Obama has set the parameters of 2016: middle class economics vs. trickle down economics

Obama has set the parameters of 2016: middle class economics vs. trickle down economics

by Ian Reifowitz for Daily Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/25/1359462/-Obama-has-set-the-parameters-for-2016-Middle-class-economics-vs-trickle-down-economics

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Barack Obama won his two elections for president, as he reminded the American people (and congressional Republicans) during Tuesday night's State of the Union address. Additionally, his policy proposals on income inequality laid down a marker with which candidates for the White House in 2016 will have to grapple. Here's how the president framed the matter rhetorically:

Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well? Or will we commit ourselves to an economy that generates rising incomes and chances for everyone who makes the effort?

More specifically, the president proposed a number of measures that exemplify what he called "middle-class economics." These plans would help middle-class families pay for child care and education as well as save for retirement, would mandate paid sick leave and parental leave, and would make community college free. On that last matter, Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy perfectly articulated the core Republican philosophy of "I got mine, go get yours" in explaining why he opposed it: "Here's the thing that really bothers me about this. I made my final two college tuition payments about two weeks ago!" With counterarguments that powerful, I don't even know why President Obama bothers. Maybe it's because his proposals were a "big hit" with voters in general, and with the group of white swing voters gathered to watch the speech by a leading pollster.


To return to the specifics, Obama would offset this money going to middle-class families—don't forget that he also recently proposed expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit both for people with and without children, something aimed specifically at lower-income workers—by restoring the capital gains tax rate back to the level signed into law by that noted liberal Ronald Reagan, and by closing capital gains-related loopholes in the inheritance tax.




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