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Middle Class

Obama Officials Avoided Questions from Press on Misleading Contracting Data

Lloyd Chapman | Posted 10.18.2009 | Business

Read More: Small, General Electric, Raytheon, Fortune 500, 3m, Abuse, Lockheed Martin, Small Busniess, Hewlett-Packard, Boeing, Economy, Rolls-Royce, Middle Class, Textron, Lloyd Chapman, Loopholes, Business, General Dynamics, Fraud, AT&T, Fortune 1000, Barack Obama, Office Depot, Xerox, British Aerospace (BAE), American Small Business League, Dell Computer, Business News
Lloyd Chapman

According to information in the Federal Procurement Data System, eight of the top ten recipients of federal small business contracts were actually large businesses or divisions of large businesses.

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Obama Administration Policies Could Be Big Problem for Small Businesses

Lloyd Chapman | Posted 09.26.2009 | Business

Read More: Fraud, Lack of Oversight, Small Business, Abuse, Prcurement, Barack Obama, Economy, Middle Class, Sba, Lloyd Chapman, Contracting, American Small Business League, Loopholes, Business News
Lloyd Chapman

The Obama Administration released the federal government's latest statistics on the volume of contracts awarded to small businesses. Small business owners were stunned, angered and disappointed.

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Obama Spouts Pro Small Business Rhetoric, But Gives Small Business Billions to Corporate Giants

Lloyd Chapman | Posted 09.24.2009 | Business

Read More: Raytheon, Lack of Oversight, Small Business, L-3 Communications, Gtsi, Abuse, Lockheed Martin, Hewlett-Packard, Boeing, Economy, Middle Class, Obama Administration, Asbl, Loopholes, General Dynamics, Staples, 3M Company, Fraud, AT&T, Northrop Grumman, Small Business Administration, Booz Allen Hamilton, Barack Obama, Office Depot, Xerox, American Small Business League, Dell Computer, Business News
Lloyd Chapman

When you look closely at Obama's policies towards small businesses you start to think its just a matter of time before he loads small business owners into crowded train cars headed for prison camps.

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Obama Administration Rhetoric Inconsistent with Small Business Policies

Chris Gunn | Posted 09.20.2009 | Business

Read More: Small Business, Barack Obama, Economy, Middle Class, Sba, Contracting, Procurement, American Small Business League, Business News
Chris Gunn

Thus far, the Obama administration has failed to follow-though on a majority of its promises to the small business community.

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Forget The Squeeze: The Middle Class Is In A Choke Hold

Harry Moroz | Posted 09.19.2009 | Business

Read More: Renting, Bank of America, Wealthy, Foreclosure, Health Care, Zero Hedge, Debt, Middle Class, Consumer Spending, Housing Crisis, Economy, Financial Crisis, Business News
Harry Moroz

There are no certainties in the current economic and political climate. Except one: that the current downturn is hurting middle-class Americans more than the wealthiest households.

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What A Jobless Recovery Today Means For Tomorrow?

Leo Hindery, Jr. | Posted 09.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Economic Recovery, Unemployment, President Obama, Economic Stimulus Package, Middle Class, Jobs, Economic Stimulus, Barack Obama, Politics News
Leo Hindery, Jr.

How can we carry out important national missions such as health care reform and energy reform when nearly 30 million workers are effectively unemployed?

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"Barely Squeaking By On $300,000 A Year"

David Sirota | Posted 09.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Reform, Executive Compensation, Wall Street, Recession, Tax Rates, Middle Class, Politics News
David Sirota

What's fascinating is not how incredibly out of touch with Middle American reality the super wealthy are, but how willing the media are to promote the super wealthy's whines as legitimate and justified.

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Doing More For Less

Max Fraad Wolff | Posted 09.12.2009 | Business

Read More: Double-Dip-Recession, Financial Crisis, Unit Labor Costs, Exploitation, Housing Crisis, Wages, Middle Class, Productivity, Business News
Max Fraad Wolff

If we are working fewer hours, getting lower wages and unable to borrow more, what comes next? New BLS data seriously questions the strength and endurance of the present economic rally.

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Armed Paramilitaries Guarding Detroit Grocery Stores

CNNMoney.Com | Steve Hargreaves | Posted 09.12.2009 | Business

Read More: Farming, Food Banks, Economy, Urban Farming, Middle Class, Supermarket Guards, Recession, Hunger, Grocery Stores, Detroit, Supermarket, Financial Crisis, Armed Guards, Michigan, Detroit Michigan, Business News

On a side street in an old industrial neighborhood, a delivery man stacks a dolly of goods outside a store. Ten feet away stands another man clad in m...

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Job Hunting at Midlife: Past My Prime?

Tamar Abrams | Posted 09.11.2009 | Living

Read More: Consulting, Unemployed, Unemployment, Middle Age, Economy, Middle Class, Washington University at St. Louis, Recession, Botox, Living News
Tamar Abrams

Here I am, for the first time in recent memory, having to craft a compelling resume. Am I going to regret scoffing at the idea of Botox and lip injections?

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SBA Goes to Federal Court of Appeals to Withhold Phone Records

Lloyd Chapman | Posted 09.11.2009 | Business

Read More: Long Island Business Journal, Small Business, Abuse, Mike Stamler, Federal, Economy, Middle Class, Obama Administration, Sba, Lloyd Chapman, Loopholes, Lawsuit, Government, Fraud, Barack Obama, Phone Records, Contracting, Procurement, Purchasing, American Small Business League, Legal Battle, Business News
Lloyd Chapman

Anytime you want to look at what the Small Business Administration is doing, you have to go to federal court to get it. Clearly they have something to hide.

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Open Letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Chantal Sicile-Kira | Posted 09.04.2009 | Politics

Read More: Michael Jackson, Europe, Presidet Obama, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Special Olympics, Budget Cuts, State Budget, Middle Class, Dave Matthews, Tom Arnold, California, France, Paris, Anthony Shriver, College, American Dream, Best Buddies, New York Times, Autism, Developmentally Disabled, Mtv, Health Care, Michael-Jackson-Funeral-Arrangements, Arnold Schwarzenegger, California Wildfires, California Budget Crisis, Politics News
Chantal Sicile-Kira

I can't afford to volunteer for the community anymore. Got to spend every free moment earning money or taking care of my mom and son.

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The Destruction of the Black Middle Class

Barbara Ehrenreich | Posted 09.03.2009 | Politics

Read More: Unemployment, Henry Louis Gates, Dedrick Muhammed, Naacp, Middle Class, Obama Gates Crowley, Politics News
Barbara Ehrenreich

Left out of the commentary on race and class over the Gates affair has been talk of the increasing impoverishment -- or, we should say, re-impoverishment -- of African Americans as a group.

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Obama Renews Vow Of No Middle-Class Tax Increase

New York Times | PETER BAKER | Posted 09.03.2009 | Politics

Read More: Taxes Middle Class, Taxes, Barack Obama, Economy, Middle Class, President Obama, Obama Taxes, Recession, Politics News

The White House tried Monday to douse speculation that it might raise taxes on the middle class in violation of President Obama's campaign promise, ju...

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Small Businesses Short Changed on Stimulus Funds

Chris Gunn | Posted 08.28.2009 | Business

Read More: Fraud, Lack of Oversight, Small Business, Economic Stimulus Package, Abuse, Barack Obama, Economy, Small Business Administration, Middle Class, Sba, Economic Stimulus, Lloyd Chapman, American Small Business League, Loopholes, Mark Deo, Business News
Chris Gunn

When small businesses thrive, our economy grows. Yet today, millions of these businesses are being threatened by the very plan that was supposedly intended to help them.

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Who Are the Real Small Business Advocates in America?

Lloyd Chapman | Posted 08.27.2009 | Business

Read More: Small, Congress, Small Business, Abuse, Fortune 500, Middle Class, Obama Administration, Sba, Advocate, Lloyd Chapman, Loopholes, Business, Fraud, Barack Obama, Washington, Gao, American Small Business League, Business News
Lloyd Chapman

The ASBL is the only national small business group that does not take money from Fortune 500 firms or big businesses. We only fight for small businesses.

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National Small Business Groups Bristle in Response to ASBL Blog

Lloyd Chapman | Posted 08.23.2009 | Business

Read More: Lack of Oversight, Small Business, Abuse, Report 5-15, National Small Business Association, Middle Class, Obama Administration, Lloyd Chapman, Loopholes, Us Womens Chamber of Commerce, Fraud, Barack Obama, Eocnomy, Nsba, Contracting, Procurement, American Small Business League, Uswcc, Business News
Lloyd Chapman

Yesterday, I posted an article to the Huffington Post. This morning both the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce and the National Small Business Association fired back.

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Las Vegas Middle Class Hit Hard By Recession

wsj.com | TAMARA AUDI | Posted 08.20.2009 | Business

Read More: Jobs Las Vegas, Unemployment, Las Vegas, Middle Class, Las Vegas Real Estate, Upward-Mobility, Business News

LAS VEGAS -- Drew Johnson and his wife, Tina had the life many Americans only dream of: A big house in a swanky suburb, a backyard hot tub, and a $100...

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Stella D'Oro Workers Fight Equity Fund's Plant Shutdown, Attack on Middle-Class Jobs

Art Levine | Posted 08.15.2009 | Business

Read More: Private Equity, Afl-Cio, Stella D'Oro Strike, Work Strike, Unions, Middle Class, Business News
Art Levine

"The strike marks an important turning point in the fight against the lowball tactics of private-equity firms determined to destroy unions to boost their own profits."

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Who is the American Middle Class? Lessons for Health Care Reform

Drew Westen | Posted 08.08.2009 | Politics

Read More: Taxes, Obama Middle Class Taxes, Tax Policy, Middle Class Economy, Middle Class, Drew Westen, Barack Obama Taxes, Paying for Health Care, Tax the Rich, Health Care, Politics News
Drew Westen

Before we start going after middle class taxpayers, both as good policy and good politics, we would do well to remember that the middle class is and always has been the backbone of our economy

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Student Loan Forgiveness Initiative Gaining Momentum?

Jon Chattman | Posted 07.31.2009 | Politics

Read More: Website, Gm, Grassroots, Economy, Middle Class, Stimulating the Economy, Obama, Democracy, Robert Applebaum, Student Loans, Facebook, U.S. Senate, Unemployment, Town Hall, Blog, College, Student Loan Forgiveness, Councilman, Politics News
Jon Chattman

With the lack of jobs for new graduates, as well as older borrowers, there is a looming student loan bubble about to burst.

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Community Colleges Get Some Respect

Anya Kamenetz | Posted 07.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: College Students, Community Colleges, College, Student Loans, Middle Class, Politics News
Anya Kamenetz

Obama's administration has been unusually respectful of the role of community colleges.

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The Senate Must Get Back To Work

Eric T. Schneiderman | Posted 07.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: Governor Paterson, Eric Schneiderman, New York State Senate, New York, Middle Class, Reproductive Health Act, The Farm Workers Bill of Rights, The Crime Gun Identification Act, Marriage Equality, Aid Family Leave, Politics News
Eric T. Schneiderman

My colleagues and I in the Democratic conference crafted an authentic bipartisan operating proposal to bring both parties together and get the Senate back to work.

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An Oldie, but not so Goodie: Updating the U.S. Poverty Measure

C. Nicole Mason | Posted 07.19.2009 | Politics

Read More: U.S. Economy, Women, Senate, Congress, US Poverty, Middle Class, Christopher Dodd, Obama Administration, Task Force on Middle Class Working Families, War on Poverty, Jim McDermott, Politics News
C. Nicole Mason

There has been a lot of sexy talk about cutting poverty in half over the next 10 years. How is that going to happen if we don't have an accurate measure of how many poor people there are living in the US.

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Obama is Selling the Small Business Administration to the Venture Capital Industry

Lloyd Chapman | Posted 07.12.2009 | Business

Read More: High Growth Companies, Small Business, Abuse, Economy, Middle Class, Small Business Innovations Research, Innovation Research, Nvca, Venture Capital, Loopholes, Democrats, Karen Mills, Fraud, Defense Contracting, Barack Obama, Anderson Cooper, Laura Tyson, Sbir, American Small Business League, Republicans, Winslow Sargeant, Business News
Lloyd Chapman

I'm going to sound the alarm on the latest threat to federal small business contracting programs: Obama is going to support legislation that will allow the venture capital industry to dominate them.

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