Page 67 - Working Poor News Today

>> reporter: why? >> it takes away from my necessities, my daily necessities. >> reporter: has the economy gotten better for you in the last year or so? >> no, its actually gotten worse and its going to get worse. >> reporter: nicoles salary hasnt budged in three years but her cost of living has gone up and she fears furloughs from the forced budget cuts. that housing rebound thats helping many folks? if youve lost your house already like nicole, that boom doesnt matter to you either. >> theres ...

Economic advisers wrote this week in "the new york times." she says there are better ways to help the poor. a more generous earned income tax credit would provide more support for the working poor and be pro-business at the same time and prekindergarten education has been shown in rigorous studies to strengthen families and reduce poverty and crime and calls hike in the minimum wage a half measure. don, im going to give that one to you. there are some economists who say, well, i wish everyone ea...

This is when i need to run for governor against chris christie? >> actually, thats not why im running. why im running, people ask me all the time, they say, barbara, it takes courage to run and i really dont feel that way. i dont see how i couldnt run. new jersey, the state that were in is just unacceptable. we have the highest unemployment in over three decades, its stuck at 10%. we have, you know, our property taxes are still the highest in the nation. they have -- the burden has increased 20%...

Radical anti-government agenda, but when people under the po poverty line receive means tested benefits, it still does not let them crest above the poverty line. >> and not close to the poverty line and even when we look at the things that are close, and tiaff has been closed since 1986, and part of what is going on there is that wages have decreased. and part of the reason he is able to show that is because in fact the working poor are the working poor and that is not an indication that we are ...

There to ward off any concern for the poor and the working poor. and as a result of that, we cant even get a word in edgewise about the middle class because elite republicans dont want the american people to have what they take for granted every day. health insurance, a job that they can turn to that will have a paycheck ready and the ability to exercise their talents without the fear that people like them, the republican kabal here, will step in and interrupt the process. until we come to that ...

Insurance, and the earned income tax credit very important for the working poor and the child tax credit and the college affordability tax credit so people of modest means could send their children to college. so he has always had those fundamentals a of the widening approach as an opportunity for all american, but what you saw in terms of this speech in terms of the content is focusing on this program and the opportunity. >> is there something that we should know about president obama and his s...

High poverty communities around the country, and focusing in a holistic way to provide the residents of the community into ladders of the middle-class. he has talked about growing the middle-class from the inside out and that means growing from the bottom-up and not the top-down. >> and he has, and yet when we did a little word count of the state of the union addresses, and this is the most clear discourse of poverty, itself, and so not just saying the middle-class or the working class, but clea...

Shocking things about the great reception. and, still, we see the fall out from it, chris. its not just the very, very poor, who, as you all know, have always been with us. but family who is have one parent, sometimes both parents have lost the job or people being underemployed, not having the quality of job they had before. when i talked to these kids, just to be clear about it, theyre not starving, its not that they go days without eating, its that they dont have enough. theyre not full. a lot...

And still we see the fallout from it, chris, its not just the very, very poor, who as you well know have always been with us, but families who have either one parent, sometimes both parents have lost a job or people being underemployed, not having the quality of job they had before. and when i talk to these kids, just to be clear about it, theyre not starving. its not that they go days without eating. its that they dont have enough. theyre not full. a lot of these kids told me, "i just dont eat ...

Stereotypical face of poverty that i think a lot of us have. but that its families who are the working poor, who may have jobs, but, still, struggle. and i think thats what were trying to raise awareness about. >> heres more from the school kids you sat down with, savanah, lets watch. >> the stroout is is that there isnt always a full meal put on my table. >> you will go to the fridge and there will be nothing there. >> i used to be scared if any other kid found out that i didnt have food or any...