The Word Is Fair

Tuesday, January 24, 2012
State of the Union Address
Barack Obama

The word of the year is fair. President Obama delivered an effective and eloquent State of the Union Address that laid out his goals for the year and called Congress into action. Obama said the defining issue of the time is keeping the promise that everyone has the ability to work oneself up. The issue is fairness. The President presented ideas that would certainly level the playing field but will infuriate conservatives. Obama addressed the issue of outsourcing jobs, saying tax cuts for companies who outsource will be cut and tax benefits will be created for companies that are creating domestic jobs. This is just common sense. When we have so many unemployed people in the U.S., companies should not be able to outsource labor and worse out domestic issues. Obama said manufacturing will come back because it is becoming economically beneficial.  He addressed the business owners watching and said, "Bring jobs back to your country and your country will do its best to help you." The speech then turned to the broken tax code. Using the popular Warren Buffet example, Obama proposed improvements to the current tax code. These changes would encourage manufacturing companies to set up in poor neighborhoods and create jobs and establish a base-line tax for all multi-national companies. These measures will add to Obama's goal from 2 years ago to double U.S. exports by 2015. To keep international trade fair, Obama proposed the formation of a Trade Enforcement Unit. This group would investigate counter fit goods and unsafe products. The purpose to to prevent any foreign country from getting an advantage on the U.S. Another proposition for fairness in this State of the Union was to create forcused skills training for Americans that will lead directly to a job. This will fix the problem of the 2 million trained workers in the U.S. who cannot find jobs within their skill-sets. This plan would convert community colleges into community career centers, utilizing programs we already have and tweaking them to accomidate the current needs of workers. Obama expounded on his training plan with ideas on higher level education. He began with, "every person in this room can point to a teacher who changed their life,"  teaching really is the most important aspect, so it makes most sense to improve the quality of teachers. That is a very reasonable goal, putting good teachers in the classroom is no more expensive than putting bad teachers in the classroom. As any student knows, a teacher can make or break a class and make all the difference. Obamas next call to the states is less likely to be well-received. He said all states should require students to stay in school through the completion of high school or until 18. I cannot see states heading this suggestion because it is such an over-stretch of executive federal power. The President also presented plans to make college more affordable. Making college an option for more willing students will improve the quality of the workforce and give high schoolers more incentive. President Obama's 2012 State of the Union Address presented many plans that will give every citizen a closer-to-fair chance to succeed.