Middle-Out Economics: The Way To Go…And Grow
Posted by Michelle Moquin on July 31st, 2013
Good morning!
I finally watched Obama’s speech a few days ago. Today’s write from Think Progress touches on some of Obama’s thoughts:
How to Grow the Economy From the Middle Class Out
“This growing inequality isn’t just morally wrong; it’s bad economics. When middle-class families have less to spend, businesses have fewer customers. When wealth concentrates at the very top, it can inflate unstable bubbles that threaten the economy. When the rungs on the ladder of opportunity grow farther apart, it undermines the very essence of this country.”
– President Barack Obama, July 24, 2013
Yesterday, President Obama kicked off a series of economic speeches focusing on why we need to grow the economy from the middle out by investing in the middle class. He made the case that a thriving middle class is the cause, not the consequence of growth.
Economists agree that rebuilding a thriving middle class will help us rebuild a thriving economy. But to grow the economy from the middle class out means investing in education, infrastructure, energy, and innovation and putting in place policies that provide health security, retirement security, and ladders of opportunity for those living in poverty.
“Repealing Obamacare and cutting spending is not an economic plan. It’s not.”
–President Barack Obama, July 24, 2013
The progressive plan to grow the economy from the middle class out stands in marked contrast to the failed and even dangerous “trickle down” tax cut and draconian austerity spending plans championed by conservatives. Conservatives want to cut even more from education, medical research and infrastructure in order to give even more tax cuts to the rich and huge corporations in the hopes that it trickles down to the rest of us.
Trickle-Down Policies Have Been a Failure
A capitalist economy resembles the game of monopoly – when one person has all the money, the game is over. If the middle class can’t afford to buy what businesses are selling, the economy breaks down. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what has been happening for the better part of the last few decades. As inequality has grown, economic growth has slowed, and the vast majority of Americans have been squeezed or left behind.
Key facts:
- Income inequality in the United States is actually higher than at any other time in modern history since the Great Depression.
- Between 1979 and 2007, the richest top 1% of American households saw their income nearly triple, while middle class incomes remained largely stagnant by comparison.
- The average CEO has gotten a raise of nearly 40% since 2009, but the average American earns less than he or she did in 1999.
- Despite enacting taxes cuts for the rich and for corporations, both Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush saw slower economic growth and job growth during their presidency than President Clinton, who raised taxes in 1993.
- The years following the Bush tax cuts were the worst for job creation since the government began keeping records and the worst for business investment since World War II.
- About 62% of the wealth recovered during this recovery has come in the form of higher stock prices, which overwhelmingly benefits the wealthiest Americans but has done little for the middle class and almost nothing for those living in poverty.
A Commitment to Growing the Economy from the Middle Out
Opportunities for upward mobility in America have gotten harder to find over the past 30 years. That’s a betrayal of the American idea. And that’s why we have to do a lot more to give every American the chance to work their way into the middle class.
- President Barack Obama, July 24, 2013
Instead of wasting time on dozens of votes to take away health care from millions of Americans or threats to shut down the government unless we agree to more failed trickle-down, austerity policies, progressives are committed to policies that will grow the economy from the middle class out.
Middle-Out Economics in Two Sentences: The wealthy are not the job creators. The real job creators are the middle class consumers who buy what businesses large and small are selling.
Middle-Out economics is about growing the economy from the middle class out, not from the top down – a conservative approach that has failed. Progressives are focused on putting the policies in place that will bring this idea – and our economy – to life.
Policies to grow the economy from the middle class out:
- Investments in growing the middle class: Investing in education, infrastructure, energy, and innovation boosts the economy today and helps create the job creators and strong middle class that will fuel economic growth tomorrow.
- Everyone paying their fair share: Tax cuts for the wealthy and huge corporations don’t grow the economy. If the wealthy aren’t paying their fair share, we simply cannot afford to make the investments in the middle we need to in order to grow the economy.
- Minimum wage: Nobody who works full time in America should have to live in poverty. Raising the minimum wage will lift people out of poverty and create more consumers to help fuel the economy.
- Health security: Millions of Americans will soon have access to quality, affordable health care for the first time and the 85 percent of Americans who already have health insurance are seeing new benefits and better coverage as a result of Obamacare.
- Retirement security: We need to strengthen both Social Security and our private retirement system so middle-class Americans can afford to retire and live with dignity, a promise beyond the reach of too many.
- Affordable housing: The housing market is recovering, but we need to implement additional policies and reforms to help those who are still underwater and the millions who can’t get a loan to buy a home today.
A lot more policies to strengthen and grow the middle class are outlined in a recent Center for American Progress paper you can check out HERE.
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Readers: The click over is interesting too. What are your thoughts? Blog me.
Social Butterfly: Sounds like you’re enjoying yourself. I wish I could’ve had some fun with you at the Cubbyhole!
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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July 31st, 2013 at 11:19 am
Wish you were here too Michelle. The weather is absolutely gorgeous. There are lots of pretty women in beautiful summer clothes out and about. NY women definitely dress better than in SF.
/SB
July 31st, 2013 at 12:42 pm
Bullshit Social Butterfly, you just don’t hang out in the right parts of SF. We are practiced at wearing the best because we have the better weather.
Try Union or Chestnut between Divs and Van Ness.
Or Filmore anywhere.
If you want more, let me know. I’m a girls girl who favorite the girlie girl.
July 31st, 2013 at 12:43 pm
Nice topic Michelle, but Obama will never get a chance to make it work if the republicans have their way.
July 31st, 2013 at 12:44 pm
Just where is the “Cubbyhole?”
July 31st, 2013 at 5:12 pm
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July 31st, 2013 at 7:26 pm
I disagree Lisa. I’ve lived in two of those three neighborhoods. Or perhaps my standards are just higher than yours. NYC has it going on!
Grace, cubbyhole is on W 12th.
/SB
August 1st, 2013 at 2:30 am
This is happening on Guam and it is a shame.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigations investigates fraud, corruption and child pornography cases here on a regular basis, special agents said yesterday afternoon, but there is not a high rate of those crimes.
“It’s what’s happening, but there’s no need for alarm,” special agent Cyrus Kam told members of the Rotary Club of Northern Guam.
Club members asked Kam and special agents Scott Berkland and Joshua McKinney about the agency’s role in responding to the illicit drug trade on Guam.
Kam said the bureau only investigates drug cases that are connected to public corruption. The Drug Enforcement Administration handles most drug-related crimes, he said.
Club members also were concerned about the issue of human trafficking.
Kam said human trafficking is happening on Guam and it’s a priority of the criminal division of the bureau, along with other civil rights violations. But it isn’t an issue Guam’s residents should lose sleep over, he said.
Community outreach
Kam said the goal of the FBI’s outreach program in the community is to make sure residents are aware of what the bureau does.
There are 15 employees at the Guam branch of the FBI, working on national security priorities as well as criminal priorities, but they don’t have the same kinds of resources as offices in the states.
“We do the best we can with what we have,” Kam said, but resources are limited.
Available resources
The agents encouraged club members to call the bureau, even if they’re not sure if the FBI is the right place to address their concerns.
“If you’re sure it’s a federal crime, then I encourage you to call,” McKinney said.
Kam said the investigations the bureau is involved with aren’t disclosed to the public until they’re sent to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, but the community is a valuable resource for their information- driven organization.
“The community is our eyes and ears, we rely on them to help us know what’s going on,” Kam said.
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I hope everyone on the island will be alert and call the police at the slightest suspicion. If it is not happening no harm done.
Hafa Adai