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Associated PressPresident Barack Obama on Saturday used a new report on the income gap between the richest Americans and everyone else to continue pushing for passage of his stalled $447 billion jobs bill.
A report this week by the Congressional Budget Office found that average after-tax income for the top 1 percent of U.S. households had increased by 275 percent over the past three decades while middle-income households saw just a 40 percent increase in their post-tax income. Those at the bottom of the economic scale saw their income grow by a mere 18 percent.
Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address that he would pay for his jobs plan with an added tax on people who make at least $1 million a year. But Senate Republicans blocked action on the bill, a blend of tax breaks for businesses and public works spending, because they oppose much of the increased spending and the surtax on millionaires. * * *
In the weekly GOP message, Illinois Rep. Bobby Schilling urged Obama to support the "forgotten 15" — measures that Schilling's party says would help create jobs by blocking various energy and environmental regulations and streamlining administrative procedures. The bills, passed by the Republican-controlled House, await action in the Democratic-run Senate.Read more:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45086577/ns/today-today_news/t/obama-cites-income-gap-push-stalled-jobs-bill/
President Obama is pushing a jobs bill that could save the jobs of hundreds of thousands of teachers and apply billions toward infrastructure. Republicans respond by demanding cuts in environmental regulations and additional tax breaks to the rich and oil companies who are announcing record profits even in the midst of a recession.
Still, I think the corporate media has been very effective in convincing the American people that what is good for oil companies and the rich is good for America. Indeed, the American Petroleum Institute commissioned a study showing that its stocks are widely held in pension funds to make its argument that taxes on oil companies actually hurt the middle class:
http://www.ogj.com/articles/2011/10/api-commissioned-study-finds-broad-pension-ownership-in-us-industry.htmlPersonally, I think most people would prefer to have direct benefits and teacher and construction jobs, rather than extending tax benefits to oil companies.