By Laura Smith, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

During a press conference Tuesday on the importance of health care reform for middle class Americans, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said that health care costs have more than doubled in the past decade and could grow further.

“The average American spent $6,000 on their health care just ten years ago. Now the average American family is spending $12,000, and in ten years from now, without any bending of the cost curve, they will be spending $24,000 a year. If we do not act, these costs will break the backs of the American people,” Klobuchar said.

The senator attributed the numbers to Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.)

Klobuchar went on to outline what she would like to see brought about through significant reform.

“It is my hope that no one will have to choose between necessary medical care, and their mortgage,” said Klobuchar. “For the middle class, reform will mean stable coverage that can’t be taken away, stable costs that won’t eat away at paychecks and better care.”

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) says the Waxman-Markey energy tax bill will hurt the middle class the most since the tax increase will harm small businesses and force them to eliminate jobs. (0:34).

 

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By Michael Combier-Talk Radio News Service

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) criticized the $787 billion economic stimulus package for having too many repercussions in the daily life of American middle-class taxpayers. The middle-class has been hit the hardest by measures taken by the Obama administration said Boehner during a weekly press conference in Washington.

“The pattern here is pretty clear”, said Boehner. “Every time the President makes a so-called tough decision, it is the American middle-class that gets hit the hardest… People who follow the rules, people who pay their mortgages on times, pay their credit cards on times, go to work every day, they’re the ones who” are getting hit upon every day, he said.

Boehner said that “people are really fed up and Washington is hanging up the middle-class in to dry” and require them to pay for the stimulus package, the financial bailouts of AIG and General Motors.

The usefulness of the stimulus package was questioned by Boehner with the attempt of a Georgia town to use stimulus funds “in order to lure” a company with 1,200 jobs based in Ohio.

On the recent bankruptcy of General Motors, Boehner said that the Obama administration is “going to control the board at General Motors and so the government will make the decisions… Auto companies force Americans to buy cars they don’t want to buy. This is lunacy, and all of this is going to get stuck on the back of American middle class’ taxpayers.”

Nicole Tichon of the United States Public Research Interest Group, talks about how Obama’s tax plan will bring an end to the era where “high-priced accounts are valued over hard work and responsibility.” Additionally, she stresses how tax loopholes, like hiding money in off-shore accounts, has caused the middle-class to pay a disproportionate amount of taxes. (0:32)

 

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By Suzia van Swol-University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News Service

From Ph.D’s to GED’s, there are new jobs and new sectors that Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, says are available through the green movement.

The Obama administration anticipates a $645 billion revenue from a cap and trade system which is projected to be set in place by 2012. The plan puts a limit on the amount of greenhouse gas an oil or electric company can emit, and anything exceeding a set “cap” results in companies buying pollution allowances or credits from companies who have not exceeded their limits.

Republicans believe that the middle and lower class Americans will be the ones suffering from such a plan because of the raised prices in electric bills. Republicans also worry that it is important to heal the economy before tackling a green revolution.

The Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant is specifically designed to get money for energy efficiency in cities. Jones said that he will be working closely with the Office of Management and Budget to make sure that money intended for creating green jobs is actually put into the community. “All monies are to be distributed consistent with
equal opportunity and other policy objections of the administration,” said Jones.

Jones said that cities account for 75% of our green house gas emissions “which means that we cannot beat global warming without greening our cities.”

Fixing buildings that leak too much energy requires jobs because “buildings don’t weatherize and retrofit themselves,” Jones said, adding that

“Everything that is good in the fight against global warming is also a job or a contract, therefore it’s good for people.”

By Suzia van Swol-Talk Radio News Service, University of New Mexico
Congressman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) talks with TRNS correspondent Suzia van Swol at the 2009 House Republican Radio Row about the budget and federal spending. He says that we need to get taxes under control and that the best way to do that is with a fair tax. Miller says that even though the American middle class is making sacrifices now, they won’t even know sacrifice until the President gets this budget passed and he tries to start funding some of the issues that are in it. (9:41)

 

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“The issues like food stamps, and unemployment insurance, which affect so many people in the states and are necessary at this time when funds are short, but the economy is down, actually have the most stimulative affect on the economy,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a conference call with Governors Ed Rendell (D-PA) and Jim Douglas (R-VT). The house will begin debating the 825 billion dollar economic recovery bill today, 2/3 of which will go towards job recovery while the rest is proposed to be used for tax cuts. Speaker Pelosi said that, “Tax cuts where we have them, to the middle class, we think will give us our biggest return.”

The aim of the new bill is to help the states as quickly as possible. “The best news for the local and county governments, because of what Speaker Pelosi and the President are doing, assuming it gets passed, is that the county governments and the city governments will be in much better shape in terms of the money that they get from the state,” said Governor Rendell.

“Does it create jobs, does it turn the economy around, does it lead to long term stabilization of the economy, does it do so in an apparent way and with great accountability to the American people,” said Speaker Pelosi. This bill is the first legislative step towards turning the economy around, and if it is not passed by the President’s day recess, Pelosi said that there will be no recess.

by Suzia van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

Democrats voiced their concern for the U.S. economic slump and its main victim: The middle class. At a press conference, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep Rahm Emmanuelle (D-Ill.) blamed the declining economic situation on the Bush Administration. (more…)

Ernst and Young released a report “Retirement Vulnerability of New Retirees: The Likelihood of Outliving their Financial Assets.” The report looks at middle class Americans in order to examine their retirement benefits and the ability of those resources to support them into their old age. The conference call includes information from Tom Neubig of Ernst and Young and Joe Reali, chairman of Americans for Secure Retirement. (35:25)

 

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A study from Ernst and Young on the likelihood of new retirees outliving their financial aspects was discussed in a conference call this afternoon. Joe Reali, chairman of Americans for Secure Retirement, claimed the study found that the majority of middle class retirees will outlive their retirement benefits.

According to Tom Neubig, who represented Ernst and Young, 6 of ten new retirees will not be able to maintain their current standard of living when drawing from available retirement resources, and many will be forced to cut their spending during retirement by about one third. He went on to say that those retiring with a guaranteed source of income like a structured payment package will fare much better than others.

Larry Mitchell, director of legislative affairs for the American Corn Growers Association, added that many who work in farming are forced to take on additional jobs to earn income due to financial worries. Most of these jobs offer little or no retirement benefits. As such, farm workers across the nation are having an increasingly difficult time earning adequate retirement benefits, and with the release of this new study the situation appears only to be getting worse.