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President Barack Obama: A Hard Day’s Work Deserves A Fair Day’s Pay
It’s been a good few days for America. On Thursday, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the Affordable Care Act. It is here to stay. And, Democrats and Republicans in Congress paved the way for the United States to rewrite the rules of global trade to benefit American workers and American businesses. On Friday, the Court recognized the Constitutional guarantee of marriage equality. With that ruling, our union became a little more perfect — a place where more people are treated equally, no matter who they are or who they love. These steps build upon America’s steady progress in recent years. Out of the depths of recession, we’ve emerged ready to write our own future. Our businesses have created 12.6 million new jobs over the past 63 months — the longest streak on record. More than 16 million Americans have gained health insurance. More kids are graduating from high school and college than ever before. But more work lies ahead, if we are to succeed in making sure this recovery reaches all hardworking Americans and their families.
We’ve got to keep making sure hard work is rewarded. Right now, too many Americans are working long days for less pay than they deserve. That’s partly because we’ve failed to update overtime regulations for years — and an exemption meant for highly paid, white collar employees now leaves out workers making as little as $23,660 a year — no matter how many hours they work. This week, I’ll head to Wisconsin to discuss my plan to extend overtime protections to nearly 5 million workers in 2016, covering all salaried workers making up to about $50,400 next year. That’s good for workers who want fair pay, and it’s good for business owners who are already paying their employees what they deserve — since those who are doing right by their employees are undercut by competitors who aren’t. That’s how America should do business. In this country, a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.
More here
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Mike Dorning: Obama Plans To Expand Overtime Eligibility For Millions
The Obama administration plans to raise the wages of millions of Americans who work more than 40 hours a week by requiring their employers to pay them overtime. Workers who earn as much as $970 a week would have to be paid overtime even if they’re classified as a manager or professional, based on draft rules to be announced as soon as Tuesday, said an administration official. Many employees now receiving as little as $455 a week, or $23,660 a year — below the federal poverty line for a family of four — aren’t entitled to overtime pay because they are classified as managers exempt from overtime pay. The regulations, from the Labor Department, would take effect in 2016, said the official, who asked for anonymity because the plan hasn’t been announced. Workers in retail stores and restaurants are among most likely to be affected.
“You would be hard pressed to find a rule change or an executive order that would reach more middle class workers than this one,” said Jared Bernstein, a former economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden who is now a senior fellow at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. The median U.S. household income of $54,600 in April was $1,600 short of the amount at the start of the recession in December 2007, according to inflation-adjusted estimates from Sentier Research. Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, a research group partly funded by labor unions, has estimated that the higher salary threshold would expand overtime to as many as 15 million additional workers.
More here
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https://twitter.com/TimothyNoah1/status/615664993619582976
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The Obama Diary 
Yo
⭐
Congrats Axel 🙂
Close, MP 🙂
Well done, as always, NW!!!! TY
Thanks, Sir Bob! 🙂
Mr President
Congrats to Axel & MP! President Obama continues to shine as the guy doing his job, helping the working class do theirs with better pay.
http://beforeitsnews.com/paranormal/2015/06/something-is-going-to-happen-on-june-30th-that-hasnt-happened-in-over-2000-years-2492032.html
Wow MP, you are the best for posting this!!!!
View at Medium.com
Under the new salary threshold, employers would have a choice: They could either pay you time-and-half for your extra hours worked, or they could hire more workers at the standard rate to fill your previously unpaid hours. The former would put more money into your pockets. The latter would put more leisure time at your disposal while directly adding more jobs. And either would be great for workers and great for boosting economic growth.
Lower- and middle-income workers don’t stash their earnings in offshore accounts the way CEOs do — the more they’re paid the more they spend on goods and services. When workers have more money, businesses have more customers; and when businesses have more customers, they hire more workers. Whether through an increase in consumer demand or through a reduction in unpaid hours, a higher overtime threshold would increase total employment, tightening the labor market and driving up real wages for the first time since the late 1990s.
Simple, stable economic premise that works…which is why Republicans hate it and scare monger…Not gonna work this time!!
View at Medium.com
Seriously?? The link I posted (twice) mysteriously goes away? Here’s where I got this from:
Just had to do this before departing to more mtgs, df 🙂
bye, bye ….
thanks, Bob! Get this message out!!
Bobfr, hope all these meetings are getting your new venture going in the direction you want. Amazed you have time to do so much for us here when you are so incredibly busy.
Lost track over the years how many hours were ‘donated’ by my thinking I was just ‘doing my job’. Could sure use some of that paid back nowadays!! Oh well.
me too….
I used to work past my 8 hours like most people doing my job and getting things done. However, there are no many employers and management that put other people’s work on other workers weather that person is on maternity leave, vacation or they need to cut employees….those people were “expected” to take up the slack with no extra pay. I remember when I worked in private industry as a staff accountant and was considered an “exempt” employee. During year end we HAD to work on Saturdays and past 5PM for NO reason other than the manager and supervisor’s had too. That is when I decided no more private industry jobs for me. From then on I work for state agencies where I put in my eight hours and go home, take my vacations when I want too, and sick leave too.
Why is it that things that make common sense–more $$s in worker pockets mean more customers–are always resisted by Republicans. What is it about making life better for ordinary Americans that angers them so much.
They will always see it as less profits for them if workers have more money or if a competitor pays employees more then they can abuse workers when they rely on them for their crummy low paying job and health insurance.
…if a competitor pays employees more then they “can’t” abuse workers who rely on their crummy low paying job and health insurance.
What they hate is that the government is doing it
In answer to theo’s question – last thread – re: Webb & Confederate flag ….
Yes ….
bbl ….
Thanks Bob – it’s astounding to me that such horrible people seek such a noble role – especially after having a stellar role model like President Obama these past few years. They’ve learned nothing about what a public servant should embody.
http://t.sfglobe.com/2015/06/27/lHu/?src=share_fb_new_44350&sv=3&xas=o44350__1435684906
If that picture said ” Excuse me for a moment folks, I gotta go clean up another “Clinton ” mess it would be just as accurate.
^5 ^5
This is one of the best summaries of PBO and his politics that I have read! It employs the terminology of Integral Theory. This is also the primary reason I chose to support him in early 2008. It is also the primary reason I supported TPP. He is the first 2nd Tier Integral thinker I have know in politics.
https://www.integrallife.com/node/267326
Good little article, pickle48! Glad you posted this:)
I loved this. Thank you, pickle48.
Today
HI everyone. Just a question. Wasn’t Brazil’s President supposed to come for a State Dinner a couple of years ago and cancelled because of the Snowden bruhaha?
She didn’t cancel because of Snowden – she cancelled because at the time there was a lot of economic and political chaos in her home country that needed to be urgently addressed. The “Snowden” rumor was pushed by the feckless US media to make PBO look/seem bad and to elevate that sniveling Libertarian weasel.
‘that sniveling libertarian weasel’ 🙂 🙂 🙂
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/30/opinions/stanley-biden-should-run-2016/index.html
Speculation is mounting that Vice President Joe Biden might join the presidential race. He should.
It would shake things up and inject some character into liberalism. In an ideal world, the Democrats would choose Biden and the Republicans would pick Donald Trump. And then we could have the loudest presidential debates in history.
Biden recently told ABC News that there is “a chance” that he might run and that, in his opinion, the race is “wide open.”
The former statement seems more probable than the latter. Part of the reason Biden has been quiet about his ambitions is that he likes to take counsel from his family — and the family was recently struck by tragedy when he lost his son, Beau, to brain cancer. Nevertheless, Beau was reportedly in favor of his father running, and his other son is believed to agree.
I couldn’t agree more.
Happy days.
Oh, this is tremendous.
Dana Houle (whoever that is) says that the new Overtime rule should be called “Obamatime!!”
I agree.
Many good things come from the greatest President Ever. President Barack Obama.
Marriage equality—Obamequality.
Fair housing regs—Obamahome
Voting rights—Obamavote
Foreign policy—ObamaPeace
Energy policy—-ObamaClean.
OK. I’ll stop.
No, don’t! It works!
And I’ll continue… 🙂 🙂
TPA – ObamaTrade
Education policy – Obamaschool
Yes to all things Obama.
Overtime pay – ObamaTime
And the best, healthcare – Obamacare
GA Vicki.
Here’s a couple of tweets I sent out yesterday.
After tweeting, I thought to myself that at the end of this century, US students are gonna say to themselves “WTH?” — How could such an engaging, brilliant, empathetic, means-what-he-says man with oratory skills unmatched in this century have met with such opposition? If these students research what the MSM was saying during President Obama’s Administration, they will change that to “WTF?”
We have a new media gate.
Escape-gate.
Thanks media, you really are pathetic.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/de-blasio-accuses-cuomo-political-revenge-article-1.2276709
They’re not even frenemies anymore.
Mayor de Blasio tore into Gov. Cuomo with a no-holds-barred attack Tuesday, accusing the governor of deliberately thwarting his agenda out of political pique and revenge.
He described their political relationship as a series of letdowns. “I have been disappointed at every turn,” de Blasio said.
Fresh off an Albany legislative session that dealt several blows to his policy agenda on housing and education, the frustrated mayor called reporters into his office to issue the unusually candid denunciation.
He didn’t hold back what he really thinks of Cuomo — saying he plays dishonest “political games” and carries out “revenge” and “payback” for any “perceived slight.”
“I’m not going to be surprised if these statements lead to some attempts at revenge,” de Blasio said. “And we’ll just call them right out, because we’re just not going to play that way. We’re not going to accept that as anything like acceptable government practice.”
Good for DeBlasio. I’ve no doubt that Cuomo has done everything he can to undermine the mayor. It takes guts to call it as he sees it and that’s what DeBlasio is doing. I’m sure Cuomo is vindictive enough to think of new ways to ensure that DeBlasio can’t make progress or get re-elected. I never did like or trust him.
I have been raising the Cuomo alarm regularly here. This will come as no surprise to anyone who reads my words here.
Nena… we had this conversation recently.
If I knew how, I find and re-post Nena’s and my exchange.
The anti-de Blasio TV ads alone—incessant. vicious
Most likely paid for by Bloomberg. An alliance of ugly white privilege. Add in the Charter School grifter-in-chief, Eva Moskowitz.
The timing is important. de Blasio scored a few giant progressive victories in NYC this week. On pay fairness and a rent freeze. GOP, Cuomo and Bloomberg must be weeping and tearing their (sparse) hair.
Every move de Blasio makes repudiates this awful duo entirely.
Cuomo is a friend of Christie – birds of a feather
Agreed.
GA TODville.
Who is keeping a list of PBO’s “Buckit List?” 😉
I’d love to see Bill Clinton off our soil as Ambassador to Cuba.
Uh, maybe not. Look what his former ambassadorship did: Haiti. Nothing at all for the people of Haiti.
Haiti news is so sad. We’re did all our donations go?
Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is no stopping the Greatness of Our President.
Just out of curiosity. What happen to Elizabeth Warren? She use to scream about President Obama everyday.
TPA passed.
This, Judith!!!! Brilliant retort.
And she’s probably terrified that once there is a full deal, everyone will be able to read it and will discover – quelle surprise – that it isn’t any of the horrible things she said it was.
She turned into a petty bitch. I’m so disappointed in her. I expected better. I think she read too much of her own fawning press.
Before she did this, she should have had a chat with Anthony Weiner, Alan Grayson, Cenk, and the former heros of emoblogs like Old Orange, etc., Shoulda asked them how all that Obama-bashing in the name of “left” is working out for them…
Warren saw it first hand. The President got her the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau when nobody thought it was possible. The woman had a front row seat and she doesn’t trust him to work out a trade deal? She didn’t simply disagree on the merits. Warren flat out lied.
Yeah Senator. You’re on the express train to obscurity.
Still a lot of people on my facebook page loving Warren. Even if I didn’t dislike what she did to President Obama, I get tired of seeing her shake her finger at everyone. (Although to be fair, it may be the same picture over and over again.) But she is always ranting and finger-wagging about something. I think people like that shrill aspect; it’s what disappointed them about President Obama. He doesn’t yell and finger-wag and blame and bully and get loud. That’s what they’ve been wanting from him. They are not actually interested in accomplishments; they just want some bully to tell everyone else what’s what. I’m tired of if. All those people you just named, that’s what they do. Yelling, get sarcastic and dismissive and call names. what has any of them accomplished? Again reminding of my second graders. They come to me on the playground with some small complaint about another child and wait until the child walks over expecting me to unleash Severe Federal Penalties on them. Well, we talk and problem-solve and things get resolved quietly to the astonishment and sometimes dismay of the complainant.
The extreme left are losers. What I mean is that their identity depends on being on the outside, fighting against “the Man”. Practical political considerations don’t register because they never have power, so it is not necessary. I have had conversations with some of these folks, and they mainly seem to parrot what they read on their blogs of choice or hear via TV emos. I quickly realized during conversations that there is no “there” there. One idiot said PBO was one of the five worst presidents, but upon pressing he admitted ignorance of any presidencies before Bill Clintons (so he was just parroting some nonsense he heard someone else say). Most of it is a pose, to make themselves seem smarter and more in the know than they really are.
They want things perfect. Think they make more noise they get paid more. I don’t know statistics but not everybody can watch the news anymore. Local, yes, but national, no.
I remember reading (Al Giordano maybe?) who said they are not interested in the responsibility of governing. As you said, they are more comfortable being the outsiders throwing stones.
Yes, exactly!
Nailed It!
love this!!!
I posted a link above to a terrific short article about PBO’s cognition. Then I went out and did som weeding. This is what I was thinking….
This is why I chose to support Obama in late-2007/early-2008 and why I support TPP. He is an integral thinker and understands tribal, warrior, traditional, modern and postmodern consciousness/ worldviews and can work with them. He can’t do it alone and he can’t perform miracles. In addition, he has faced racism, hatred, and obstruction like no other president in my lifetime. Those who are ahead-of-their-time often do. But he is leaving us infinitely better off. His future work with disadvantaged youth has the possibility of a type of success we haven’t seen before. Many such youth, if not most, have tribal and warrior consciousness/ worldviews. The institution which is likely to benefit black youth the most is the African American church (or a functional equivalent). This is where they are most likely to develop the traditional consciousness/worldviews that can stabilize them and provide a foundation for them to become contributing members of society. They need more than this, however. One of our favorite churches to visit is Glide Memorial in San Francisco. This is a church that provides a variety of resources to their underserved community. If we got serious about problems in our inner cities and created private-public partnerships to develop means-tested programs that work, we would benefit both individuals and our society at large.
Great thoughts occur while working with the soil in my humble opinion. The Soul of the Soil. Sol. 🐾 👣
Please repost the link, I missed it. My computer connection and me are slow.
Thanks pickle48, excellent comment! I really enjoyed reading the article you posted in your earlier comment. Thanks for providing the link.
First Lady Michelle Obama Hosts the First-Ever White House Campout as Part of the Let’s Move! Outside. Fast Forward to about 23:00.
What fun!! Amazing memory for them:) Adorable.
dang, i just want to be one of these girls!!
Have I said how much I love this First Lady? 🙂
Read afew comments about the camp out and the right wing haters just can not help themselves. They had to make negative disrespectful comments.
what a wonder-full post! every day barack obama is president of the united states, wonderful things happen!
i just spent a bit of time reviewing the 2013 thanksgiving post, with 50 things pbo has accomplished that we’re thankful for.
first i was thinking of all that’s been achieved since our president was labeled a lame duck by the lame media. in recent days, there have been some headlines indicating astonishment at pbo getting things done– which of course makes me angry because i know he’s been doing great things constantly, whether or not they were reported.
and that’s when i went back to the 50 things– and i’d forgotten some, or didn’t realize how they would play into what he did next. truly, this presidency will be written and talked about for as long as america lives. i’m so proud to be here, among his supporters. and i’m so grateful for this place, where his achievements are noted and celebrated!
Beautiful, susanne. i feel the same way.
Beautiful commentary, Susanne. 🙂
Yes very beautiful Susanne. And he’s not done yet. 😊
Susanne did you see POTUS interview with Sir David Attenborough? Do you know the Coral beach the President mentioned in reference to his mother? Have you been there? Is it beautiful? I can’t remember the name.
“Today we’re in Havana,
Next we’re in Tehran.”
hat tip to Leonard Cohen.
Errol Louis, our excellent local NYC politics TV anchor and very smart guy is hosting Mayor de Blasio on his show in 15 minutes.
This will be good.
How cool is this? Real cool.
Will it be a new building or an old one that was closed? I can’t keep up with details or I forget them.
Looking forward to the closing of our prison at Gitmo. Hubby stationed there in ’73-’74. He thought it was so beautiful and loved swimming in the crystal clear waters. He was a Naval Corspman attached to a Marine unit from Camp LeJuenne. Last stop in training for Vietnam so wives not allowed.
Posted this tweet earlier ….
Worth noting that our Amb to Ukraine Geoff Pyatt has RT’d this and numerous related tweets ….
🙂
Urge all of you to read the report. Subsequent analysis by others, including folk from The Interpreter, make it absolutely clear that no way is this a Ukrainian base. It is a major RUSSIAN base on Ukrainian territory. Thus, the preemptive mocking of @RT_com 🙂
#TrustBarack …. because I know he has much better pictures and has had them since the moment Russians started assembling that base 🙂
yuck ….
bbl ……
On Christie
http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/06/after_14_years_of_watching_christie_a_warning_he_l.html
After 14 years of watching Christie, a warning: He lies
The author makes a very good point about the national political media – politicians get away with their lies – local press know them better.
“These are painful moments for New Jersey reporters who cover Christie. Stephanopoulos and Kelly are facing a crowded Republican field with more than a dozen contenders. They can’t be expected to know this stuff. Which is why Christie prefers to sit down with the national press. It’s easier to get away with these lies. For now.”
Twitter check ….
#AskBobby
#ClivenBundy & #RandPaul
if you want some chuckles …..
I remember that some liberals opposed Elena Kagan’s nomination. But it strikes me that President Obama would see “bridge-builder” as a necessary role for someone to play on the Supreme Court. It’s exactly how people describe his tenure as President of the Harvard Law Review.
If that’s the case, here’s what we know about the 3 women on the Supreme Court: the senior member is Ruth Bader Ginsberg – the Notorious RBG – tiny woman who throws quite a punch. Then there’s my hero – Sonia Sotomayor, the wise Latina with a heart as big as they come. And finally, there’s Elena Kagan, the bridge-builder. What a team!
I guess Trump is thinking “WTF did I do?
Ricky Martin joins Trump boycott. Withdraws his foundation’s golf event from Trump course, moves to non-Trump course
“http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2015/06/30/ricky-martin-suma-boicot-donald-trump
New post
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/06/30/biggest-drop-in-uninsured-rates-thanks-obamacare/