Thursday, September 19, 2013

Monday, September 16, 2013

No-drama Budget Needed to Speed Growth


Passing a comprehensive budget that won't kill the economy is what Pres. Barack Obama spoke about Monday during about an hour of midday televised remarks. His address, falling on the five year anniversary of the financial collapse, deliberately. The day was marred by yet another mass shooting — this time in a Naval facility in Washington D.C. —— of which the president called cowardly, the White House tweeted. President Obama offered prayers to to victims and their families.

During his address about the economy, Pres. Obama was clear he would not negotiate on Obamacare and that the main duty of Congress is to pass a budget. He said leaving sequester in place is draining economic gains made since he won re-election. 
"We are not yet where we need to be. We need more ladders of opportunity for the poor who want to get into the middle class," he said adding that the top one percent of earners grab 20 percent of the economy (mostly through capital gains). Within the one percent, the upper most gains go to one-tenth of the one percent.
 "Everybody else loses ground," he said.
It's all made worse by the recession. Obama asked the American public and Congress to "focus" on creating jobs and long-term economic security.
 Republicans are not focused on building the economy at the moment, he said, adding that he is hoping for "the lightbulb to go off," in their collective mind and help the economy grow instead of looking at deeper education and infrastructure cuts.
 "We have to make investments to attract good jobs...that pay good wages that lead to high standards of living. Education has critical role in this," he said.
Many of the president's words were met with applause.

Start at the 14:00 mark


Leaving in place sequester cuts hurt the recovery process, the president said.
"We are not growing as fast as we should because the sequester cuts are in place," Obama said, quoting "independent economists."
 The president also said Republicans spend time investing in "non-growth policies," however deficits are still falling faster than they did during WWII, since before the president was born and since he has taken office. By the end of the year, deficits will be cut in half. Still, the president implored Congress to "pass a sensible budget" in place of sequester as "this is not asking too much."
"Congress' most fundamental job is passing a budget," President Obama said.
 On stage, standing behind the president during his speech, were small business owners, home owners and students— those most affected by sequester cuts.




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Editor, Imadeamesss.com