2012 State of the Union address: on Budget & Economy
Jill Stein:
It's un-American that top 1% own 90% of wealth
Right now we are experiencing the worst economic inequality in our nation's history. The gap between the very rich and the many poor has never been so great. The wealthiest 1% in America now own as much wealth as 90% of all Americans. Those over
65 hold, on average, 47 times as much wealth as heads of households who are under 35. White families own, on average, twenty times as much as Black families. Such inequality is unacceptable, unconscionable, and un-American.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
Jill Stein:
Our economy is not working for our vast majority
As we speak tonight, our economy is not working for the vast majority of Americans. 146 million people--that's nearly one in every two Americans--is now living below or near the poverty level. The stress falls hardest on our most vulnerable and
disadvantaged, with the majority of children, half of our elders, 3/4 of Latinos, and 2/3 of African Americans living in or near poverty.Last year, one million Americans lost their health insurance, raising the numbers of the uninsured to almost
50 million of our people. Over 6 million Americans have lost their homes to foreclosure.
Overall, nearly 25 million Americans are unemployed or unable to find full time work. And even those who have jobs are struggling, because wages have been
declining for American workers, and are now lower on average than in 1996. Household income has fallen faster since the official end of the recession than during the recession itself, because the so-called "recovery" is made up of mostly low paying jobs.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
Jill Stein:
Austerity policies: harsh on YOU but easy for establishment
The political establishment in the White House, Congress, and state governments are making matters far worse, doing the opposite of what we need, by inflicting needless, harsh austerity policies on the country.This is bad for people, bad for the
economy, and completely unnecessary. When they say there's not enough money, they mean there's not enough money for YOU. Instead of austerity, we can end the Wall Street bailouts, cut the bloated military and tax the bloated rich.
These austerity cuts mean that Americans are losing jobs. The result of these austerity cuts is layoffs for teachers, nurses, child and eldercare workers, firefighters, janitors, bus drivers and all the people who keep our communities educated,
healthy, and moving forward. Worse, these austerity cuts are hurting the people who receive those services. Students, the disabled, the elderly, the ill, the unemployed, the hungry--these are the Americans who are suffering.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
Jill Stein:
90% tax on bonuses for bailed out bankers
The watered down Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform did not fix the massive problems with the deregulated financial status quo. Wall Street and the big banking interests continue to steer the economy just as they did before the Great Financial Crash of 2008.
It's time to really reform Wall Street so that working America has a chance. Here is what the financial reforms of the Green New Deal will do.- First, the debt overhang holding back the economy must be deleveraged by reducing homeowner and student
debt burdens, including an immediate halt to all foreclosures and evictions
- Democratize monetary policy. This means we'll nationalize the private bank-dominated Federal Reserve Banks
- We will break up the oversized banks that are "too big
to fail."
- We will end taxpayer-funded bailouts for banks, insurers, and other financial companies.
- We will establish a 90% tax on bonuses for bailed out bankers.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
Barack Obama:
House of cards collapsed in 2008; new rules now in place
Long before the recession, jobs and manufacturing began leaving our shores. Folks at the top saw their incomes rise like never before, but most hardworking Americans struggled.In 2008, the house of cards collapsed. We learned that mortgages had been
sold to people who couldn't afford or understand them. Banks had made huge bets and bonuses with other people's money. Regulators didn't have the authority to stop the bad behavior. It was wrong. It was irresponsible. And it plunged our economy into a
crisis that put millions out of work, and saddled us with more debt. In the 6 months before I took office, we lost nearly 4 million jobs. And we lost another 4 million before our policies were in full effect.
Those are the facts. But so are these.
In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs. Together, we've agreed to cut the deficit by more than $2 trillion. And we've put in place new rules to hold Wall Street accountable, so a crisis like that never happens again.
Source: 2012 State of the Union speech
Jan 24, 2012
Barack Obama:
Push mortgage refinancing; banks repay deficit of trust
Millions of innocent Americans have seen their home values decline. And while Government can't fix the problem on its own, responsible homeowners shouldn't have to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom to get some relief. That's why
I'm sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low interest rates. No more red tape. No more runaround from the banks.
A small fee on the largest financial institutions will ensure that it won't add to the deficit, and will give banks that were rescued by taxpayers a chance to repay a deficit of trust.
Let's never forget: Millions of Americans who work hard and play
by the rules every day deserve a Government and a financial system that do the same. It's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts. An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody.
Source: 2012 State of the Union speech
Jan 24, 2012
Barack Obama:
Establish a Financial Crimes unit; end era of recklessness
I will not go back to the days when Wall Street was allowed to play by its own set of rules. If you're a big bank or financial institution, you are no longer allowed to make risky bets with your customers' deposits. You're required to write out a "living
will" that details exactly how you'll pay the bills if you fail--because the rest of us aren't bailing you out ever again. And if you're a mortgage lender or a payday lender or a credit card company, the days of signing people up for products they can't
afford with confusing forms and deceptive practices are over.We will also establish a Financial Crimes Unit of highly trained investigators to crack down on large-scale fraud and protect people's investments. Some financial firms violate major
anti-fraud laws because there's no real penalty for being a repeat offender. That's bad for consumers, and it's bad for the vast majority of bankers and financial service professionals who do the right thing.
Source: 2012 State of the Union speech
Jan 24, 2012
Buddy Roemer:
Washington is not broken; it is corrupted by one-percenters
Energy, fair trade, deregulation, immigration reform--the President finally talked about all of them tonight, except for the most important one--corruption. President Obama would have you believe that Washington is broken, but it is not. It is corrupt.
And it will be corrupt as long as you are raising money from the same Wall Street one-percenters who got us into the very mortgage crisis you're now concerned about. After just three years in office, you have reverted to the job you do best--being a
full-time campaigner. The policies you proposed tonight, I agree with many of them. But they will never happen until we take the money out of the equation. The country is looking to you, Mr. President.
They are looking to you for leadership, and for reform. Not for pretty speeches and gutless action. End the corruption, lest we continue our drift into economic mediocrity.
Source: Response to 2012 State of the Union speech
Jan 24, 2012
Herman Cain:
My grandchild was born in 2012 with $50,000 debt
In 1999, my first grandchild was born. In 1999, the national debt for every man, woman, and child living in this country was nearly 21,000 dollars. New Year's Day of this year, my fourth grand child was born. The day he was born, New Year's Day 2012,
before he took his first breath, the debt that every man, woman, and child inherited, nearly $50,000. And it appears as if there is no end in sight. Worst yet, our national debt exceeds our GDP growth. We're starting to look just like some of the
European countries that are facing a spending crisis. That's not where the American people want us to be, but that's where we are because the spending has not stopped and the economic engine of this country has not taken off.The American people, the
Tea Party people, we know that this nation is broke. Not almost broke, it is broke. And Washington is broken. We can't spend our way to prosperity. We also can't tax our way out of debt. Not until we get this economy growing.
Source: Tea Party response to the 2012 State of the Union speech
Jan 24, 2012
Page last updated: Feb 24, 2019