A Blueprint for Middle-Class Economics
President Obama posted an essay on the Huffington Post titled ‘A Blueprint for Middle-Class Economics’. He said he will be presenting his budget to Congress next week that will be focusing on bringing middle-class economics to the 21st Century.
America’s resurgence is real. With a growing economy, shrinking deficits, bustling industry, and booming energy production, we have risen from recession freer to write our own future than any other nation on Earth.
Now we have to choose what we want that future to look like. 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 rising chances for everyone who makes the effort?
In my State of the Union Address last week, I focused on making sure middle-class economics helps more Americans get ahead in the new economy. As a country, we need to do more to make working families’ paychecks go farther, give Americans of every age the chance to upgrade their skills so they earn higher wages, and build the world’s most competitive economy for our businesses.
On Monday, I will present Congress with my budget, a plan for bringing middle-class economics into the 21st Century. First, I’m proposing we make the kinds of investments we need to continue to grow our economy and enhance our national security. We would establish new advanced manufacturing hubs, rebuild crumbling infrastructure, combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and lead a new age of precision medicine that uses cutting-edge science to find new treatments for diseases like diabetes and cancer. We would give working parents a chance to get ahead with guaranteed paid sick leave, and we’d give Americans of all ages a chance to earn new skills by making community college free for responsible students. And we should invest in a 21st century military to confront global challenges with strong and sustained American leadership. These proposals are pragmatic; they’re the types of things both parties should be able to support.
Last night the President addressed the House Democrats retreat in Philadelphia. “It is pretty rare where you have two visions, a vigorous debate, and then you test who is right,” President Obama said. “And the record shows that we were right. And middle-class economics does work. … Bottom line is this. We gotta make sure it continues to work. We should protect the progress we are making.”
The President is serious about pushing middle-class economics now that the economy has mostly recovered. So far the spoils have all gone to the top. His intent is to bring it to everyone.