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Middle Class Task Force Addresses Child Care, College Costs, Retirement Security
The White House Task Force on the Middle Class today announced several initiatives it says will help middle-class families afford soaring child care costs, care for their aging relatives, cope with the challenge of saving for retirement and pay for their children’s college tuition.
President Obama says the measures will help “ease the burdens on middle-class families who are struggling in this economy, and provide the help they need to get ahead.” The White House says Obama will discuss these and other vital middle-class issues, including job creation and health care in his State of the Union address Wednesday.
The Task Force chairman, Vice President Joe Biden, says the initiatives were developed after a series of meetings during the past year with working families around the country and at the White House.
Every day, middle-class families go to work and help make this country great. For a year, our Task Force has been hearing that they are struggling with soaring costs and squeezed family budgets. These common sense initiatives will help these families cope with these challenges.
The initiatives include:
- Nearly doubling the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit for middle-class families making under $85,000 a year and a $1.6 billion increase in child care funding for families struggling to enter the middle class.
- Limiting a student’s federal loan payments to 10 percent of his or her income above a basic living allowance.
- Creating a system of automatic workplace IRAs, requiring all employers to give the option for employees to enroll in a direct-deposit IRA.
- Expanding tax credits to match retirement savings and enacting new safeguards to protect retirement savings.
- Expanding support for families balancing work with caring for elderly relatives.
Click here for a fact sheet with more detailed information on each initiative.
The Task Force has given working families and union leaders the opportunity to outline their concerns and offer recommendations on ways to make the economy work for working families.
United Steelworkers President Leo W. Gerard emphasized the need for creation of good green jobs. Members of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 730 in St. Cloud. Minn., told Biden and the Task Force that the Employee Free Choice Act was vital to allow workers to bargain for jobs with good wages and benefits. AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler urged the Task Force to make fixing manufacturing a priority in building a stronger economy.
Visit the White House Task Force on the Middle Class website here.
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22 Comments
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One Sick Kin Away From Being Fired
It is hard for a family to make both ends meet,
Both of us working so we are not on the street.
Minimum wage workers need every single dime;
They also need some emergency kin care time.
We work hard, and at night and we’re so tired,
Just one sick child away from being fired.
Why can’t we use sick leave to care for our kin,
When the Bosses fires us for that is a just a sin.
Not any time off, with pay, for short time family care;
When the roll is called up yonder will these managers be there?
We work hard and at night and we’re so tired.
Just one sick spouse away from being fired.
Companies protect and defend at all costs their mighty corporate right;s
So when you take time off for your family, be prepared to join the fights.
Working families, we need to lobby congress and the legislatures too.
We need a law so are jobs are protected when our child gets the flu..
We work hard and at night and we’re so tired,
Just one sick parent away from being fired.
Providing time for families doesn’t cost it will pay.
It reduces turnover because more employees stay.
It, increases loyalty, dedication and it is caring and kind.
A benefit employees value and it’s one that’s hard to find.
We work hard and at night and we’re so tired.
Just one sick self away from being fired.
Too many times we’re fired and end up in the street.
Loss of jobs or pay and our bills we can’t meet.
Bankruptcy from medical bills or the loss of a job,
We loose heart and hope and our kids learn to rob
You can pay to build families or tear them apart.
The dollars spent on sick leave are just a start;
Childcare, after school programs to care for our kids
And medical care for every one even those on the skids.
If you don’t do these things you will still pay the price.
In court costs and prisons and that is not very nice.
A nations economy must serve all the people in the land;
Not greed or the wealthy, government must take a stand.
The social safety net is not just for the poor,
It protects us all from the thief at our door.
By David G. Hurlburt CWA local 9410
Hurlburt’s piece needs a disclaimer of sorts. I don’t believe for a milli-second that a CWA member is making minimum wage.
Why can’t a CWA member have solidarity with those who do make the the minimum wage!!
“Divide and conquer” throughout history has been the Machiavellian strategy of military generals, heads of government, politicians, and even labor leaders, to divide people and exploit people to reap political and economic rewards.
The “divide and conquer” strategy, being used today by President Obama, in supposedly caring about the needs of the “Middle Class” is a further attempt to “divide and conquer” the working class majority.
The term “Middle Class” has several rather nebuluous meanings. On the one hand, it has meant to designate the more prosperous elements of the working class. Today this usually means that “Middle Class” people have been able to acquire an advanced education and are able to secure much higher paying employment from public and private employers.
But such privledged “Middle Class” people are still part of the “working class” in that they derive their income from the work that they perform in helping capitalists make profit or their governments to function. Their livlihood is dependent upon their performance of work and is not derived from stock dividends, ownership of property or business, etc.
As far as working people are concerned, the U.S. Capitalism has on steadily declined in the last 30 years and now collapsed to such an extent that even the “Middle Class” is now being destroyed.
All of the Obama’s “benefits” to “Middle Class” are little more than desperate attempts to help private employers stay afloat. What little is done for the “Middle Class” is essentially a support of the financially precarious employer retain their most valuable employees (financial and technical personnel).
Mr. Obama has done nothing to stop the destruction of the public school system, essential for working people wanting to enter the “Middle Class” economically speaking. Mr. Obama’s “Health Care Reform” does nothing economically for working people, but further enriches the wealth of the “health care” business. Vast amounts of the people’s tax money have been given over to further enrich Wall Street bankers. Wars continue and expand to further enrich the military-industrial corporations and contractors, slaughtering peoples by the million in several countries, taking critically needed tax monies away from the needs of the people.
It is especially tragic that the focus of Mr. Trumka and the AFL-CIO seems forever focused on improving the fortunes of “Middle Class” workers and have abandoned the needs of the rest of the increasingly impoverished working class.
This task force is just like the rest of Obamas team,They have no clue.” dumb”. If this guy does not wake up soon he is not even going to make his first term. Lying and corporatizing is what beat the republicans and this guy spells his name with a BBB.
Obama is a multi- disapointment and he is costing us our opertunity to get the change we wanted.Democrats are not a very bright breed and man are they dishonest and cowards.
Slinging insults does not really accomplish much.
What would you suggest, suddencall?
How do you see us working to get the change we wanted?
What change did you want? What have you done to let folks know what you want? How can we support you in getting your point across?
I have advanced the “10-to-4 Percent Unemployment Jobs Creation Plan” (the “10-to-4 Plan”) to people in DC. It will re-start domestic factories and put people to work.
Next week I will probably be in DC pounding on doors.
I am not sure how “suddencall” will answer your rhetorical questions and I do not presume to speak for him/her. But your questions addressed to all readers of this blog perhaps, imply that there is no possible answer to the seemingly overwhelming personal and social crises we are all now facing.
So I am posting again a few specific ideas that hopefully provide an answer to your questions. Not much more can be said in terms of discussion and justification in a mere “comment”.
1. Announce that the AFL-CIO no longer supports Obama’s “Health Care Reform” in any form, and is supporting the legislation for “Medicare for All” single payer health care.
2. Announce that the AFL-CIO no longer supports neither Republican nor Democratic Parties, as both are consumed with corrupt corporate money and interests. Neither party represents the economic interests of working people, organized or unorganized. Both corporate controlled parties have betrayed the vital economic needs of all working people, organized and unorganized.
3. The AFL-CIO realizes now that the simple strategy of trade unionism, the economic struggle for a contract with an employer, is now an inadequate strategy to meeting the needs of organized workers.
4. The struggle for economic betterment of organized working people must now be greatly expanded into a political struggle. Social Security, Medicare, minimum wage legislation, OSHA mandated safety conditions, “Section 8″ housing support programs, government backed retirement pensions, NLRB labor protections etc. are all now secured and protected through government legislation at federal, state and local levels of government.
5. Therefore, the AFL-CIO, along with other union organizations, under these dire economic and political conditions, is calling for a founding convention of a new political party dedicated to promoting the economic and social interests of all working people, organized and unorganized. The new party, refusing all corporate money and agendas, will involve millions of working people in democratic political struggle to secure the vital needs of the people.
6. The the economic and social needs of working people never find any expression in the corporate owned mass media nor even in the corporate controlled public media such as NPR and PBS. Thus we announce a new effort to secure a democratic expansion of mass media that gives a voice to the economic needs and social concerns of all working people. We demand “equal time” on mass media, with daily and weekly programing on weekdays and weekends. Working people desperately need easily accessible information and education to overcome the complete corporate suppression of working class perspectives on current affairs.
7. These steps above will complement and enhance the struggle of unions to organize workers and secure union contracts.
There was a time when a working man could provide a home and support his family on what he earned while his wife was able to be a full time mother. We’ve “progressed” to where both adults in a typical family need to work just to make ends meet. Our neighborhoods have become ghost towns where children can get into trouble because there are too few adults at home to keep an eye on things. We really need to take a long, hard look at our priorities and try to get back on track where one working adult can afford to provide a good quality of life for his family. As a nation, our quality of life has degraded badly. The “American Dream” is far from the American reality.
WWII changed all that. remember they gave women a taste of “freedom” by using them to work in the factories while the men were away at war… Women liked to work and “get ahead” a little… Then the economists and the bankers and the IRS determined it was “average” that all couples both had jobs so the housing market started to inflate to reflect the 2 wage family… Now the only single worker that can afford a home is a Banker that gets TARP funded million dollar Bonuses.
I believe this song parody(not sure which song is meant here) referred primarily to those without union contracts. I was at one time anti-union, but after seeing all the disquieting situations which developed I later change my mind, but I do fee that he is speaking to those with very little voice if any. Often times it is difficult to understand what is being communicated.
The economic climate we are now in has unfortunated created many opportunites for the opportunists of the world. I believe there should be at least some modificaiton to employment at will laws so there can be more wrongful termination claims. I am sitll fighting a battle of my own with a former employer. When I became attracted to someone at work apparently a lot of inappropriate responses were alleged when all I did was confess an attraction, which I don’t feel should be enough to qualify as harassment when I used no supporting adjectives. The reason I bring this up here is to illustrate the nature of this economy as being a fertile breeding ground for opportunists because they can replace someone so easily. Any thoughts as to how I can continue the fight in this case would be greatly appreciated, especially if there is a link on this board I can post it to for discussion.
The problem is that money to help provide tax relief for the middle class usually comes by cutting what little aid is left for those who are below middle class. We already shredded the social safety net, ending the entitlement to needs-based aid. 2010 marked yet another benefit freeze for the fully disabled, and as I understand it, the president is going to propose another 3 years of freezes. Emergency aid, from homeless shelters to food pantries, have been shut down. Not everyone can work, and there aren’t nearly enough jobs for all who need them: the massive corporate “tax relief” of the past 30 years has largely been used not for job expansion, but to move our jobs to foreign countries. As a result, we have fewer — not more — jobs in the US.
This isn’t merely a “quality of life” issue. As a direct consequence of years of massive cuts in social spending, the life expectancy
of America’s poor has actually fallen below that of some Third World countries. US education has deteriorated, and infrastructure has largely been neglected. The US can no longer compete in the world market.
For 30+ years, we’ve seen the redistribution of wealth, from the bottom to the top, and the country has suffered significantly as a result. If we had any sense, we’d reverse course, but our politicians are still tossing the “trickle down economics” garbage at us.
i think richard trumka should be interviewed on cbs,fox news,nbc ETC. to explain what thinks would be for america and the obama admistration. for it looks like obama and trumka are not thinking of the american people
I think IRA’s for employees are a good thing. But they don’t tell you everything you should expect when you start making your required withdrawals. I made my first IRA withdrawal in 2008 . I fully expected to pay taxes that I didn’t pay when contributing to my IRA. What I didn’t expect was that my IRA , increased my income enough that I had to pay tax on part of my Social Security. I only withdrew $3800.00 , and my income was really not that high. We have to use the standard deduction, because we don’t have enough deductions to itemize. Right off the top of my pension comes $4000.00 insurance premiums that I can’t deduct.. I think something should be done about taxing retiree’s Social Security. I don’t believe it should be taxedat all , but if it has too, you aught to have income above $100,000.00.
I would really take more out of my IRA, for home upkeep and appliance replacements, but that would just take more of my S.S., so you can’t win.
That is certainly something they can do to help seniors
Say thank you to every President since Carter… but of course they will just say that you did not adequately plan for the future. Of course, it is expected that retirees should sell their homes and move into a sliding scale retirement home… You should be thankful you did not pay into a 501k that is so packed with broker fees that you earn less than you paid into it… Remember, tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% have to be covered by someone, and that someone is the working 89% AKA working class.
They’d better do a hell of a lot more than just ‘address’ the problems of the middle class or it will soon be extinct. With rising unemployment and stagnant wages we’re swiftly moving toward a two class country. And folks, that ain’t a good thing! Just look around you. Third world countries are two class, haves and have nots, and I don’t know about the rest of you but I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be livin’ in any of ‘em. Not even if I were one of the haves!
The elected representatives seem to think that all middle class workers are baby factories. Where is the relief for single workers? To make it easy the only benefit a single taxpayer can use is the student loan I, having been single for most of my life, have been taking the biggest share of the tax burden. when I got married, my tax burden was cut more than half… single I paid $1,200 to 3,000 in additional taxes per year married I got a small refund. (My wife is self employed, meaning works for little more than tips and of course earns no social security or employee tax benefits, (UI/SDI) but all her expenses are tax write offs, (dollar for dollar credits) that we employees must file a form 2806 and attach to schedule A or B and get a small percentage for relief)
the american people are asking for help, but obama and his cronies are not listning
This recession has gotten so bad that it is hard for us to pretend we are middle class anymore. It feels more important to be middle class, with a career or a profession, than working class, with a job, which, by the way, is gone. We are not independent entepreneurs, whatever that is. (Thieves?) We work together to produce wealth for a tiny minority that we never even see, and our reward is a subsistence life style of long hours, stress and illness, while we watch our children’s prospects melt away before our eyes. Lets be proud to be working class, the producers of all wealth, and not beaurocrats, parasites, princes or bourgeiousie. We can’t recognize our enemies or allies until we stop deluding ourselves. Its us or them – pick a side.
I was just thinking.. (“Danger Will Robinson”) what good are tax breaks when there is little or no income to tax?
The AFL-CIO has been remarkably mum on the recent Supreme Court decision to “shore up” the American plutocracy. Perhaps, it’s because they take solace in the fact that Labor can contribute to political campaigns as well. The fact is that while labor can contribute we CANNOT CONTRIBUTE AS MUCH AS THE CORPORATIONS. They along w/ the top 1% of the wealthiest contribute about 80% while Labor contributes a puny 2%. WE CANNOT COMPETE, and we SHOULD NOT COMPETE. Labor has to STAND UP for ALL WORKING PEOPLE and CALL for PUBLICLY FUNDED ELECTIONS. And until we begin a bonafide US LABOR PARTY, we will continue to be fed a daily ration of BS.
What about the post-middle class?