The recipe is simple and obvious... but there are still way too many contaminants in the ingredient list.

Any idiot knows full well that the middle class is the only reliable long-term engine that drives an economy forward. But restoring that involves prying the sticky fingers of greed off a portion of the "take" that has become the new norm for those at the top. Major corporations crow about how many they employ when the reality is the number of employed is swollen by rationed hours to shift expenses on to the public dole... That ought to be illegal... Maybe avoidance of paying living wages is a good place to start. It's no secret that it's a common practice. It's also no secret that it's a significant drag on the economy. Why not expect large employers to act like normal human people or just go away?

Anyone who is against fairness and equality, whether tax reforms, pay for women, civil rights, etc. is nuts.

Anyone who is against restoring the American Dream by growing the middle class and improving upward mobility for the working poor is delusional.

Anyone who thinks the deficit is a higher priority than good-paying jobs is brainwashed.

Anyone who wants to cut Social Security instead of increasing the cap on FICA contributions, or wants to raise the age for Medicare instead of cutting spending in defense is unpatriotic.

The list goes on and on... Rightwingers, reject the GOP/TP radical platform and join the majority, the mainstream, the sane.

Thank God for Congress then!

TruePatriot - you were going great there until you wanted them to join the sane. They don't understand the concept of sanity - it is totally outside their capabilities and they reject sanity every time!

Is that why the average household income has gone down over $2500 over the past 4 years...way to go Obama...thanks for looking out for the middle class asclown.

I seriouslly don't think we can take much more of this Presidents liberal help in any area of the economy or our lives period.

JFK,

[Is that why the average household income has gone down over $2500 over the past 4 years]

It is mainly due to underemployment thanks to Republicans obstructing our President’s job creation request.

SeekingSanity -- Or at least critical thinking. Look at JFK2012 still trying to connect the dot (yes, as in the singular).

Dennis, Columbus, Ohio -- And the Bring Jobs Home Act, and stimulus for education, infrastructure, and R&D, equal pay for equal work, trying to abolish the minimum wage, busting unions including privatization of the US Postal Service and teachers in public schools, etc., etc., etc.

They have surpassed obstruction (e.g., abuse of the filibuster) and gone on to diabolical with our election process (gerrymandering, voter suppression, and now trying to change the electoral college rules). I have nothing but immense disdain for their acts of treason.

It took me aback when the President made a point of elevating the struggles of gay people with the civil rights struggles of African Americans. I had to think about it, because, although I supported the repeal of don't ask/don't tell, and I support making marriage legal for gay people, I wasn't sure how I felt equating what gays endured, with the history of slavery and discrimination sufferered by Blacks.

But, I decided, that's the point. There cannot be any group that it's okay to discriminate against. The American way is treat people as individuals. The truth is, it's a difficult concept to grasp, when it's a group you don't belong to. It's human nature to assign people into categories. What the President did, in standing up for equal rights for gay people, was brave, and good.

TruePatriot - they're a sorry lot and it shows more every day. They care nothing about the country - just winning. They really remind me of Charlie Sheen - all hopped up on drugs and no brain cells left!

If you think that President Obama has been pushing a liberal agenda then there is no need to continue posting it every where because you don't really understand what that word ACTUALLY means.

"You keep on using this word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Actually, the decline in the middle class, the stagnation of wages began with the GOP's hero, Ronald Reagan. Add that to the mentality we began to see in the 80's of shipping jobs overseas for cheap wages--and equally cheap products--as well as introducing the era of money making money. We stopped making products here and opted for the buying and selling of money via Wall Street, investments. The jobs that were created since Reagan took office, outside the military-industrial complex, began to be lower paying, service-sector jobs. It had nothing to do with unions costing jobs--unions were the scapegoat--but rather the new idea that manufacturing in China, India and elsewhere added more to the bottom line. In other words, the era of "greed, for lack of a better word, is good" became the new model for American industry.

Finally, businesses, including Apple, are re-thinking their manufacturing plans and returning it to our shores. They finally realize that the logistics, the high cost of shipping, the energy wasted, the long-distance isn't worth it. They also realize that if Americans don't earn enough money to buy what they make, they've shot themselves in the foot.

Really Jody, really...didn't we just learn 6 days ago that Jeep is sending its manufacturing to China?

JFK,

They are sending manufacturing to China to build cars there to be sold there.

Just like Honda, Toyota and a few other auto makers did here – to build cars in the US to be sold in the US.

It is mainly due to underemployment thanks to Republicans obstructing our President’s job creation request.

LMFAO...

Jody, Iowa -- Excellent post as always.

However, we must remember that most people are not political junkies like us. Case in point, ask a rightwinger about Mount Rushmore, and which president should be there and why or why not. You will see very quickly that if they even know which presidents are there, they don't know much more in regard to history. I said Nixon will be remembered in history for foreign policy and many other significant achievements more than Reagan in the long run. And then how Eisenhower may have been as good a choice as Teddy Roosevelt. Keep it to Republican presidents. It shuts these ignoramuses down very quickly who don't even know anything about their own presidents and Party.

So in regard to supply-side voodoo economics, this is too deep. We need to keep it simple about fairness, equality, preserving the middle class, etc. Even the most ill-informed rightwinger can understand these basic principles. This is the Democratic platform, but it is indeed the majority position and therefore the American platform that appeals to all.

Mt. Rushmore faces are those of progressives of their time. George Washington by the standards of his day led the most progressive movement in government to that date. Imagine the idea of a democratic republic. Wow, what a concept. Much of the change came from Thomas Jefferson, also a liberal thinker and statesman of his time. He, after all, wrote the Declaration of Independance which told the British king and parliament to go jump in a lake, thus setting the stage for what was to come later. Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president dared to openly oppose slavery. His opposition was a radically progressive idea at the time. While many who opposed slavery did not belive there was anything that could be done to end it, Lincoln took the bull by the horns and did just that. Then there was Teddy Roosevelt the progressive (Bull Moose) who fought against the greedy robber barons of the beginings of the industrial age. The only one of these who was, what would today be a Democrat is Jefferson, the others would be Republicans. Washington dealt with the Revolutionary war, Lincoln the civil war that tore this nation apart and Teddy Roosevelt was most instrumental in helping America go from being isolated and aloof to a major player in the politics of the world. Each of those men on Mt. Rushmore were extrordinary individuals. Sad to inform the righties here that Ronald Reagan was not all that extrodinary.

JFK2012

Is that why the average household income has gone down over $2500 over the past 4 years...way to go Obama...

is Obama signing the paychecks or are they signed by the greedy CEO's who layoff seasoned workers to hire cheap help?

Adler,

And even more sad still, neither would Obama...

Jody, good post, however I would like to add that it was Nixon, not Reagan that took the American dollar off of the silver standard and allowed it to float on the world wide money market. The dollar was devalued almost immediately. It has bounced back at times and is a good indication of how the economy is doing is the value of the dollar against other countries currency.

Back in the 90's on a trip into Canada I was surprised by the difference in our currency. I stopped along the 401 at a Mickey D's and give the lady a $20 bill American and she handed me $27 and change Canadian, plus my meal. Today Canada's dollar is worth more then the American dollar.

I really wish those on the right would realize where their leadership has taken us, we can no longer consider ourselves leaders in the world as we trail many other countries in so many categories it is no longer funny. Since 1980 the Republicans have held the leadership 20 out of the last 32 years, and much of the problem is Reaganomics. Trickle down just doesn't work, never has nor will it ever. Why you ask, because it takes money out of those that drive the economy and pay the bills the working class and places it in the hands of people that just hoard it or invest off shore.

The President and Democratic party want to create jobs, help our economy continue to grow, and create ladders of opportunity for all.

Now that's news to me. Did they have a jobs creation policy during the first administration? If I recall, the big pieces of the puzzle were bailouts, union ownership in a car company, the selling of another car giant to Fiat for hardly no cost, and health care.

The U6 numbers tell the story of no job creation, and the food stamp roles confirm this. But Mr. President says we are in a robust growth? Where, government jobs? Certainly not in the private sector.

In his speech yesterday, I heard a lot about equality for gays, immegration, education and no mention of meaningful employment.

When will his jobs program be told to the people? And when can we see tangible results?

bagalib69 -- You forgot the tax cuts that made up most of the stimulus, but the question really is: When will Teapublicans stop obstructing the president's agenda?

bagalib69 - let's see there were the 7 jobs bills the President sent to the House that they refused to bring to the floor for a vote. So, as soon as the Republicans in Congress get off their a**es, we'll see the bills!

JK1963 - it really frosts you, doesn't it, that our President is so much better than any Republican has been in our lifetime!

Seeking Sanity, oh, sort of like the budget bills Reid tabled?

Of the seven bills, what "trailers" were added that killed them?

With the house being republican maybe we can keep the spending to a minimum...

I'm not sure the country can put another 6 TRILLION on the China credit card and stay solvent...

I'm sure we are headed for disaster... it's just a question of "when"... then liberals, conserveatives, blacks, whites, mexicans and everybody else loses!! The whole saftety net system destroyed!!

Enjoy your future...

That is all he can and should do...as any other President is given the prerogative to do.

Dennis, that's exactly right.

I listened to some chatter earlier this morning asking if President Obama had aimed too high and found myself thinking that was a silly question. We expect our Olympic atheletes to aim for gold medals not bronze so why shouldn't our Presidents aim high.

Adler:

"We have no one to blame but ourselves."

I don't know if that's true. It seems to me that the Senate did change and a few in the House. If I am not mistaken the only reason the House was held by Republicans is a direct result of gerrymandering. I have personally seen this where I am from but maybe it isn't the case all over the country, although I have a hard time believing that.

Dan, Austin. You're right. Democrats gained 11 or 12 seats in the House, democrats won more votes for House members but gerrymandering prevented dems from regaining control. Dems also won more Senate seats.

We have term limits, it's called the vote but in order for the vote to work, we need to stop selecting the incumbent just because we recognize the name; need to level the monetary advantage an incumbent has; and we must demand that state redistricting be done by nonpartisan groups rather than by legislatures. Other states should look at Iowa's method. Every ten years Iowa's method is written about as being the gold standard, the model for redistricting. Right now, we have a GOP Governor who would like to eliminate that nonpartisan redistricting law as well as the nonpartisan law for judicial nominations--fortunately for voters, the Iowa Senate remains in democratic hands.

Let's hope the GOP stays guarding the door to the back rooms so he can't.