The Ol' Fat Guy Blathers On

"Clown Prince" obama's Weekly Blather barack INGHAM PALACE , District of Corruption , April 26, 2014     In my State of the Union Address, I talked about pizza.  More specifically, I talked about a pizza chain in Minneapolis – Punch Pizza – whose owner, John Soranno, made the business decision to give his employees a raise to ten bucks an hour.  A couple weeks ago, I got a letter from a small business owner who watched that night.  Yasmin Ibrahim is an immigrant who owns her own restaurant – Desi Shack – and plans to open another this summer.  Here’s what she wrote.  “I was moved by John Soranno’s story.  It got me thinking about my … full-time employees and their ability to survive on $8 an hour in New York City.”  So a few weeks ago, Yasmin put in place a plan to lift wages for her employees at both her restaurants to at least $10 an hour by the end of this year.      But here’s the thing – Yasmin isn’t just raising her employees’ wages because it’s t

"Clown Prince" obama's Weekly Blather barack INGHAM PALACE , District of Corruption , April 12, 2014      Earlier this week was Equal Pay Day.  It marks the extra time the average woman has to work into a new year to earn what a man earned the year before.  You see, the average woman who works full-time in America earns less than a man – even when she’s in the same profession and has the same education.  That's wrong.  In 2014, it’s an embarrassment. Women deserve equal pay for equal work.  This is an economic issue that affects all of us.  Women make up about half our workforce.  And more and more, they’re our families’ main breadwinners.  So it’s good for everyone when women are paid fairly.  That’s why, this week, I took action to prohibit more businesses from punishing workers who discuss their salaries – because more pay transparency makes it easier to spot pay discrimination.  And I hope more business leaders will take up this cause.  But equal

"Clown Prince" Obama's Weekly Blather barack INGHAM PALACE , District of Corruption, April 5, 2014     Today, our economy is growing and our businesses are consistently generating new jobs.  But decades-long trends still threaten the middle class.  While those at the top are doing better than ever, too many Americans are working harder than ever, but feel like they can’t get ahead.  That’s why the budget I sent Congress earlier this year is built on the idea of opportunity for all.  It will grow the middle class and shrink the deficits we’ve already cut in half since I took office.  It’s an opportunity agenda with four goals. Number one is creating more good jobs that pay good wages. Number two is training more Americans with the skills to fill those jobs. Number three is guaranteeing every child access to a great education.  And number four is making work pay – with wages you can live on, savings you can retire on, and health care that’s there for you when y