President Barack Obama Weekly Address April 14, 2012 (Video/Transcript)

Remarks of President Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
April 14, 2012

One of the fundamental challenges of our time is building an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules.
And as many Americans rush to file their taxes this weekend, it’s worth pointing out that we’ve got a tax system that doesn’t always uphold the principle of everyone doing their part.
Now, this is not just about fairness.  This is also about growth.  It’s about being able to make the investments we need to strengthen our economy and create jobs.  And it’s about whether we as a country are willing to pay for those investments.
In a perfect world, of course, none of us would have to pay any taxes. We’d have no deficits to pay down.  And we’d have all the resources we needed to invest in things like schools and roads and a strong military and new sources of energy – investments that have always bolstered our economy and strengthened the middle class.
But we live in the real world, with real choices and real consequences. Right now, we’ve got significant deficits to close.  We’ve got serious investments to make to keep our economy growing.  And we can’t afford to keep spending more money on tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans who don’t need them and didn’t even ask for them.
Warren Buffett is one of the wealthiest men in the world.  But he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.  That’s just the way the system is set up.  In fact, one in four millionaires pays a lower tax rate than millions of hardworking middle-class households.
As Warren points out, that’s not fair and it doesn’t make sense.  It’s wrong that middle-class Americans pay a higher share of their income in taxes than some millionaires and billionaires.
This week, Members of Congress are going to have a chance to set things right.  They get to vote on what we call the Buffett Rule.
It’s simple:  If you make more than $1 million every year, you should pay at least the same percentage of your income in taxes as middle-class families do.  On the other hand, if you make less than $250,000 a year -- like 98 percent of American families do -- your taxes shouldn’t go up.
That’s all there is to it.  It’s pretty sensible.  Most Americans support this idea. One survey found that two-thirds of millionaires do, too.  So do nearly half of all Republicans.
We just need some Republican politicians to get on board with where the country is.
I know they’ll say that this is all about wanting to raise people’s taxes.  They probably won’t tell you that if you belong to a middle-class family, then I’ve cut your taxes each year that I’ve been in office, and I’ve cut taxes for small business owners 17 times.
But the thing is, for most Americans like me, tax rates are near their lowest point in 50 years. In 2001 and 2003, the wealthiest Americans received two huge new tax cuts.  We were told these tax cuts would lead to faster job growth. Instead, we got the slowest job growth in half a century, and the typical American family actually saw its income fall.
On the flip side, when the most well-off Americans were asked to pay a little more in the 1990s, we were warned that it would kill jobs. Instead, tens of millions of jobs followed.
So we’ve tried this trickle-down experiment before. It doesn’t work. And middle class families have seen too much of their security erode over the past few decades for us to tell them they’re going to have to do more because the wealthiest Americans are going to do less.  We can’t stop investing in the things that will help grow our economy and create jobs – things like education, research, new sources of energy – just so folks like me can get another tax cut.
So I hope you’ll ask your Member of Congress to step up and echo that call this week by voting for the Buffett Rule. Remind them that in America, prosperity has never just trickled down from a wealthy few.  Prosperity has always been built by a strong, thriving middle class.  That’s a principle worth reaffirming right now.
Thank you, God bless you, and have a great weekend.

President Obama Speaks on Tax Fairness

 

President Obama explains why we need the Buffett Rule, which would ensure that people making more than $1 million a year pay at least the same share of their income in taxes as middle-class families.

President Barack Obama Weekly Address April 7, 2012 (Video/Transcript)

 

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
April 7, 2012

For millions of Americans, this weekend is a time to celebrate redemption at God’s hand.  Tonight, Jews will gather for a second Seder, where they will retell the story of the Exodus.  And tomorrow, my family will join Christians around the world as we thank God for the all-important gift of grace through the resurrection of His son, and experience the wonder of Easter morning.
These holidays have their roots in miracles that took place thousands of years ago.  They connect us to our past and give us strength as we face the future.  And they remind us of the common thread of humanity that connects us all.
For me, and for countless other Christians, Easter weekend is a time to reflect and rejoice.  Yesterday, many of us took a few quiet moments to try and fathom the tremendous sacrifice Jesus made for all of us.
Tomorrow, we will celebrate the resurrection of a savior who died so that we might live.
And throughout these sacred days, we recommit ourselves to following His example.  We rededicate our time on Earth to selflessness, and to loving our neighbors.  We remind ourselves that no matter who we are, or how much we achieve, we each stand humbled before an almighty God.
Christ’s triumph over death holds special meaning for Christians.  But all of us, no matter how or whether we believe, can identify with elements of His story.  The triumph of hope over despair.  Of faith over doubt.
The notion that there is something out there that is bigger than ourselves.
These beliefs help unite Americans of all faiths and backgrounds.  They shape our values and guide our work.  They put our lives in perspective.
So to all Christians celebrating the Resurrection with us, Michelle and I want to wish you a blessed and Happy Easter.  And to all Americans, I hope you have a weekend filled with joy and reflection, focused on the things that matter most.  God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.

Remarks by President Obama at the JOBS Act Bill Signing (Video/Transcript)

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Hello, everybody.  Please, please have a seat.  Good afternoon.  I want to thank all of you for coming, and in particular, I want to thank the members of Congress who are here today from both parties, whose leadership and hard work made this bill a reality.
One of the great things about America is that we are a nation of doers -- not just talkers, but doers.  We think big.  We take risks.  And we believe that anyone with a solid plan and a willingness to work hard can turn even the most improbable idea into a successful business.  So ours is a legacy of Edisons and Graham Bells, Fords and Boeings, of Googles and of Twitters.  This is a country that’s always been on the cutting edge.  And the reason is that America has always had the most daring entrepreneurs in the world.
Some of them are standing with me today.  When their ideas take root, we get inventions that can change the way we live.  And when their businesses take off, more people become employed because, overall, new businesses account for almost every new job that’s created in America.
Now, because we’re still recovering from one of the worst recessions in our history, the last few years have been pretty tough on entrepreneurs.  Credit has been tight.  And no matter how good their ideas are, if an entrepreneur can’t get a loan from a bank or backing from investors, it’s almost impossible to get their businesses off the ground.  And that’s why back in September, and again in my State of the Union, I called on Congress to remove a number of barriers that were preventing aspiring entrepreneurs from getting funding.  And this is one useful and important step along that journey.
Here’s what’s going to happen because of this bill.  For business owners who want to take their companies to the next level, this bill will make it easier for you to go public.  And that’s a big deal because going public is a major step towards expanding and hiring more workers.  It’s a big deal for investors as well, because public companies operate with greater oversight and greater transparency.
And for start-ups and small businesses, this bill is a potential game changer.  Right now, you can only turn to a limited group of investors -- including banks and wealthy individuals -- to get funding.  Laws that are nearly eight decades old make it impossible for others to invest.  But a lot has changed in 80 years, and it’s time our laws did as well.  Because of this bill, start-ups and small business will now have access to a big, new pool of potential investors -- namely, the American people.  For the first time, ordinary Americans will be able to go online and invest in entrepreneurs that they believe in.
Of course, to make sure Americans don’t get taken advantage of, the websites where folks will go to fund all these start-ups and small businesses will be subject to rigorous oversight.  The SEC is going to play an important role in implementing this bill.  And I’ve directed my administration to keep a close eye as this law goes into effect and to provide me with regular updates.
It also means that, to all the members of Congress who are here today, I want to say publicly before I sign this bill, it's going to be important that we continue to make sure that the SEC is properly funded, just like all our other regulatory agencies, so that they can do the job and make sure that our investors get adequate protections.
This bill represents exactly the kind of bipartisan action we should be taking in Washington to help our economy.  I’ve always said that the true engine of job creation in this country is the private sector, not the government.  Our job is to help our companies grow and hire.  That’s why I pushed for this bill.  That’s why I know that the bipartisan group of legislators here pushed for this bill.  That's why I’ve cut taxes for small businesses over 17 times.  That’s why every day I’m fighting to make sure America is the best place on Earth to do business.
Our economy has begun to turn a corner, but we've still got a long way to go.  We've still got a lot of Americans out there who are looking for a job or looking for a job that pays better than the one that they've got.  And we're going to have to keep working together so that we can keep moving the economy forward.
         
But I've never been more confident about our future.  And the reason is because of the American people.  Some of the folks beside me here today are a testimony to that.  Day after day, they’re out there pitching investors.  Some meetings go well; some meetings don't go so well.  That's true for me, too.  (Laughter.)  But no matter what, they keep at it.  And who knows, maybe one of them or one of the folks in the audience here today will be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg.  And one of them may be the next entrepreneur to turn a big idea into an entire new industry.  That’s the promise of America.  That’s what this country is all about.
So if these entrepreneurs are willing to keep giving their all, the least Washington can do is to help them succeed.  I plan to do that now by proudly signing this bill.
Thank you very much, everybody.
(The bill is signed.)  (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT:  All right, everybody.  Enjoy a great day.  (Applause.)

President Obama’s Passover Message

The Occupy Spring: Frances Fox Piven

Video News by NewsLook

Interview with Frances Fox Piven, Author& Historian

This is an very interesting interview.

Frances Fox Piven (born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on October 10, 1932) is an American professor of political science and sociology at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, where she has taught since 1982. Previously, she had been a member of the political science faculty at Boston University.