When Do Low-Income Americans Get Their White House Meeting?

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/08-7


The nation's most powerful, like JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon and Goldman Sach's Lloyd Blankfein, find frequent audience at the White House, but not so for the working poor and other vulnerable citizens. (Photo: AP)

Throughout these budget talks, the Obama Administration has projected an image that it is open to good ideas from anyone, and interested in the prosperity of everyone.

So Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein had his day at the White House along with thirteen other corporate heads. The same is true for a group of small business owners as well as some labor leaders and progressive groups. And certainly President Obama has surrounded himself with middle class families throughout these fiscal negotiations.

But there is an omission from the President’s rounds—one that is all the more glaring since this group of people is arguably more vulnerable than anyone to any final budget decisions: low-income Americans who are struggling to climb up from the lower rungs of the economic ladder.

When is their White House meeting? Where is their place at the table?

[Autumn]

1. It's coming any day now. Obamas second term will free him up to move in the right direction.

Who the fuck am I kidding, we can shut the fuck up and eat our peas.

[ProSense]

8. Like the fiscal cliff deal that

permanently eliminates income taxes on most low-income Americans and expands stimulus enacted aid for five years.

More to come, I'm sure.

The payroll tax cut expired, but that was an idea of the President's that a lot of people on the left hated.

BTW, Republicans killed it.

[Autumn]

11. Hi

[UnrepentantLiberal]

53. She ProSense'd ya.

[Autumn]

57. Nah, I just very, very rarely read anything she posts.

So I just say hi. I can't see discussing anything with some posters. So it's a hi or have a real nice day.

[ProSense]

65. The President expanded Medicaid to 16 million Americans.

It's subsidized up to 400 percent of the poverty level.

Massive expansion of the safety net.

"She ProSense'd ya."

All you have is nonsensical quips.

[NYC Liberal]

76. Some people hate that you actually back up your posts with facts and links.

That's not too popular around among some quarters here. Especially when it gives the lie to the notion that President Obama is a souless monster worse than Bush.

[MADem]

126. I concur.

That snark and negativity act re: POTUS is just getting old. "He isn't doing everything that ***I*** want, ergo, he SUCKS!" It's not very convincing. ProSense does have facts in order.

I read an article about what that tactic was called, the pretense (accompanied by relentless negativity) that Bush and Obama are the same, and for the life of me I can't remember the term for it, but it was a rather accurate characterization. Something about purity...? It was a slam, but it was apt, too.

[obama2016202428]

109. The president provides for the poor with SNAP (food stamps)

This administration aids more people with SNAP than any before, and the same goes for the number of people that can now be helped with disability insurance. President Obama provides more and cares more for his people than any before him.

"We are the one's we've been waiting for"
Barack Obama

[merrily]

131. Oh! Snap!

Well, someone had to post that.

[merrily]

133. That remains to be seen, given that the SCOTUS took away the only

way that the federal government had in the ACA to persuade states to go along with the expansion, with the votes of Kagan and Breyer, though the votes of the Republican appointees would have sufficed.

But you are correct in that ACA did make the attempt. Whether it actually happens, I don't know. Also don't know if the people who don't get Medicaid, thanks to the states refusing to expand, will therefore become subject to the mandate.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

154. They loved you when you expressed disappointment in the president for something he did...

...but they go back to their ODS ways when you congratulate something he did right.

I work for HUD, you know, the federal agency that directly deals with poverty and homelessness. The president has consistently increased the budget for housing public assistance, HOPE VI programs, and housing assistance for seniors, the diabled and veterans. Now, whatever Congress cuts from the president's proposed budget is not the president's fault.

[awoke_in_2003]

145. The payroll tax cut needed to expire...

I am on the left and agree with that.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

155. I agree with it, too. It hurts Social Security. It was a "holiday" that was set to expire anyway.

[humbled_opinion]

163. B.S. there are alternatives reply to my post below this n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

166. The SS holiday...

Is a good way to ensure that you never see your social security

[humbled_opinion]

167. That is just not true and sounds like propaganda...

Simply raising the cap solves the SS problem and allows for the those low wage earners to contribute less but get counted for contributing the same.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

170. I agree that raising the cap is the BEST solution. But you can't deny that a payroll tax holiday

would do damage.

I like the idea of at least looking into a donut cap, if that's the first step.

[humbled_opinion]

172. Maybe you missed my point I do deny it..

Bottom line I think the bottom rung should not have to pay SS or Medicare or Income Tax, isn't it past time that the benefits that have only helped the rich get passed on to those that really need them?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

169. HUH??? The payroll holiday DID hurt SS. There's no getting around it. Throwing tantrums won't help.

[humbled_opinion]

174. Nuts...

Only people that would say that are not looking at alternative revenue options.... and if it was such a bad idea where are your posts when Obama implemented it?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

176. I've always been in favor of raising the cap. I'm not sure if you can look at all 10,000+ posts.

And I've always been against the payroll holiday. Bernie Sanders spoke loudly and vociferously on that very issue below and elsewhere:

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/07/143241709/how-payroll-tax-cut-affects-social-securitys-future

As for other forms of revenue, my view has always been to increase taxes on the wealthy and save entitlement programs. We can save SS by simply raising the cap. This is what I have always believed and stood by, and I have been consistent.

[humbled_opinion]

162. Look I am glad that you are doing well enough

not to need that money but please don't make that decision for my family...

The lack of compassion on this issue on this forum is amazing to me. I thought people here cared about those not doing well, why couldn't those of you that think like this say i.e....

Obama should be a champion of SS cap elimination and a permanent 2 percent tax cut in SS for those making 50K and below...

or

Obama should ask for a VAT and leave the SS holiday in place I realize people with lower incomes needed that money

or

I wish Obama would look at alternative revenue streams like a banking transaction tax or a wall street transaction tax and held the middleclass and poor by strengthening SS and Medicare but at the same time removing the burden of paying the tax from those with incomes of 50K and below...

Explain to me why the hard nose stand against people like me?

[humbled_opinion]

116. I would rather he move in the correct direction but that's just me...n/t

[merrily]

134. "Correct direction" and "wrong direction" are not the only choices, though.

So, it depends on what one is willing to settle for.

And why.

[leftstreet]

2. Low income people disappear after Campaign Season n/t

DURec

[1StrongBlackMan]

30. Actually ...

the low incomed people were barely mentioned duriong campaign season.

[Ed Suspicious]

35. Right. Middle Class. If you're below you get no pander. n/t

[1StrongBlackMan]

40. No ...

I think it's a calculation ... the lower the income the less likely one will vote.

Further, there is a belief that putting money into the middle-class flows both ways.

[Scootaloo]

63. Plus there's the whole "taboo" thing...

Talking about the poor in America explicitly admits that there are poor people in America. This is something Americans find absolutely intolerable in day-to-day, and abhorrent from their leaders. Even poor people hate to acknowledge it - I've met so many people living in sagging double-wides feeding their kids ramen that insist, with absolute certainty, that they are not poor but are instead middle class!

Acknowledging that the Horatio Alger story applies more or less only to Horatio Alger is a national taboo, and is political suicide.

The other problem is that when politicians start talking about poor people - on the very rare occasions that they do - they run up against the shockingly fascist, eugenics-based attitude Americans hold towards poverty - poor people are poor because they deserve it. They're all lazy, shiftless, ignorant, and probably of poor genetic quality. That being the case, Americans don't WANT these people to be brought into the mainstream, they see the poor as a polluting factor in society, something that will "bring down" everyone else - especially since aiding hte impoverished costs money. And again, even poor people hold this view.

It's not about votes, or belief in trickle-down. it's about a culturally entrenched seething hatred of the poor, internalized so far that even people suffering that situation buy into it.

[lib2DaBone]

111. Wow....well said.....no one likes the poor working class...

No one likes the poor working class .....unless they need their house painted.

If they need their engine re-built at a garage.. or they need their gutters cleaned... then they LIKE the working class.

America..WAKE UP!!! If you don't clean their house.. or rebuild their transmission.. where are they going to have it done?

The first step is to realize that you are being played for fools by the big guys....

Just like Nancy Reagan... "SAY THE FUCK NO" NO.. i wont do your dirty work for free anymore...

[merrily]

136. Johnson did more than talk about the poor. So did RFK--until he got shot.

On February 13th 1968...Senator Robert Kennedy visited East Kentucky. It was part of his tour of Appalachia and came one week before he announced his candidacy for President. He was assassinated some three months after his trip to Hazard. In September 2004, Kennedy's entire tour was re-created as part of a major arts and community development project. Kennedy's visit included a walking tour on Liberty Street in Hazard where he was interview by WSGS/WKIC Newsman - Virgil Walton Napier HazardKentucky.com presents a photographic diary of Kennedy's visit to Perry County.

http://hazardkentucky.com/more/kennedy.htm

Ted Kennedy tried for most of his adult life to get medical care for poor people.

[Scootaloo]

139. That was 44 years ago.

So... yeah. I know it's sacrilege or something but... I don't care about Johnson or RFK. They had high ideals, and those ideals never bore fruit, so hurrah for icons but it's not putting food on peoples' plates. Those ideals are gone with them and our nation is back at a social nadir, where poverty is treated like leprosy was in the middle ages.

[merrily]

143. LBJ's ideals most certainly did bear fruit

Medicare, Head Start, the whole war on poverty group of programs. Many of them were ended by later Congresses and Presidents, but some remain to this day, so it's factually incorrect to say it never bore fruit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Poverty

I think you and I are coming from the same place as to the issue of poverty. Originally, I took issue only with saying that poverty is a taboo, which is far more serious thing than politicians simply selling out.


A real taboo, like taboos against incest and pedophilia, exist for very good reasons. A political choice does not equal a taboo.

You and I agree that poverty is, by the choice of politicians of both duopoly Parties, being treated almost as an untouchable issue, though.

Do voters share responsibility in that? I think we do. Or, at least we did. I am not sure we still can reverse much. It may be to late.

Clinton's WH bragged about having "ended welfare as we know it," and Clinton signed NAFTA and Gramm, Leach Bliley (in 1999, when he was not even worried about his re-election)--and Democrats still treat him like a rock star to this day.

[KoKo]

158. Well said.... +1

[OnyxCollie]

69. Oh, well, fuck 'em then.

I kept reading here that the President was President of all the people, but now I've learned that the poor don't matter because they are less likely to vote.

That makes it okay to exploit them, fucking freeloaders.

[1StrongBlackMan]

71. Well ...

if that's what you got from my post; have at it.

[OnyxCollie]

72. What was I supposed to get out of it?

Please explain.

[1StrongBlackMan]

78. Nothing ...

sighhhh ...

[OnyxCollie]

82. That was informative.

From what I read, you believe wealth will trickle down from the middle class to the poor, and the poor don't need to be addressed directly because they are unlikely to vote.

[1StrongBlackMan]

88. That's only as seen through your filter. n/t

[OnyxCollie]

91. I'll ask again:

Please explain what you meant.

[1StrongBlackMan]

93. I meant ...

that the low-income have always had a seat at the table with this, and every other Democratic, President.

[OnyxCollie]

100. LOL!

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." Samuel Johnson

[1StrongBlackMan]

114. Okay ...

You doubt that?

[merrily]

142. For certain purposes, yes.

[merrily]

135. We have not had a President who was President of all the people since..... nt

[merrily]

138. "Corporations are people, my friend."

[merrily]

137. It may be circular, though.

If no one speaks to you, no one is inspiring you to vote.

Or maybe you have concluded through experience that how you vote does not much matter.

[bvar22]

104. And "Middle Class" to our leadership =+$250,000/year

..or so they say.

[humbled_opinion]

165. More like 450K or so they acted...n/t

[humbled_opinion]

168. seems like pander stopped at 450K annual income...

must be nice to be rich and not have to worry about what you are going to give up this year thanks to no one fighting for a tax break that really did finally help those at the bottom....

I am beginning to realize this is all just rhetoric both sides probably chuckling and laughing at us behind closed doors....

i.e. Boner to Obama .... LOL you made me look like a fool this time.... hehehe... so next time when I make you cut SS and Medicare you will look like the fool ..... Obama to Boner ..... Yeah I didn't realize it was so easy to con these rubes into voting for me.....

Well there's my cynical side...

[merrily]

132. Toward the end, I did hear "middle class and those who aspire to the middle class" a few times.

[humbled_opinion]

164. I am starting to believe that... Shame really...

must be lots of folks on DU that got rich all of a sudden... and can pass judgements on what my family needs.

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. They do not need one, as there is a former community organizer in the White House

Place at the table? He's at the head of the table.

[choie]

14. that former community organizer

of whom you speak does not exist...and may never have.

[Tarheel_Dem]

17. Your quip is ridiculous. Do you know why they're even there? Or is this just hyperbole?

[choie]

19. Oh that's right, I'm sure they were there

to discuss how they can provide affordable housing to the poor...
or how there should be an increase in public assistance benefits....
hyperbole? The only hyperbole are the campaign promises that President Obama made in 2008 and 2012.

[mntleo2]

70. You spoke the truth!

I am a REAL community organizer for low income people http://www.mamapower.org. Believe me the poor are used political footballs being kicked around until there is no skin left and then they think it is "funny" to make sure the poor are told over and over how wonderful THEY are or thinking of the poor (or giving some of those tax-free "donations&quot .

Oh. And PeeEss: A lot of poor people vote ~ I am one of them and have registered hundreds of ...yes, get this ...POOR PEOPLE. But I will say I have questioned whether or not it is worth it since as a poor person ..well ...we are only good to drag out whenever someone wants to use us for fodder about how useless we are. When in fact our whole society depends on us to maintain their own class. I have counted the ways lon DU how this dependence on the poor exists many times. So far nobody has ever responded that their own dependence is not true ~ but there sure are a lot of them (while kicking a homeless person whe they are down) ready to hate the poor.

Here is what the poor get from the president and about any other American unless ~ da da daaaaah ~ they suddenly find themselves in the same boat: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. The ones who find themselves in poverty after falling from the middle class are all surprised when they were most likely the ones cheering the loudest while our safety net was being destroyed. They think they "deserve" it more than any poor person when they wail, "B-b-b-but I worked so haaaaaaaaarrrrrrddddd!"~ like the poor DON'T work their asses off????

Sorry but the president being a "community organizier" is like saying that cattle ranchers are vegetarians.

My 2 cents

Cat in Seattle

[merrily]

144. Sure, like health insurers were at the WH early in 2009 for reasons no reasonable person

could discern, right alone with big medical providers and pharmaceutical companies.

Besides, the point of this thread has little to with any single meeting.

[graham4anything]

33. Yup. +zillion

[merrily]

140. 3 years as a community organizer, 1 year in a Wall St. firm and at least 17 years as a politician

Attending the finest private high school in Hawaii and two Ivy League schools and becoming POTUS unusually rapidly is just your typical low income person's experience.

[greatauntoftriplets]

152. +1

[99Forever]

4. Who?

We don't exist.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

5. As soon as they start making the same kind of campaign contributions. Equality for all.

[antiquie]

23. Time=Money

Low income people did contribute.

[merrily]

141. Yes, but big bucks buy a lot of time.

If you have enough Big, generous donors, you can run a campaign quite efficiently without volunteers.

IMO, training volunteers and encouraging small donors is mostly a way of having a lot of people feel invested enough in a campaign and a candidate that they vote and encourage others to do so.

[mntleo2]

81. The Poor DO pay a whole lot of taxes that the rich and middle class refuse to pay ...

The poor are the bottom of the pyramid who are the major support for the upper classes.

[marew]

6. I have wondered the exact same thing...

[daleanime]

7. No one even pretends to represent us any more..

[JoePhilly]

60. If true, who could Obama invite?

I mean, if Obama is supposed to invite the representatives of the poor, who exactly he is supposed to invite.

Lacking an answer to that question makes the point of this discussion moot?

No matter who he talks to, they won't be the "right" poor people's representatives.

[mntleo2]

90. Nuns on the Bus, Arundhi Roy, Howard Zinn, Francis Fox Pivon, Amy Goodman,

Tavis Smiley, Dr Cornell West, Cheri Honokola from Kensington Welfare Rights (who also ran as vice president on the Green Party ticket)

, anyone from Legal Momentum they are all lawyers for the poor, Woman for Economic Justice (WEJ), Maureen Taylor from the Michigan Welfare Rights Union, Willie Baptist who is director at the Poverty Institute (which is out of the Union Theological Seminary at the Riverside Church where MLK spoke and also where Hillary and Bill Clinton go to church), MILLIONS of dedicated organizers and workers in every state ...

&list=FLnXU4R0Cu6v9VXigeflGvqA&feature=mh_lolz

I could fill up the page about whom President Obama could get his "photo op"

Cat in Seattle

[Dragonfli]

107. well..... other than that there's no one I tells ya!

And none of them count, so there!

[JoePhilly]

149. Good, at least you are trying.

Some see this as an opportunity to complain about something else Obama isn't doing correctly.

[merrily]

146. The comment was "No even pretends to represent us anymore."

That is very different from the invite list for a meeting or meetings.

[HughBeaumont]

9. Jamie Diamond and Lloyd Bankfiend.

Two robber baron fucking criminals that have not clue one as to how much short and long-term damage their sect is causing.

[Initech]

73. These criminal scumbags should be doing time.

[Kurovski]

103. +1,000,000,000

[JEB]

127. I think a few years of hard labor

would do them a world of good. They need to have calluses on their hands instead of their hearts. Certainly the last people deserving of direct input with the POTUS. Next thing you know, we'll have a torturer appointed CIA director.

[infidel dog]

10. Meeting? We can meet by the kitchen door for scraps from the bankster's luncheon.

[AZ Progressive]

12. It's All about Power

[bluestate10]

13. When they start voting in all elections and letting politicians know they matter.

Until then, people with money will be the one being heard.

[Autumn]

34. You can give a politician 100 thousand dollars. You still only have one fucking vote.

And corporations have NO vote, and yet they are represented. 100 thousand dollars or fifty lousy bucks, one vote and that one vote entitles you to be heard, even if you can't afford one thin dime you are still entitled to be heard. They hear the ones with money because our political system is a fucking corrupt joke.

[bluestate10]

123. Your diatribe shows why liberals are easy to ignore. Facts are facts.

Unless people vote and make clear that they are voting, they will not get politicians that care about their needs and the politicians that they do get won't listen to them because their numbers as voters are too small.

Focus off your hatred for people with money and on the reality that poor people don't vote in large numbers and as a result of that, people like seniors and rich people get their demands pushed ahead of poor people.

[Autumn]

150. Politicians go the way they do because they are

Last edited Wed Jan 9, 2013, 05:10 PM - Edit history (1)

for the most part "feathering their nest" and face it, they listen to their corporate and wealthy donors and occasionally toss the elderly and poor a bone, with the meat carefully removed. The rich and the corporations own our politicians, blaming people for not voting is bullshit.

[datasuspect]

15. when they start stroking big ass campaign checks

or start paying 1000 for a plate of high end slop at a fund raiser - maybe THAT not so much.

better to channel some 5 or 6 figure donations - you'll get an audience.

[Tarheel_Dem]

16. The o.p. is dishonest at best. There are all kinds of Americans in & out of the WH daily. Check...

the record. I know this is supposed to be inflammatory, but whether common dreams likes it or not, assholes like Dimon & Blankfein are Americans too, and they're sitting on a boatload of money that needs to be invested in this economy. How 'bout you? Do you have any jobs plans for the country? A few billion dollars you can put back into this economy? If that's why they're at the WH, I don't have a problem with it. The POTUS is going to need the help of folks like this to reign in the GOP for the upcoming debt limit fight. Does that even matter to you? Have you heard what happens if the debt ceiling isn't raised?

[leftstreet]

20. We don't need their fucking money

They can shove their ill-gotten gains up their asses

How many rich people would it take to start WPA-style jobs programs?
That's right, none

If you want the $$ from the 'Job Creators,' seize their assets and spread the wealth

[Tarheel_Dem]

24. Ugh. Sounds like you might be happier in Venezuela.

"seize their assets and spread the wealth"? And this is why liberals aren't taken seriously. I'm sure your statement will give El Rushbo plenty of fodder for his demonization of rational progressives. Your post is way out there, and speaks to the marginalization of groups like Occupy.

[leftstreet]

26. In the US wealth is seized from the workers

and gets spread around to the wealthy ruling elites

But you probably already know that

Liberals aren't 'taken seriously' because they no longer stand with the working classes

[forestpath]

27. +1

[Tarheel_Dem]

39. Please proceed leftstreet.

[leftstreet]

46. Okay

Beginners Guide to Marxism

http://www.marxists.org/subject/students/index.htm



And since you're worried that 'ElRushbo' types might take an interest in DU threads, maybe someone out there will benefit from the link

[socialist_n_TN]

108. I agree with him/her. For 30 years that wealth has been stolen .......

from the working class. It's PAST time to take it back. And FUCK what Rush Slimeball thinks.

[1StrongBlackMan]

41. Well ...

, and much more patiently, said!

[TheKentuckian]

95. We have seen their "jobs" plan for a generation

It seems to be ship them out, kill wages, break the unions, shock doctrine education into nothing and let the likes of Walmart take over, and hold the nation ransom for their scams to pay off win or lose.

Invest billions into the country? They have extracted trillions? They get money at no cost, profit, and still fuck this up!

Help with the TeaPubliKlans? Who do you think built them? Who was trying to get Weird WilLIARd elected a few months back? What is it that want in return for their "help"?

Jobs plan???? They don't have any more jobs plans than a gaggle of crackheads. Maybe less, those motherfuckers hustle, if nothing else.

[Tarheel_Dem]

98. I just googled "jobs coming back to america", and got a gazillion results. Rhetoric is no.....

substitute for actual news. I hope the party is moving away from the hyperbole contained in your post, just as the Republicans should have distanced themselves from the more radical elements of their party, and now find themselves in a real pickle. Like the rest of America, I have no particular love for Wall Streeters, but I do realize that they can help put us on more stable economic ground, if they so choose. If the POTUS can appeal to their patriotism, then more power to him.

[TheKentuckian]

120. I just googled "unicorns in teacups" and literally got 12.2 million hits

[link:http://www.google.com/search?q=Unicorns+in+teacups&hl=en&gbv=2&gs_l=heirloom-hp.1.0.0i22l10.12343.52306.0.58438.65.41.24.0.0.0.744.8784.0j12j18j2j1j1j1.35.0...0.0...1c.1.OUi7lnvQQKs&spell=1|

[durablend]

173. And 12.3 million for "when pigs fly" n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

18. There were several meetings

with heads of groups representing a large constituency with a disproportionate membership of the poor, apparently missed by the OP.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/10/AR2010021003680.html

http://thegrio.com/2012/11/16/sharpton-jealous-among-civic-leaders-to-meet-with-obama-on-fiscal-cliff/

It was heavily covered by the RW lunatic press but apparently missed by some on DU?

I doubt this will count though.

[Tarheel_Dem]

25. Thank You. I'm sorry, but I am probably the only acknowledgement you'll receive. The o.p. had....

only one intent, and it works on the same group over & over again.

[BumRushDaShow]

28. Yes I agree.

[1StrongBlackMan]

45. Yep ...

but those aren't the low-income folks the OP was talking about ... He/she was talking about those other low-income people. You know, those unidentifiable low-income people that would meet at the Whitehouse.

[Tarheel_Dem]

47. You wouldn't think we just had an election, would you? Where these "low income" folks came out in..

droves AGAIN to support this president. Go figure.

[1StrongBlackMan]

55. But, as I said, ...

it was the wrong group of poor people. I'm beginning to think that all this concern from these folks is really about themselves.

Look at the Chained CPI/"He's cutting SS" conversations ... all this concern about the poor and elderly and disabled and veterans; but when pointed out that these groups were being exempted, whom did that leave as the affected group ... the non-poor elderly, disabled and/or veterans.

[kurtzapril4]

124. I think the point was

that cutting SS should have never been on the table. Period. No chained CPI, nothing.

[1StrongBlackMan]

160. That's fine ...

But that's not the nature of negotiation ... In any negotiation, anything that your opposition wants on the table IS on the table. And even then, because it's on the table doesn't mean that it will be adopted in a form or deal that the opposition will accept.

As I've mentioned before as an admittedly extreme example, you you object to a Chained CPI being on the table if, as a condition to adoption, there were exemptions for those elderly, disabled and veterans with incomes of less than 150% of the regional median, and Medicare for all, and housing subsidies for those with incomes of less than 150% of the regional median?

I suspect no ... So to simply say "It shouldn't have been on the table" ignores negotiation reality.

[greatauntoftriplets]

153. Good catch, thought you are right that it likely won't count.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

156. Thank you!! The ODSers are in rare form today.

[mmonk]

21. What day is it that hell will freeze over? That one I think.

[Marr]

22. Well see, if they were intelligent enough to add anything to the discussion, they'd have money.

That really is the sentiment at the heart of these things. Somewhere along the line, this society was convinced that wealth and wisdom go hand in hand, and neither is ever found without the other.

[graham4anything]

29. Another smear the president media article. Guess they want Jeb in 2016. imho

[markpkessinger]

86. That's an awfully convenient way to shield the president from criticism ...

... of any type, at any time.

[graham4anything]

87. so what. United we stand divided is Ralph Nader's game plan

[markpkessinger]

96. The question is . . .

. . . United we stand -- for what?

[graham4anything]

97. to overturn the US Supreme Court on their 2nd Amend. and corporate personhood rulings.

If for no other reason from those that do not like the President, there is that reason.

[Hatchling]

102. Yeah, right.

It's not people questioning Obama's policies that will get Jeb elected in 2016. It's the third waypath Democrats are embracing.

[southernyankeebelle]

31. The trick is to have a Lower Middle Class/Working Poor Class SuperPAC

I bet you get a million or 2 in that PAC and doors will open.

[graham4anything]

32. the link is and anti Obama site. How do you like what third parties do to America? Gave us 9-11

Last edited Tue Jan 8, 2013, 05:48 PM - Edit history (1)

[Autumn]

36. Common Dreams is Ron Paul's site??

How do you figure that?

Greg Kaufmann was "a staffer for the Kerry campaign, a copywriter and speechwriter for various Democrats in national and local politics, and as a screenwriter. He serves as an advisor for the Economic Hardship Reporting Project."

[Autumn]

48. Common Dreams is not Ron Pauls web site.

Sorry, that's some weak sauce you got there. I do agree with you saying "plants of course are always around anyhow." I'm sure we have them here.

[graham4anything]

50. it is sympathetic to his viewpoints, so if it quacks like a duck

[Autumn]

51. I've read a lot of progressive stuff coming from there,

and somehow Ron fucking Paul does not quack progressively.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

75. It's bullshit. A quick Google search produces no such results:

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_rn=1&gs_ri=hp&cp=9&gs_id=y&xhr=t&q=common+dreams&pf=p&tbo=d&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&oq=common+dr&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.1357316858,d.b2I&fp=e18cb73c5a071bf7&biw=1100&bih=528

[Autumn]

77. Of course it's a lie, and Common Dreams is not Ron Pauls web site.

That poster plays fast and loose with the truth and seems to enjoy spreading disinformation. When you got nothing I guess you go with what you have.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

80. I used to find the usual incoherent word salads funny. Now it's just annoying. nt

[Autumn]

89. Common Dreams is not Ron fucking Pauls site. That is a lie.

Maybe you just have a defective Google, or maybe you Google Ron Paul all the time. I don't get it on mine. Nader is irrelevant, except to people who have no point. The article is true, JP Morgan's Dimon and Goldman Sach's Blankfein do have access to the White House. That's not a smear, that's the truth.

Do have a nice day, I'm done talking to you. Common Dreams is NOT Pauls site.

[JReed]

125. That's all over the place

Cramming every silly slogan into one can.

Well that's one way to turn the conversation away from the original discussion.

[KoKo]

159. Here is the Staff of Common Dreams. Just hit the link.

(BTW if you Google Democratic Underground+Ron Paul you will come up with a number of ties because he was a hot topic during the campaign) To search you should have gone to the Common Dreams website and clicked on "About Us" so you could see the emphasis of the site and the staff that runs in and their background.

CHECK IT OUT:

https://www.commondreams.org/key-staff

[progressoid]

92. Lots of things quack like a duck,

that aren't ducks.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

94. Like disruptors?

[JoeyT]

115. An outright lie.

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&tbo=d&sclient=psy-ab&q=commondreams.org+ron+paul&oq=commondreams.org+ron+paul&gs_l=hp.3..0.4162.6394.4.6560.13.9.0.4.4.1.1460.5594.6-1j4.5.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.nzhM5_bqutw&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.1357316858,d.b2U&fp=6fcd2b265b2817c6&biw=1366&bih=570

First link: Grow up Ron Paul https://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/10

Second link: Ron Paul Disavows...Ron Paul? https://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/12/28-0

Third link: 5 Reasons Progressives Should Treat Ron Paul with Extreme Caution He's anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-black, anti-senior-citizen, anti-equality and anti-education, and that's just the start. https://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/08/27-1

Fourth link: Ron Paul Action Figure! Comes Fully Equipped With the U.S. Constitution! https://www.commondreams.org/further/2012/01/23-3

Fifth link: Ron Paul Would Allow ‘Open Season’ on Union Organizers https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/01/04-5

Sixth link: Support Attracted by Ron Paul Sends Chills https://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/12/27-5

All six of the first six links are anti-Ron Paul, three are openly insulting. One just flat out mocks libertarians in general.

If you're going to make shit up, at least make shit up that can't be easily verified.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

74. I just did and Google told me you're full of shit as usual (I'm paraphrasing of course):

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_rn=1&gs_ri=hp&cp=9&gs_id=y&xhr=t&q=common+dreams&pf=p&tbo=d&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&oq=common+dr&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.1357316858,d.b2I&fp=e18cb73c5a071bf7&biw=1100&bih=528

[gateley]

37. You should send an email to the WH with this query in the subject line.

We all should. Repeatedly.

Seriously, let the WH know it's on our minds.

[JoePhilly]

44. Make sure you name the members of "the poor" who must be invited.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

38. As soon as they get rich

[JoePhilly]

43. Who are their delegates?

If you can't name them ... the complaining will never stop, will it?

Obama was a community organizer. Does that count?

Do "the poor" have a leader? Or does Obama need to invite ALL of the poor?

The Kennedy family has worked hard for the poor ... would one of them "count"?

Please, name "the poor" who need to be at the meeting that is being demanded.

[woo me with science]

49. K&R

[warrprayer]

52. you aren't being "sensible"

What breaks my heart is how the hopes of those struggling to survive, who lost so much from the Bush years, had their hopes lifted and then dashed.

[eilen]

54. Is this really representative of the Democratic Party and those left of center today?

wow. it's kind of embarrassing and sad.

[graham4anything]

58. no it isn't representative of the President. Can't speak for those who agree with this

[WillyT]

56. Amen xchrom... A - Fucking - Men... K & R !!!

[OnyxCollie]

59. It's on the schedule

right after GITMO detainees get their say.

[Upton]

61. Never..the election is over..

it's back to business as usual, where regular people hardly matter..

[Motown_Johnny]

62. After they get rich

[jtuck004]

64. More wailing at the moon, eh? Xchrom, they are already there.

On the menu.

[Dragonfli]

110. To serve man appears to be a cookbook

We are indeed on the menu.

[jtuck004]

112. So when politicans say they are there to "serve" us... yikes.

You may know that TZ episode (one of my favorites) was from Damon Knights short story. Here the Kanamit is hooked up to a lie detector...

“I shall ask our distinguished guest to reply to the question put at the last session by the delegate of the U.S.S.R. -- namely, what is the motive of the Kanamit people in offering these great gifts to the people of Earth?”

The Kanama rose. Speaking this time in English, he said, “On my planet there is a saying, „There are more riddles in a stone than in a philosopher‟s head.‟ The motives of intelligent beings, though they may at times appear obscure, are simple things compared to the complex workings of the natural universe. Therefore I hope that the people of Earth will understand, and believe, when I tell you that our mission upon your planet is simply this -- to bring you the peace and plenty which we ourselves enjoy, and which we have in the past brought to other races throughout the galaxy. When your world has no more hunger, no more war, no more needless suffering, that will be our reward.”

And the needles had not jumped once.

We have GOT to get better at asking questions, and at thinking what we have is really the answer, eh?

[Dragonfli]

113. Excellent post

Thank you, I was not aware of the short story origin, and you make an excellent point, perhaps the most crucial one.

[begin_within]

66. When they each donate $1 million to his campaign

[Arcanetrance]

67. Your kidding right we the poor don't matter if they admit we exist they admit the American dream is

Bullshit

[CheapShotArtist]

68. This thread is misleading.

Like BumRushDaShow pointed out earlier, there WERE several meetings with the heads of working-class organizations. Also for someone who doesn't have the interests of the poor in mind, it's weird that he pushed for the Shrub tax cuts on incomes lower than $250K (though it ended up being $400K), and unemployment benefits have been extended.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

157. You must understand that the ODSers will never stop bashing. It's what they do.

[davidn3600]

79. This is the reason some people say both parties are the same.

[hughee99]

83. Maybe once one of them gets elected president,

or perhaps when the president needs a photo op.

[aandegoons]

85. Why does the White House need more bricks again?

Maybe President Obama is looking for a new sun room. You know the one he meant he needed built when he said he would "shine the light" on Washington lobbying.

[JReed]

99. Tells us all we need to know doesn't it? One of the myths

from the first election that seems to live on is that Obama was somehow this grassroots Mr. Smith when in fact he outpaced all candidates in funding from Wall St. and other big corporations.

In 2008 Obama out-solicited Senator McCain by more than two to one: $748 million to $354 million. Less than 10 percent of Obama’s funds were raised by trade unions and only 24 percent came from donors who gave $200 or less, compared with Ron Paul’s 39 percent and Dennis Kucinich’s 56 percent. Even George Bush raised 26 percent of his funds from small donors in 2004, so Obama’s much-vaunted reliance on small donors was a deceptive PR stunt, not a new paradigm in grass-roots democracy.

Now of course the lobbyists and assorted funders do come to call demanding a return on their investment and they are getting exactly that.

[OnyxCollie]

101. +1 nt

[ProSense]

105. What a bunch of bullshit

In 2008 Obama out-solicited Senator McCain by more than two to one: $748 million to $354 million. Less than 10 percent of Obama’s funds were raised by trade unions and only 24 percent came from donors who gave $200 or less, compared with Ron Paul’s 39 percent and Dennis Kucinich’s 56 percent. Even George Bush raised 26 percent of his funds from small donors in 2004, so Obama’s much-vaunted reliance on small donors was a deceptive PR stunt, not a new paradigm in grass-roots democracy.

You know what's "deceptive"? It's not Obama.

[JReed]

119. Facts don't seem to have any effect on you

Last edited Wed Jan 9, 2013, 12:46 AM - Edit history (1)

He was not quite the first $1 billion president -- but he was three quarters of the way there.

In 21-plus months, Barack Obama raised roughly $750 million from donors, surpassing all of his White House opponents this year and also eclipsing the total amount of money raised by all of the presidential candidates combined in 2004.

...

Plus, the Obama campaign advises it expects its total amount of money to increase when cash from the Obama Victory Fund comes in. The campaign reports more than $770 million in total receipts.

...

McCain's fundraising for the 2008 cycle was not terrible. The Arizona senator raised a respectable $238 million from donors, in addition to the $84 million federal grant he received for participating in the public financing system.

...

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=6397572&page=1#.UOzcAeQrWuI

There’s no question that Sen. Barack Obama, who opted out of the public financing system, has raised more money than anyone in the history of U.S. politics.

...

http://www.factcheck.org/2008/11/advertising-money-mccain-vs-obama/

For the first time ever in U.S. history, the candidates for president raised more than $1 billion. To find out where all this money came from, click on the candidates' names below and explore the options to the left.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/index.php

A well-publicized study by the Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) kept the Obama small donor myth alive by treating people who donated to both his primary and general election campaigns as if they were two different people, magically transforming many donors who gave more than $200 into twice as many smaller donors and boosting his small donor percentage from 24 percent to 30-34 percent in the study.

Sorry to burst your bubble with reality, though I'm sure you'll come up with another brilliant insult.

[bvar22]

106. The last time "The Poor" were mentioned in Campaign 2008...

...was the day John Edwards dropped out.

Yes, Virginia.
There ARE Two Americas.




You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their rhetoric, promises, or excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/center]

[RedCappedBandit]

117. Don't worry, the uber wealthy truly care about the rest of us.

LOL

[crazyjoe]

118. oh please....they don't. It doesn't matter who the president is.

[mountain grammy]

122. Oh no, really, it DOES matter who the president is.

[ReRe]

121. Greg Kaufmann's article on CommonDreams.org...

...concerning low-income Americans. I hope it finds it's way to PO. We so need a channel on TV that represents the workers of this country, since the main stream media only represents corporations, with their corporate news and corporate commercials. I propose a "Labor New Network," i.e. "LNN" , or a "Peoples News Nertwork," i.e. "PNN." Among the 24/7 shows, have one show along the lines of a Studs Terkel-type daily documentary, roaming the streets of America talking to ordinary working people, profiling what they do for a living, their interests, how they are making it in America. It would be a window into the White House, where articles like this one might never make it's way to the President's eyes. Just an idea. But for now, Greg Kaufmann did good in this article. The working People need a seat at the table too. Thanks xchron for bringing it to DU.

[MannyGoldstein]

128. When MannyGoldstein gets a post placed in the Left Column

on DU's front page. Or when the last star in the Universe flickers out, whichever comes first.

[SammyWinstonJack]

129. OMG! DO We even exist? How funny! We voted and got punked....again.

Where the fuck is my pony!!!?!!!

[merrily]

130. When they pool their money and hire a lobbyist.

A few years ago, I heard Nader say that was the only way while he was being interviewed about some book he'd just written.

That's when I finally admitted to myself that the country was FUBAR. Maybe, every country, but definitely ours.

[blkmusclmachine]

147. That's what Heaven is for.

:-P

[DeSwiss]

148. K&R

[ann---]

151. Not

gonna happen.

[840high]

171. ever..............

[closeupready]

161. K&R

nt

[woo me with science]

175. Kick