Our Passion is 2 reach our individual & collective potential 4 excellence & Success- Always!
Dear Patriotic Global Citizens and Friends of Greater Africa Without Borders!
It is amazing how the global Middle Class is shrinking and see what President Obama is doing about it. I wonder, whether other global leaders will follow this example or come up with an alternative.
At least the White House has a plan and let us reason, and do qualitative and quantitative analysis and its impact on the trillions of US and Global debt as the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greek and Spain) in Europe and the whole of Africa is scrambling for survival.
It is critical to pay attention and get involved. This is our time, this is our moment has come to this. Very interesting indeed!
Dr BMJ
A Strong Middle Class Blog
Victories For Working Families and Jobs in the Agreement on Tax Cuts and Unemployment Insurance
Posted by on December 10, 2010 at 3:24 PM ESTThe President is committed to promoting a strong, growing economy – one that’s creating jobs, fostering a thriving middle class, and extending opportunity to all American workers. That’s why he fought so hard to ensure that the priorities of working families were advanced in the agreement introduced today in the Senate.
As the chart above demonstrates, the bipartisan agreement we’ve forged delivers several key victories – victories that will give the average American family assurance that there will be more money to pay the bills each month:Helping Middle-Class Families Pursue Justice
Posted by on November 19, 2010 at 4:31 PM ESTThis morning, the Vice President spoke at a Middle Class Task Force Event that was co-hosted by the Department of Justice’s Access to Justice Initiative. He announced new steps that our Administration is taking in partnership with the legal community to strengthen foreclosure mediation programs, help veterans cope with legal challenges, and make it easier for workers to find a qualified attorney when they believe their rights have been violated.First, the Department of Labor (DOL) and the American Bar Association (ABA) are launching a new partnership to help workers resolve complaints received by DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, such as not getting paid the minimum wage or overtime, or being wrongfully denied family medical leave. DOL resolves more than 20,000 of these complaints every year, but because of limited resources, there are thousands more they are unable to pursue. Starting next month, people whose cases cannot be pursued will be provided with a newly created toll-free number that will connect them with an ABA-approved attorney referral service so they can find a qualified lawyer to help with their claims.The Importance of Equal Pay For Women
Posted by on November 17, 2010 at 7:00 AM ESTYesterday I picked up my Wall Street Journal and read an opinion piece “Washington’s Equal Pay Obsession” arguing that the Paycheck Fairness Act is unnecessary because, in a nutshell, women don’t face rampant pay discrimination. Instead, the author asserted, the wage gap exists because women are mothers.So let’s break this down.First, there is ample evidence that women – regardless of their parental status - do face pay discrimination. Yes, part of the wage gap is a result of occupational choices and other factors. No one denies that. Most economists agree, however, that no matter how many variables you control for an unexplained wage gap between men and women persists. For example, Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn did an excellent breakdown of the wage gap in 2007 and identified that 41% of the wage gap between men and women could not be explained by controlling for variables. Regardless of the precise percentage of the wage gap, we have a responsibility to ensure that no one in this country makes less as a result of his or her gender.Wage discrimination is real.Learn more about WomenStrengthening an Emerging Industry While Helping Families Save Money
Posted by on November 9, 2010 at 3:17 PM ESTLast fall, the Middle Class Task Force and the Council on Environmental Quality released a report calledRecovery Through Retrofit, which identified the key barriers standing in the way of strong and sustainable home energy-efficiency industry. For the past year, we have been working with our partners across the federal government to address these barriers, and today, the Vice President announced three new initiatives that will grow this industry and help middle-class families save money on their energy bills.First, homeowners don’t have access to clear and reliable information about their home’s energy performance and how to improve it. So today, the Department of Energy announced a program called Home Energy Score. Using a new software tool, trained contractors will be able to go through a house in an hour or less and generate a report with two critical components:- First, an easy to understand graphic showing where the home’s energy performance rates on a scale of 1 to 10 and how that score compares to other homes in the area. It’s like a miles-per-gallon label for your house.
- Second, a customized list of recommended improvements, with information on how much the homeowner’s energy bill would be reduced by each change.
Learn more about Economy, Energy & EnvironmentNew Report Highlights Administration’s Support for Women and Families
Posted by on October 22, 2010 at 9:52 AM ESTAt the beginning of this Administration, the President tasked Vice President Biden with chairing the Middle Class Task Force to identify and push through measures to help get middle-class families back on their feet.From day one, the Middle Class Task Force has focused on supporting women in all of the work they do – as caregivers to our nation’s children and the elderly, as leaders in business and increasingly as co-breadwinners in households across the country. With more women entering and remaining in the workforce and more households than ever dependent on two incomes, this work is critical to helping middle-class families regain and maintain their financial security.Yesterday the National Economic Council released a report, Jobs and Economic Security for America’s Women, which provided even more evidence for why this work is critically important.The report lays out that in almost two-thirds of families women are either the primary or co-breadwinner in their household. Many women are sole breadwinners. As of December 2009, 2.1 million women whose husbands were unemployed were working as the sole breadwinners for their families. An additional 6.1 million women are single mothers and the sole breadwinners for their families.As women’s income and employment gains increasing importance in family budgets, their other roles do not disappear. Women are still playing substantial roles as caregivers to their children, parents and family members with disabilities. That means it is more important than ever to support women as they seek to balance these responsibilities.The report highlights some of the initiatives the Middle Class Task Force championed in the 2011 Budget to provide families with more options as they try to navigate this increasingly delicate juggling act. These aren’t just women’s issues; they are issues of vital importance to every family’s economic security.Some of our 2011 Budget Proposals:- A near-doubling of the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit for middle-class families. This would result in a $900 increase in the maximum credit available to many middle class families.
- $100 million for the Caregiver Initiative at the Department of Health and Human Services, which would help an additional 200,000 caregivers better balance their responsibilities and support one million additional hours of adult day care and three million rides to critical daily activities, taking the strain off women and their families.
- $50 million for the State Paid Leave Fund at the Department of Labor, which will provide competitive grants to help cover start-up costs for states that choose to launch paid leave programs.
These are just some of the Administration’s efforts to support women and the middle-class families they support as they seek to regain their footing. To read the report and learn more about the Administration’s efforts to support women and middle-class families, click here.Maureen Tracey-Mooney is Senior Policy Analyst in the Office of the Vice President- A near-doubling of the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit for middle-class families. This would result in a $900 increase in the maximum credit available to many middle class families.
A Path Forward for Communities Affected by the GM Bankruptcy
Posted by on October 20, 2010 at 1:19 PM ESTOver the past year, the Vice President and Middle Class task Force have visited revived auto plants, clean energy manufacturers, and other factories where Americans are making things to drive this economy forward. And he’s always stressed how important these plants are to their communities.One difficult challenge these communities face is how to move old and abandoned properties back into productive use. Too often, a combination of insufficient resources, uncertain environmental liabilities, and inadequate commitment from responsible parties puts shuttered facilities in a devastating limbo for years or even decades. Empty buildings and chain link fences not only represent lost opportunities but have the potential to create a vicious cycle, driving down property values increasing crime and keeping communities from moving their economies forward.Learn more about Economy
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