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                   Obama Puts Economic Focus on Middle Class

   by VOA News

   U.S. President Barack Obama is focusing new attention on the country's
   slowly improving economy, saying the United States needs to act
   decisively to support its vast middle class.
   The president said Wednesday that the U.S. has "fought its way back"
   from the depths of the country's sharp economic downturn five years
   ago.
   However, in a speech at a college in his home state of Illinois, Obama
   added that the nation's middle class workers have been short-changed
   during the recovery, while the country's wealthiest executives have
   benefited the most.
   He said the growing inequality is "morally wrong" and hurts the
   economy, the world's largest.
   "This growing inequality, not just the results, [but] inequality of
   opportunity, is not just morally wrong, it's bad economics," he said.
   "Because when middle class families have less to spend, guess
   what? Businesses have fewer consumers. When wealth concentrates at the
   very top, it can inflate unstable bubbles that threaten the economy.
   When the rungs on the ladder of opportunity grow farther and farther
   apart, it undermines the very essence of America."
   Obama sharply criticized conservative Republicans in the House of
   Representatives for government spending cuts he said have hurt the
   economy and failure to vote on comprehensive immigration reforms
   approved recently by the Senate.
   He said Washington lawmakers need to end a contentious political
   stalemate that has stalled action on key issues.  He called for
   improvements in the nation's infrastructure, which Congress has
   blocked, new programs to cut the rising cost of a college education in
   the United States, and increasing the minimum wage.
   Obama said he would enlist the support of a variety of American leaders
   to help improve the economy, and that he would not be thwarted by
   opponents. "I will not allow gridlock, or inaction, or willful
   indifference, to get in our way."
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   lass/1709304.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/obama-puts-economic-focus-on-middle-class/1709304.html