Facebook. To help personalize content, tailor and measure ads, and provide a safer experience, we use cookies. By clicking or navigating the site, you agree to allow our collection of information on and off Facebook through cookies. Learn more, including about available controls: Cookies Policy. How Obama lost the middle class. A gradually improving economy—and plunging gas prices- -have finally brought President Obama a modest boost in his long- depressed job- approval rating. But the voters who are least impressed with Obama are the middle- income Americans every politician needs to succeed—and the very people whose interests Obama claims to be fighting for. The latest poll numbers from Gallup put Obama’s approval rating at 4. But there are telling disparities among income groups that help explain why Obama’s Democratic party lost control of both houses of Congress during the last two midterm elections, and why Obama may be able to accomplish little during his last two years in office. One of the emerging ironies of the Obama presidency, in fact, is the sagging fortunes of the American middle class while those on either end — rich and poor alike — have arguably fared better under Obama. Then something went horribly wrong. Story by Jim Tankersley. Lost is an American television drama series that originally aired on the. The poor have been direct beneficiaries of many Obama programs — most notably, Obamacare—while the rich have benefited from a roaring stock market that has helped restore all the wealth lost during the 2. Middle earners, however, still face soaring costs for healthcare and education, while incomes have stagnated and many are sliding sideways or drifting backward. It’s no surprise, then, that Obama is most popular with the lowest earners, with an approval rating of 5. That’s the highest approval rating of four income brackets. Obama’s lowest marks come not from the wealthy, as conventional wisdom might suggest, but from middle earners with incomes between $5,0. Obama a 4. 4% approval rating. A breakdown of the numbers since 2. Obama Job Approval Rating 2. More. There's obviously nothing wrong with helping the underprivileged, as Obama has. But since low- income workers are least likely to vote, Obama’s strongest constituency is a group with minimal political power or ability to support the president’s agenda. Many middle earners who do vote, meanwhile, feel (legitimately or not) that Obama has shifted resources from the middle to the lower class, in a zero- sum game with one loser for every winner. That's unfair to Obama, who has backed many middle- class priorities, such as better schools, ongoing jobs programs, affordable health care, elaborate consumer protections and cheaper college tuition. Obama will no doubt tout his middle- class agenda during the upcoming State of the Union address. While the wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their. Three years into what was optimistically called an “Arab Spring,” the burning question now is, Who lost the Middle East? As Arab governments weaken, states. Washington Has Now Lost the Middle East. It’s not at all surprising except in how fast it’s going. Lost Mountain Middle School Candace Wilkes, Principal Martha Bennett, AP . 700 Old Mountain Road Kennesaw, Georgia 30152. Published On Feb 14, 2017 Policy Lost in the Middle. Dashed expectations in midlife may be fueling a sharp rise in suicides. Several strategies seek to save people in. Yet most of his proposals have been mere talking points, with Congressional Republicans blocking many of Obama’s plans. The things Obama has been able to accomplish, meanwhile, tend to benefit lower earners most of all, while those in the middle feel little or no relief. Here are four reasons Obama has lost the confidence of middle- class voters. Obamacare doesn’t help those in the middle. The law does virtually nothing to lower healthcare costs for people who don’t qualify for subsidies. Meanwhile, the cost of medical care and prescription drugs has risen about 5% per year under Obama, as wages have grown by less than 2%. The cost of health insurance has risen by less than 2% annually during Obama's six years, but that’s partly because deductibles, co- payments and other out- of- pocket expenses have soared . Obama pursued a noble goal by seeking to make health care coverage available to more people—but he hasn’t done anything, really, to help families above the Obamacare subsidy levels finance medical care. Read More. College is more expensive than ever. That’s not really Obama’s fault, since the government doesn’t control what colleges charge. Obama is keenly aware of the problem and has tried to address it, by signing legislation boosting federal aid for students and taking other steps that might someday help lower the cost of getting a degree. Yet the amount of student debt outstanding has soared by 5. Obama, to a staggering $1. Federal Reserve numbers. Middle- class families are mortgaging their future to pay for college, with the outcome uncertain, at best. Obama’s stimulus spending didn’t trickle down far enough, or fast enough. Jobs returned far more slowly than Obama and many economists predicted, and when they did, many paid less than the jobs lost during the 2. There was - - and is - - no silver- bullet solution to economic problems that formed long before Obama took office, and would have bedeviled any president, Republican or Democrat. But Obama clearly thought the 2.
lost In The Middle
Mission unaccomplished, as another top Democrat, Sen. Chuck Schumer, admitted late last year. Obama’s other priorities don’t help the middle class today. If so, it will help Americans for generations to come. But it doesn’t put money in anybody’s pocket today, and Americans consistently say environmental concerns are less important than jobs and economic issues. Other Obama priorities, such as more muscular consumer protection, federal support for high- tech manufacturing and the Dodd- Frank financial reforms, may ultimately help the middle class too, but for now these initiatives are essentially invisible to ordinary Americans. If they truly work, the best evidence may be an absence of problems down the road, something that’s mighty tough to claim credit for. Obama is likely to get a natural lift during the last two years of his presidency, as the unemployment rate- -which was 7. Wage gains ought to kick in and middle- class living standards should finally begin to recover. But he may still leave the middle class struggling, and it may be Obama’s successor who ultimately gets credit for the widespread return of prosperity—if it actually happens. Rick Newman’s latest book is Rebounders: How Winners Pivot From Setback To Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman. Lost in the Middle: MidLife and the Grace of God and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Lost in the Middle reveals that difficulties in life aren’t evidence of God’s inattention. In fact, they are signs of His grace, love, and faithfulness.
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