Last Friday, Vice President Joe Biden and seven White House officials traveled to Philadelphia to kick off the inaugural gathering of President Obama’s Middle Class Task Force. The task force will convene monthly in cities across the country to confront the problems faced by average Americans. It’s an admirable goal; with rising costs, stagnant wages and job cuts, a Pew Research study found that 78% of self-described middle class Americans have trouble maintaining their current standard of living
Tag Archives: pennsylvania
Deep freeze follows heavy snow
Parts of the Northeastern United States faced freezing temperatures Tuesday morning, a day after a winter storm clogged roadways, cut electricity and dumped as much as 15 inches of snow. The good news for the Northeast was storm advisories were lifted.
Facebook invites users to help set policy
In keeping with the democratic nature of user-generated media, Facebook is inviting its 150 million users to help decide how the online gathering place is run. A week after a policy-change blunder sparked widespread protests, the Web’s most popular social-networking site announced a new approach Thursday to give users more control over future Facebook rules and practices
Spurred by Obama, Health Care Moves to the Front Burner
As part of the $3.5 trillion budget he proposed on Thursday, President Barack Obama is pushing for a down payment on universal health care, a reserve fund of $634 billion over 10 years paid for by higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans and savings from government programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
Pennsylvania rocked by ‘jailing kids for cash’ scandal
At a friend’s sleepover more than a year ago, 14-year-old Phillip Swartley pocketed change from unlocked vehicles in the neighborhood to buy chips and soft drinks. The cops caught him.
So, just how bad is the economy?
The stock market crashed. Wall Street panicked. People stashed silver and gold under mattresses while businesses shut doors across America
Barely Bipartisan, a Stimulus Deal Is Done
The U.S. Senate looks to be on track to pass a bill that sounds almost exactly like what President Barack Obama asked for last month
Clinton Delivers for Obama
No winner of a hard-fought, down-to-the-wire presidential nomination battle ever received a stronger boost from his vanquished foe than Senator Barack Obama picked up from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton here Tuesday. After days of backstage carping among both her supporters and his, no one knew exactly what to expect. Obama didn’t just beat a strong and popular candidate; he snatched the reins from the party’s old guard and ticked off a former President, Bill Clinton, in the process
Are Hugs the New Handshakes?
If White House etiquette is any indication, you should be getting a random hug soon.
Brown casts final vote; Senate approves stimulus package
The U.S. Senate has given final approval to a $787 billion economic-stimulus package backed by President Obama, with Democratic Ohio Sen