500,000 per year directly mirrors the chances for low and middle level citizens to improve their situation during that same time period?

Click on the graph below to see how things have changed over the decades!

The Facts Don't Support the Republican Rhetoric!

(Rhetoric aside, economy shows signs of recovery)

Tom Raum - Associated Press August 31, 2012 in "Business" 
WASHINGTON – You wouldn’t know it from listening to the Republican National Convention, but the n
ation’s economic picture seems to be slowly getting brighter. 
Economists cite some encouraging new data: 
• The government reported Thursda

y that Americans spent at the fastest pace in five months in July, and personal income rose as well.
• Home prices rose in the first half of 2012 for the first time in nearly two years. Sales of both new and previously occupied homes also are up.
• Employers added 163,000 jobs in July, the most since February.
• U.S. exports, retail spending and factory production are all up.
Yet phrases such as “catastrophic debt,” “stifling the American dream,” “the tide of decline” and “an all-out assault on free enterprise” fill the air in the convention arena.
The rhetoric fits the GOP strategy of portraying President Barack Obama as out of touch and pursuing policies that have made the economy worse, not better, while Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is presented as the one with the business experience and savvy to turn things around.
Democrats get their turn for rebuttal next week at their own convention in Charlotte, N.C.
Obama has been relatively cautious – welcoming recent positive reports but warning there’s still a long road to a full recovery.
A report released Tuesday showed the U.S. economy grew at a 1.7 percent annual rate from April to June – an upward revision from the initial 1.5 percent estimate but still signaling continued sluggishness.
Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight, said “housing is the area where you’ve got the most positives,” and that’s extremely important since housing weaknesses were a central cause of the downturn.
“We are at the start of a long prolonged recovery in the housing market. We’re not bouncing along the bottom anymore,” Gault said.
But things aren’t as bad as Republicans portray, he said. “There is a recovery. We’ve been in a recovery in fact for over two years. It’s an unusually slow recovery but it is a recovery.”
© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Check out what has been happening over the decades to the chances for low and middle income individuals to move up the economic ladder!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=241307762617157&set=a.241307759283824.57184.241304559284144&type=1&theater

Check out similar daily posts to this blog at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Whats-Going-On/241304559284144?ref=tn_tnmn

See why middle class taxpayers are having to cover for tax rates on the very,very wealthy of from 0% to 14%thttp://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=241307762617157&set=a.241307759283824.57184.241304559284144&type=1&theater

The most recent unemployment numbers were released on:

Friday, September 7th, 2012

How were the latest unemployment numbers? The rate of unemployment went down to 8.1%. The number of new jobs created was at 90,000. That was lower than some had expected. Some had hoped the numbers would be over 100,000 new jobs.

What part of the economy is is doing best with hiring new people? The p

rivate sector continues to improve. Public sector jobs (primarily police, teachers, firemen) continue to decline but are overcome by the private sector job increases.

Where is the United States economically? We are in a recovery. The recession that ended in 2009 started in December of 2007. The most recent recession was officially over in June of 2009. It has been a very slow recovery.

How does this recovery compare with the last recovery? The last recovery started in July of 1981 and ended in November of 1982. The current recovery has employed over three times the number of unemployed compared to the same period of time after the last recession.

How bad was the recession that ended in 2009? The unemployment number neared 11%. When President Obama took office, the United States was losing upwards of 800,000 jobs per month.

Isn't it true that there has now been 43 months of unemployment numbers over 8%? Yes. most economists expect unemployment numbers to be over 8% well into 2014.

How many months in a row have there now been positive job growth numbers? The United States has seen 30 months in a row of positive job growth numbers.

Doesn't the reduced unemployment numbers include people leaving the workforce? Yes, it includes people who have given up looking for work or who have retired. With the "baby boomers", the number of people retiring will be a continuing high number.

Does Mitt Romney really hope to be the first president ever elected to not share his tax statements? Where did he get his money? Where has he put his money? Has anyone given him money to run for president? Who?

Click on the image below to view the complete cartoon!