Page 68 - Working Poor News Today

Joining us now from washington is msnbc policy analyst and the washington post chief wonk, americas wise boy, ezra klein. it is always great to have you on shoet. >> how are you? >> a lot of debate over the minimum wage. before we fwet into whether it is good or bad, i think its important to talk about where wages for the middle class and working poor are right now. in 2010 93% of income gains went to the top 1%. if you look at corporate profits, those have increased as u.s. wages have declined,...

The union edition of hardball. the president had at times an emotional speech. he addressed guns, the working poor and education. where poor and minority workers are forced to wait for hours to cast a balance. he said within a year the forces in afghanistan would be cut in half. he talked about putting people to work. i have called it rebuild america. the president called it fix it first. the presidents strong words for congress, was that economists and sports americans agree that cuts would be ...

The import of what you said was treasonous. >> no! >> all i said is if you want to sit there and raise the medicare eligibility age, you will have a fight on your hand with the democratic party. whether we agree or not. >> not with standing the fact that when medicare was passed, the average life expectancy was 67. now its 79. >> back then the average overall may be going up, but the average life expectancy for blue collar workers for the working poor is not going up. lawyers are living longer. ...

>> with me now, john alpert and matthew oneal, producers of "redemption." its received an oscar nod for documentary short. big congratulations to both of you. very, very exciting for all of you. this is very fascinating because weve all seen this on the streets, particularly those of us who live in new york city. take us inside this world, john. >> its a world we pass by but never talk to the people doing it. its a growing army every sipping l day. as the jobs disappear from new york city, peopl...

Theres been a lot of talk about defense cuts, which certainly are half of the sequester. there are other programs being cut. 9.4% to unemployment benefits, 600,000 children and women lose food aid, 10,000 teachers fired. theyre trying to emerge from the rock of being unsympathetic to the working poor, the middle class. you have these sequester cuts take place that undermines any argument. >> i depart from democratic orthodoxy in this one. i so bad want to cut all the fat out of the pentagon that...

Defense cuts, which certainly are half of the sequester. there are other programs being cut. 9.4% to unemployment benefits, 600,000 children and women lose food aid, 10,000 teachers fired. theyre trying to emerge from the rock of being unsympathetic to the working poor, the middle class. you have these sequester cuts take place that undermines any argument. >> i depart from democratic orthodoxy in this one. i so bad want to cut all the fat out of the pentagon that im willing to do this. its terr...

Hour. ron uns is saying i will see your 10 and raise it to 12. his argument is for the last four decades, there is tons of policies proposed and cool loans now. huge amounts of student debt and the programs that are trying to lift people at the bottom and the working poor fall further mind. instead of the government programs, if we think that peoples wages should be higher, why dont we raise the wages? i think the point you make about it ends up being corporate welfare is interesting, i am in fa...

Come on, guys. theyre breaking my flow all the time. >> these reforms would reduce our governments bill by reducing the cost of health care, not shifting all those costs onto middle class seniors or the working poor or children with disabilities but nevertheless, achieving the kinds of savings that were looking for. but in order to achieve the full $4 trillion in deficit reductions that is the stated goal of economists and our elected leaders, these modest reforms in our social insurance program...

Come on, guys. theyre breaking my flow all the time. these reforms would reduce our governments bills by reducing the costs of health care, not shifting all those costs on to middle class seniors or the working poor or children with disability, but nevertheless, achieving the kinds of savings that were looking for. but in order to achieve the full $4 trillion in deficit reductions that is the stated goal of economists and our elected leaders, these modest reforms in our social insurance programs...

Stupid party. you know, this is an old storyline for republicans. hes tapping into some very old narratives about people on welfare. and thats how, you know, somehow democrats are busing people to vote, buying up votes. were really talking about the inner cities. were talking about african-americans here. there are lots of code words that might work for cuccinnelli among a virginia tea party audience, but its not going to speak to the bigger things voters are looking for. how does it speak to pe...