Obama: Tax cuts for the rich do not help the Middle Class

By Arooj Ashraf, La Prensa Correspondent

Cleveland: President Barack Obama set apart his economic plan from Republican opponent Mitt Romney on June, 14, 2012. Speaking at Cuyahoga Community College Metro Campus to a crowd of 2,000 supporters he said the people have power to end the stalemate in Washington, D.C. The Nov. 2012 election is about the economy and two different approaches to fixing it, he said.

Obama said economic recovery is slow but Romney’s plan would be a return to the George W. Bush era policies of tax cuts for the rich.  “If you want to give the policies of the last decade another try, then you should vote for Mr. Romney,” Obama said.
 

Criticizing Romney’s plan to add $52 trillion in tax cuts he said it is only feasible if programs that enable middle class families to pay bills, finance housing, medical costs are cut. “I believe their approach is wrong, and I am not alone. I have not seen a single independent analysis that says my opponent’s economic plan would actually reduce the deficit. All of his policies will do more harm; if we implement all of his policies they would push us deeper into recession and make recovery slower,” he said.

Obama said the future of the country’s global competitiveness is increasingly dependent on the quality of an educated workforce, and reducing costs to education programs is rudimentarily flawed.

“In an age where we know good jobs depend on higher education, now is not the time to scale back our commitment to education. Now is the time to go forward to make sure we have the best educated, best trained workers in the world,” Obama said. He called for “an army of good teachers” who would be paid better because they are at the pinnacle of nurturing the best and brightest entrepreneurs of the future.

He pegged Romney’s plan as out of touch with realities and quoted former President Bill Clinton interpretation of it as George W. Bush’s economic plan on steroids. He reminded the crowd of the two term policies that triggered the economic collapse and his administration’s rescuing of the auto dealers like GM. A senior citizen in the crowd jumped up to yell; “Thank you Mr. President, thank you for saving our jobs.” She proudly waved her GM water bottle.

Despite energetic cheers from the crowd and comical responses to his rhetorical questions, Obama adamantly stuck to his speech and hinted to the next major announcement his administration was planning.
 

“If we truly want to make this country a destination for talent and ingenuity from all over the world, we won’t deport hardworking, responsible young immigrants who have grown up here or received advanced degrees here,” he spoke of the Youth known as DREAMers. 

The next morning, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, issued a memo effective immediately announcing halt to deportations of any undocumented person under the age of 30 years who was brought to the U.S. before the age of 16, and has lived in the country five years preceding June 2012. “We’ll let them earn the chance to become American citizens so they can grow our economy and start new businesses right here instead of someplace else.”

The memo also addresses the possibility of work authorizations to be granted on a case-by-case basis. While the directive gives hope to 80,000 undocumented youth who would have benefited from the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM Act), it explicitly does not create a path of citizenship and is only valid for two years.

Napolitano writes: “This memorandum confers no substantive right, immigration status or pathway to citizenship. Only the Congress, acting through its legislative authority, can confer these rights. It remains for the executive branch, however, to set forth policy for the exercise of discretion within the framework of the existing law.”

Obama urged Congress to act; “This is the right thing to do.”

At the college, he reiterated his frustration with the political gridlock and said his leadership vision is one of collaboration from all parties involved to chart a route in the best interest of the US-American people.

“I will work with anyone of any party who believes that we’re in this together, who believes that we rise or fall as one nation and as one people. I’m convinced that there are actually a lot of Republicans out there who may not agree with every one of my policies but who still believe in a balanced, responsible approach to economic growth and who remember the lessons of our history, and who don’t like the direction their leaders are taking them.”

Victor Ruiz, Executive Director of Esperanza, Inc., attended the rally and said he was struck by the diversity of the supporters present, “His base is still there and will be there in November.” He called the President’s plan fair and balanced, required equal sacrifice from all and personally believes identifying national best around Latino and bilingual education should be sought out and implemented locally with required funds and local government involvement.

Ruiz noted the shift in immigration policy as a step in the right direction that will bring out many from the shadows, “My feeling is that this will give them a little more hope and allow them to participate in our society with less fear.”

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Revised: 06/19/12 20:19:45 -0700.