President Obama declared the state of the union is "Getting stronger" last night before a joint-session of Congress. But to ensure the nation continues to get better - the President laid out a series of proposals he's challenging a Republican Congress to pass and send to his desk.
One is encouraging "insourcing" of jobs - meaning giving tax breaks to companies that bring jobs back to America - while cutting off tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. That proposal didn't draw any applause from the Republican side of the chamber, which seems to favor outsourcing American jobs as it makes more money for the big corporations that fund their Party.
The President also called for a minimum tax to be paid by multinational corporations - many of which have paid their CEOs more than they've paid in taxes over the last 3 years. Again, no Republican applause. He also called on these same corporations to ask themselves what it is they can do for their country. The Buffett Rule also made an appearance in last night's speech - as the President pressed Congress to change that tax code to ensure that millionaires and billionaires like Mitt Romney don't get by paying a lower tax rate than most middle class Americans. In fact - he called for a 30% minimum tax on millionaires - again, no applause from the Republican side, which prefers the status quo of massive wealth inequality and unfair taxation.
Republicans aside, though, it appears the President's message resonated with the American people last night. A CBS poll of speech watchers found that 91% of Americans approved of the proposals put forward by the President - and 83% approved of the economic plans laid out - a jump from 53% before the speech. Now what will be interesting to watch is how much money is thrown at Republicans by Wall Street billionaires and transnational corporations to block all of these initiatives from the President.
-Thom
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