Tuesday night Americans tuned in to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.
While opinions will surely vary on his plans and promises, he made several strong points.
His aim to help working parents receive assistance with childcare should be one of many goals to achieve. Working families not only provide a steady tax base, they are raising the future of this nation. By providing them childcare assistance we ensure our country will remain strong and vibrant.
His stance on increasing the minimum wage presents a conundrum, however. In order for businesses and corporations to pay their employees those increased wages, they will have to increase the cost of their services and products, negating any pay increase.
Obama also expressed the importance of increasing the ability of American companies to export to other countries. Such a move would be a boon for the economy.
With cancer and diabetes becoming major medical problems, Obama’s stance on improving the healthcare system is a no brainer.
“I want the country that eliminated polio and mapped the human genome to lead a new era of medicine. One that delivers the right treatment at the right time,” Obama said.
Without a strong infrastructure our nation will find it difficult to improve. Better Internet, better roads and safer bridges are more important than just one oil pipeline, Obama said.
With reports that the middle class shoulders most of the tax burden, Obama’s aim to ensure corporations and the richest one percent of the population pay their fair share of taxes in theory means less taxes for the working class. If he can ensure all corporations pay their fair share by closing the loopholes, it could mean less of a burden on the middle class. The same is true for the loopholes he intends to close that allow the richest one percent to skirt proper taxation.