Middle Class

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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An Economic Downslide for the African-American and Latino Middle Class

Jennifer Wheary | Posted 06.21.2009 | Business

Read More: Latinos, Financial Crisis, Recession, African Americans, Demos, Economic Crisis, Middle Class, Business News
Jennifer Wheary

A report released last week by the Pew Hispanic Center shows that African Americans and Latinos experiences the most dramatic decline in home ownership rates in recent years among all ethnic groups.

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Endorsing a Haitian-American Candidate in Brooklyn

Jim Luce | Posted 06.19.2009 | Politics

Read More: West Indian Culture, Toussaint Family, Jimmy Toussaint, Tax Hikes, Charter Schools, Politics, Brooklyn, 45th District, Thought Leaders, New York City Council, Middle Class, Global Citizens, Haiti, New York City, Flatbush, Rick Perry, Politics News
Jim Luce

'The word "politician" is derogatory to me. I am running because I want to protect my community from politicians.'

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Car-Nage or Industrial Policy?

Max Fraad Wolff | Posted 06.15.2009 | Business

Read More: Chrysler Fiat, Uaw, Unemployment, Socialists, Bondholders, Chrysler, Gm, Barack Obama, Middle Class, Auto Bailout, Business News
Max Fraad Wolff

We so completely lack an industrial policy that we are presently working to spend money to maintain our car market while decimating U.S. domestic car producers.

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HGTV's "$250,000 Challenge" Reflects Economic Climate, Offers Grim Reality

Los Angeles Times | Posted 06.08.2009 | Media

Read More: Reality TV, Economy, Middle Class, Recession, Hgtv, HGTV $250000 Challenge, $250000 Challege, Media News

The cable network made its mark featuring grand homes and designs. But '$250,000 Challenge' helps struggling middle-class families pay the bills....

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The Middle Estate

Harry Moroz | Posted 05.16.2009 | Business

Read More: Rich, Income Equality, Wealthy, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Mark Thoma, Middle Class, Estate Tax, Arthur Laffer, Business News
Harry Moroz

The estate tax is not about confiscating wealth for redistribution, but about encouraging spending during a wealthy individual's lifetime and limiting the intergenerational transfer of wealth.

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Scenes from a Greek Restaurant

Lita Smith-Mines | Posted 05.08.2009 | Style

Read More: Friendship, Housing Prices, Suburbia, Restaurants, Middle Class, Living, Families, Housing Crisis, Recession, Style News
Lita Smith-Mines

I am wistful not because I miss Georgia's split pea soup (though I truly do), but because I'm expecting that such gleeful times in places like Deities may never occur again.

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The Personal Politics of Hopelessness

Ian Welsh | Posted 05.02.2009 | Living

Read More: Politics, Labor, America, Wall Street, Elite, Hope, Middle Class, Working Class, Living News
Ian Welsh

Then there are a fair number of politicians who will tell you about the lousy jobs they had as teenagers, or maybe in their early twenties. But they knew they weren't staying there.

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The American Nightmare

Rob Fishman | Posted 04.24.2009 | Business

Read More: Vicky Ward, Liar's Poker, Middle Class Economy, Wall Street, Ragged Dick, American Dream, The Epic of America, Middle Class, Aig, Michael Lewis, Edward Liddy, Meritocracy, Business News
Rob Fishman

Of all the misdeeds carried out on the southern tip of Manhattan over the last decade, perhaps Wall Street's greatest fraud was to arrogate the very meaning of the American Dream.

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What Are Green Jobs? Joe Biden's Answer (VIDEO)

WhiteHouse.gov | Posted 04.10.2009 | Green

Read More: Middle Class Task Force, Green Collar Economy, Green Jobs, Economy, Middle Class, Green News

One of the questions that keeps coming up lately is this: What's a green job? What do they look like, where are they going to come from and who's goin...

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The Big Lie about the Employee Free Choice Act

Gerald McEntee | Posted 04.04.2009 | Politics

Read More: Labor, Employee Free Choice Act, Economy, Ceos, Rick Berman, Middle Class, Unions, Afscme, Hilda Solis, Democrats Efca, Efca, Obama, Unions Hilda Solis, Union Officials Efca, Afl-Cio Efca, Union Efca, Economic Recovery, Politics News
Gerald McEntee

America's top CEOs have declared their top legislative priority for 2009 -- to scuttle the bipartisan legislation that would restore workers' freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life.

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Venture Capitalists Succeed in Buying Legislation and Top Spot at SBA

Lloyd Chapman | Posted 03.16.2009 | Business

Read More: Fortune 1000, Small Business, Barack Obama, Economy, Middle Class, Fortune 500, Sba, Lloyd Chapman, Procurement, American Small Business League, Chapman, Karen Mills, Business News
Lloyd Chapman

Legislation and policies that would reduce the volume of federal contracts obtained by legitimate small businesses could be even more devastating to our national economy.

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The GOP's Phony Honor

Mark Nickolas | Posted 03.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Assault on Middle Class, Karl Rove, Oval Office, Barack Obama Flag Pin, George W. Bush, Middle Class, Obama Oval Office Dress Code, Guantanamo, Andy Card Jacket, Valerie Plame, Andy Card, Dick Cheney, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Torture, Republican Hypocrisy, Hurricane Katrina, Torture, Obama Flag Pin, Politics News
Mark Nickolas

Republicans are accusing Obama of disrespecting the Oval Office by not enforcing a coat and tie dress code. What next, a lecture from Karl Rove about obeying the law?

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NYC Faces Middle Class Exodus

Portfolio | Felix Salmon | Posted 03.08.2009 | Business

Read More: Jobs, Nyc, New York, Unemployment, New York City, Economy, Middle Class, Business News

The Center for an Urban Future has released a startling report on the fate of New York's middle classes -- even as the population of the city continue...

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Obama May Support Venture Capitalists' Move to Dominate Government Small Business Programs

Lloyd Chapman | Posted 03.06.2009 | Business

Read More: Fortune 1000, Small Business, Barack Obama, Economy, Middle Class, Fortune 500, Sba, Lloyd Chapman, Procurement, American Small Business League, Chapman, Karen Mills, Business News
Lloyd Chapman

The American Small Business League is concerned the Obama stimulus bill may ultimately include the loophole venture capitalists have been lobbying for.

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