Andrea Batista Schlesinger

In total, DMI’s State of the Union response

In his 2006 State of the Union address, President Bush spoke optimistically about the state of the United States economy. While to some fortunate Americans, this pronouncement may ring true, such is not the case for our squeezed middle-class who are finding it harder and harder to hold onto the staples of the American Dream: stable jobs, the promise of a secure retirement after a lifetime of hard work, access to affordable health care and the ability to put your children through college while also taking care of your elderly parents. By refusing to acknowledge the fundamental squeeze that has left one in six middle-class Americans without health insurance, record numbers applying for bankruptcy, and a significant percentage dipping into retirement security to send their children to college, the President makes it impossible to talk about the comprehensive solutions required to restore faith in the American Dream.

The President's address was a speech around the margins. It contained a proposal to expand math and science education without addressing the fundamental under-funding of our nations' public school systems and the skyrocketing cost of higher education, another to create Health Savings Accounts without addressing the true costs of our enormously expensive and inefficient private health care system, and yet another to create a guest worker program for immigrants without acknowledging the impact of the institutionalization of a second-tier workforce has on middle-class workers.

We agree that the State of the American Dream is strong; it is, in fact, what unites us. Unfortunately, so is the shared sense of vulnerability and economic insecurity that went unaddressed by the 2006 State of the Union address. Though his speech lasted over an hour, the deafening silence on the struggles of the middle class and those working so hard to enter it may very well be its defining moment.

For the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy analysis of the 2006 State of the Union, please click here.

Andrea Batista Schlesinger: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 10:03 AM, Feb 01, 2006 in Middle-class squeeze
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