"And apparently Pres Obama doesnt see that anything special should be done. "
...that comment ignores what he has done, including moving on some of Reich's proposal and more.
Reich's proposals:
1) Make work pay. The fastest-growing categories of work are retail, restaurant (including fast food), hospital (especially orderlies and staff), hotel, childcare and eldercare. But these jobs tend to pay very little. A first step toward making work pay is to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, pegging it to inflation; abolish the tipped minimum wage; and expand the Earned Income Tax Credit. No American who works full time should be in poverty.
2) Unionize low-wage workers. The rise and fall of the American middle class correlates almost exactly with the rise and fall of private-sector unions, because unions gave the middle class the bargaining power it needed to secure a fair share of the gains from economic growth. We need to reinvigorate unions, beginning with low-wage service occupations that are sheltered from global competition and from labor-replacing technologies. Lower-wage Americans deserve more bargaining power.
3) Invest in education. This investment should extend from early childhood through world-class primary and secondary schools, affordable public higher education, good technical education and lifelong learning. Education should not be thought of as a private investment; it is a public good that helps both individuals and the economy. Yet for too many Americans, high-quality education is unaffordable and unattainable. Every American should have an equal opportunity to make the most of herself or himself. High-quality education should be freely available to all, starting at the age of 3 and extending through four years of university or technical education.
4) Invest in infrastructure. Many working Americans—especially those on the lower rungs of the income ladder—are hobbled by an obsolete infrastructure that generates long commutes to work, excessively high home and rental prices, inadequate Internet access, insufficient power and water sources, and unnecessary environmental degradation. Every American should have access to an infrastructure suitable to the richest nation in the world.
5) Pay for these investments with higher taxes on the wealthy.
6) Make the payroll tax progressive.
7) Raise the estate tax and eliminate the “stepped-up basis” for determining capital gains at death.
8) Constrain Wall Street.
9) Give all Americans a share in future economic gains.
10) Get big money out of politics.
The President has moved on many, not all (I really like item 9), of those issues and others not mentioned.
Why It Matters That Home Care Workers Just Got New Labor Rights
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/09/17/2634411/home-care-workers-rule-change/
BOOM: Obama signs order to raise minimum wage for federal contractors...disabled workers included!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024489919
The President knows this is important for workers, and good for the economy. That is why the President has already signed an executive order to raise the minimum wage and tipped minimum wage for federal contract workers and is calling on Congress to raise the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour and index it to inflation thereafter, while also raising the tipped minimum wage for the first time in over 20 years. Increasing the minimum wage and the tipped minimum wage is especially important for women, who make up more than half of the workforce in jobs that pay the minimum wage and tipped occupations. Today, the White House is releasing a new report that lays out how women and the workforce would benefit if Congress passed legislation to raise the national minimum wage and tipped minimum wage for all Americans. Key findings from the report include:
NEW WHITE HOUSE REPORT: The Impact of Raising the Minimum Wage on Women and the Importance of Ensuring a Robust Tipped Minimum Wage
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/26/new-white-house-report-impact-raising-minimum-wage-women-and-importance-
How Obama's Reforms To Overtime Law Will Change People's Lives
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024660707
ARRA and the Earned Income Tax Credit
Update May 31, 2013 — This page has been updated to reflect the fact that the EITC changes under ARRA, which were to expire at the end of 2012, were extended through December 2017 by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.
Update Oct. 31, 2011 — This page has been updated to reflect the fact that the EITC changes under ARRA, which were to expire at the end of 2010, were extended through December 2012 by the Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2010.
The earned income tax credit is a refundable credit intended to help people who work but earn modest incomes. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides a temporary increase in the EITC for taxpayers with three or more qualifying children. In 2013, the maximum EITC for this new category is $6,044. ARRA also increased the beginning point of the phaseout range for the credit for all married couples filing a joint return, regardless of the number of children.
In 2013, the credit begins to phase out at $22,870 for married taxpayers filing a joint return with children and completely phases out at $43,210 for one child, $48,378 for two children and $51,567 for three or more children. For married taxpayers filing a joint return with no children, the credit begins to phase out at $13,310 and completely phases out at $19,680.
These changes applied to 2009 and 2010 tax returns under ARRA, and were extended by the Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2010 to apply to 2011 and 2012 tax returns. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 extended these temporary ARRA increases for five years through December 2017.
http://www.irs.gov/uac/ARRA-and-the-Earned-Income-Tax-Credit
Krugman: Obama and the One Percent
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024391415
The heatlh care law also raised the payroll tax for high income earners and taxed investment income.
Net Investment Income Tax
A new Net Investment Income Tax goes into effect starting in 2013. The 3.8 percent Net Investment Income Tax applies to individuals, estates and trusts that have certain investment income above certain threshold amounts. The IRS and the Treasury Department have issued proposed regulations on the Net Investment Income Tax. Comments may be submitted electronically, by mail or hand delivered to the IRS. For additional information on the Net Investment Income Tax, see our questions and answers.
Additional Medicare Tax
A new Additional Medicare Tax goes into effect starting in 2013. The 0.9 percent Additional Medicare Tax applies to an individual’s wages, Railroad Retirement Tax Act compensation, and self-employment income that exceeds a threshold amount based on the individual’s filing status. The threshold amounts are $250,000 for married taxpayers who file jointly, $125,000 for married taxpayers who file separately, and $200,000 for all other taxpayers. An employer is responsible for withholding the Additional Medicare Tax from wages or compensation it pays to an employee in excess of $200,000 in a calendar year. The IRS and the Department of the Treasury have issued proposed regulations on the Additional Medicare Tax. Comments may be submitted electronically, by mail or hand delivered to the IRS. For additional information on the Additional Medicare Tax, see our questions and answers.
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Affordable-Care-Act-Tax-Provisions
Obamacare boosting household income and spending
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/04/1282095/-Obamacare-boosting-household-income-and-nbsp-spending
Why isn't there more focus on shareholders' say on executive pay?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024877216
Robert Reich: The Significance of Citigroup’s Shareholder Revolt
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002579118
Executive order on federal contracting means real action on economic mobility
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024415803
FACT SHEET: President Obama Lays Out Vision for 21st Century Transportation Infrastructure
On February 26th, the President will speak at the historic Union Depot train station in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he will launch a competition for $600 million in competitive transportation funding and outline his vision for investing in America’s infrastructure with a $302 billion, four year surface transportation reauthorization proposal. The President will continue to act when he can to promote job growth in the transportation sector and put more Americans back to work repairing and modernizing our roads, bridges, railways, and transit systems, and will also work with Congress to act to ensure critical transportation programs continue to be funded and do not expire later this year.
- more -
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/02/26/fact-sheet-president-obama-lays-out-vision-21st-century-transportation-i
Obama's budget: Help for workers, taxes for the rich
By Jeanne Sahadi
President Obama on Tuesday released a nearly $4 trillion budget proposal for 2015 that includes more generous tax breaks for working families while scaling back breaks for the rich.
His budget, while not expected to be enacted by Congress, does offer the president's fiscal policy vision for the country...the White House says Obama's blueprint sticks to the topline spending limits already set by the House and Senate for 2015.
But the plan also features a $56 billion growth and investment package that includes money for universal pre-K, infrastructure and job training. Obama proposes to pay for those initiatives through additional spending restraint and increased revenue.
Impose a "Fair Share Tax": As he has called for before, Obama wants Congress to implement the so-called Buffett Rule, which would require people making over $1 million to pay at least 30% of their income, after charitable contributions, in federal taxes. <...>
Cap the value of deductions for high-income households: Obama wants to limit the value of itemized deductions, as well certain tax exclusions, to 28% of the amount claimed. <...>
Limit savers' combined balance across tax-preferred accounts: The president wants to prohibit contributions to tax-advantaged retirement accounts once a person's combined balance exceeds a certain level. Such accounts include IRAs and 401(k)s. <...>
Raise the estate tax: The president wants restore the 2009 estate tax exemption levels and estate tax rate.
- more -
http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/04/pf/taxes/obama-budget-taxes/
Shortly after November’s city elections, President Obama invited 16 of the newly elected progressive mayors to a meeting at the White House. Peduto, Hodges, Murray, and de Blasio were among those who attended. Obama talked about his proposal for universal pre-K, which was languishing in Congress. At the federal level, it would obviously take some time to get such a measure enacted, Obama continued, or he could find 20 innovative mayors and get it done tomorrow. Provided they can scrape up the dollars...What’s happening in cities can be described as Obama’s agenda trickling down to the jurisdictions where it has enough political support to be enacted—but it’s also the incubation of policies and practices that will trickle up.
The Revolt of the Cities
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024859982
NLRB Files Formal Complaint Against Walmart, Internal Anti-Union Documents Also Leaked
http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/NLRB-Files-Formal-Complaint-Against-Walmart-Internal-Anti-Union-Documents-Also-Leaked
EPI: Court of Appeals Hands Victory to U.S. Workers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024450902
Truck Drivers Handed Labor Victory That Could Reshape The Industry (updated)
http://metamorphosis.democraticunderground.com/10024705153
Elizabeth Warren:
The CFPB has been doing a great job, and the policies in place give regulators the tools to do their jobs.
CFPB, hard at work
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024877283
Obama's CFPB under Richard Cordray "took $800 million from Bank of America"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024802019
Regulators Finalize Stricter Volcker Rule - Reuters/HuffPo
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024158305
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