One day before president obama gives his state of the Union Address to congress and the nation there is now every indication the president s speech will focus extensively on the date of the middle class. Jobs are being created at the fastest clip in a decade the stock market is booming, up 168 in five years. When you add to all of that the financial boosts Many Americans are feeling thanks to plummeting Energy Prices but there is a public disconnect. A University Poll asked americans how much the upturn benefits their families. 32 said not much. And another 29 said not at all. To understand why the 61 said they feel the Strong Economy is passing them by you have to understand the middle sclasz today. Wages remain flat and household Median Income as fallen by as much as 8 since the recession, so with that in mind white house Officials Say in his state of the union speech president obama will propose tax hikes on the rich and fees to Fund Programs benefiting the middle class, the total benefits over ten years would be 320 billion. The centerpiece of the president s proposal to pay for it involves raising the tax rate on couples making over 500 thousand dollars a year to 28 , 4. 2 Percentage Points higher than they currently pay. And a new tax on americans wealthy. The president intends to use the new revenue to generate a 500 tax care expand the child care credit and consolidate education tax breaks. He wants to add free tuition at twoyear Community Colleges. But given republican oppetition to tax hikes of any kind it is likely he will face fierce opposition in congress. There are two things going on here david, and its clear since the last state of the union when the president said he was going to use his pen and phone to go around congress and the president is going to go his own way without regard remember after the 2012 election he was went on something of a charm offensive. He played golf with the republicans, had dinner with them. That went out the window the president is going to do what he is going to do right now. The president is either trying to blow up any chance that he is going to come together with republicans on this issue of taxes. After always frankly republicans arent going to go for this in any way shape or form, sort of a redistributing of the wealth that you just outlined taxing things like inheritance, capital gains, and passing it on to lower and middle income americans, and to finance many of any programs he has been on the road talking about over the last two weeks. The president is ignoring republicans while trying to lay down some parameters and speaking to base democrats, those democrats who did not turn out in the midterm elections in november. Mike how has the white house reacted to the strategy of dribbling out some of this stuff in advance, and taking away the drama of the state of the Union Address itself. I think the president is getting out ahead of the curve, and putting republicans on the defensive. Republicans are saying including many of the president ial candidates in 2016 from mitt romney on down from 46 , addressing some of the very issues that the president intends to address, stagnant incomes and a tight labor market that is responsible for those incomes. Price gas prices are down Unemployment Rate is down Consumer Confidence is up so a whole raft of new goods with except for the fact that there is still one leak in the boat and that is the income in working class americans. You have seeing all spectrums trying to address this in different ways and the president thinks he has the upper hand. Obviously he is going to have a captive nation tomorrow night. And the white house feels a special obligation to take credit for how the government has worked that so Many Americans say the economy has essentially passed them by. Right. Theres some vindication, theres no question in the tone that the president and some of the officials have used as the Economic News has continued to poor in year but still the silver line as a matter of fact most americans are not sharing in the prosperity we have seen so the president feels this needs to be addressed. He feels no need to try to dance around it. Al jazeeras Mike Viqueira at the white house, mike thank you. For how all of this place out politically, we turn to al jazeeras Political Correspondent mike michael shure. So is this a wise strategy for the president to signal essentially war . Well you talk about the politics david, and what Mike Viqueira said is right, there is no chance this is going to passite ever house of congress. But this puts the republicans in a position to defend the wealthy. Going into 2016 thats not where they want to be it was a formal that didnt work for them before, and we have talked much much more in the past few years about income and equality and that is going to be in the forefront of the election. In the polls the president s Approval Rating is starting to tick up as more as more americans start to think maybe the middle class havent seen their wages go up but other areas are getting stronger. What the white house, the president and the candidates who will be running for the presidency need to do is to find a way to articulate that. 61 , largely it is even higher than that only 8 of the people in the poll said they felt it a great deal they felt the economic uptick a great deal thats 92 of americans who didnt feel it much at all, and so thats a problem. So they have to craft some sort of agenda so thats what the president is going to try to do to tomorrow so people can start feeling this. It always feels like the president make be taking a page out of the republican play book offering tax credits that would seem normally to be something that republicans would support, does it put them in a box . Yeah it is taking ownership of something because you are the president. This is a bully pulpit moment. He can take some of the language even the language david of the inheritance tax. Now they are talking about it as a trust fund loophole. They are taking a few pages off of the markets they can do. And as far as putting things on like what warren buffet said that he plays less tax because of capitol gains. Even if they cant get something through congress this year as you pointed out, if they can put the republicans heading into 2016 having to defend the wealthy, thats going to be good for the president. Yeah if you here the wealthy whining, there is not going to be a lot of sympathy for that position. Its also key to what he wants to do with his legacy. This is a place that he can start doing that in the next two years. Look as dismal as people have focused on them they are better than president Ronald Reagan was at this point in his presidency so he has that going for him. And the other major proposal we are talking about later in the show as far as the specifics of two years of free tuition to attend a Community College, what is the politics of that . Its people for whom it is an expense. You are saying you are going to get a leg up here your Community College will be paid for, and all of a sudden you are a young voter, and we need young voters. Michael shure thanks we appreciate. Coming up how the super rich ended up on the verge of owning more than the rest of the world. You are watching real money. Real reporting that brings you the world. This is a pretty dangerous trip. Security in beirut is tight. More reporters. They dont have the resources to take the fight to al shabaab. More bureaus, more stories. This is where the typhoon came ashore. Giving you a real global perspective like no other can. Al jazeera, nairobi. On the turkeysyria border. Venezuela. Beijing. Kabul. Hong kong. Ukraine. The artic. Real reporting from around the world. This is what we do. Al Jazeera America. Later this week ali velshi would bring us news from the World Economic meeting. The antipoverty Group Release study showing next year the richest people in the world will control more than half of the worlds weather. Roxana saberi has the story. Reporter frustration over growing income inequality sparked the occupy wall street movement. Since that that protest has grown from the u. S. To china. Since then the worlds richest 1 is on track to owning more than half of the worlds wealth next year. The portion of wealth held by the top 1 actually fell but over the next four years it will rise dramatically and will keep rising just as the wealth held by the bottom 99 will keep dropping. Incomes are not going up minimum wages have stayed stagnant and the rich just continue to get richer as Government Policies have moved in that direction. Reporter they say the worlds 80 richest people control the same wealth as half of the worlds population. They are calling on governments to invest in Free Education and health care improve workers wages, and raise taxes on the rich. Rich individuals and particularly the richest individuals should pay a reasonable level of tax, the kind of tax they were paying as recently as the 1990s. Reporter they say income inequality hurts everyone because when more people have less to spending the economy suffers. The report was released ahead of the World Economic forum. The group hopes to urge the heards to narrow the gap between the rich and poor and also the day before president obama is expected to call on thewellthy to help the middle class. Wealth extaughts the largest collection of the highwealth individuals. David joins us now. To put that in context. What does it take to be in the highest 1 around the world. We call that mass affluent. Those would be people that are million millionaires. How many are worth 30 million or more. 30 million net worth and up is what we track. There are 2110 of those individuals. And despite that 200 and some thousand, americas middle class continues to shrink how come . This is the ageold classic question of how do you bridge the gap between the haves and have nots. If you look at other economies, its becoming so acute, but when you look at the u. S. Yes, theres a big gap, but the gap is much smaller than if you look at places like russia or china or even latin america. Over the next three decades, the wealthiest americans are getting ready to transfer some 6 trillion in assets to their next generation. Why not make some of that available to the government in terms of inheritance taxes. For the ultra afterfluentaffluent they are of the most generous. I mean thats a philosophical question as to which governments should do that. Ours we do take that. If you look at the estate tax and where it was created originally i think the original reason is not why it is happening today. A lot of them are giving it away others are saying hey, were creating jobs by investing, and this is not a new debate. And when you make money due to investments, you are not necessarily creating a job. President obama is now suggesting it should go up to 28 . Are the wealthy willing to do that . I think, though if you look at the majority of the wealth our biggest wealth driver because between 750 million to a billion dollars. And the money they made was because they took money invested in real estate and other asset classes, things that they knew that did create jobs so, you know it depends on the data we dont have all of that data in front of us but you would have to look at what they have done. There is a longrunning argument in the United States that in order to create Economic Activity it is better for the government to take money out of the hands of the wealthy, and spending it as oppose ed to the wealthy make spending it overseas or do things that dont necessarily make it circulate in the economy. Yeah thats a big huge debate. Im a entrepreneur and someone invested in us so based on my personal experience as an entrepreneur, those are the kinds of things we do and i i see that happening. We need infrastructure we need all of those things but me i can speak only from my own personal experience. In my former life i did advice investment groups. And all of them are focused on attracting development companies, because thats what drives jobs especially in places like the middle east where there are so many people out of work and that creates social unrest and so forth. Good to talk to you. Some working mothers can no longer afford to work. Well take a look at how president obama wants to make child care more affordable for more americans. That story and more comingen when real money continues. Al Jazeera America presents a Breakthrough Television event. Borderland. Six strangers. Lets just send them back to mexico. Experience illegal immigration up close and personal. Its overwhelming to see this many people that have perished. Lost lives are relived. All of these people shouldnt be dead. Will there differences bring them together or tear them apart . The only way to find out is to see it yourselves. Which side of the fence are you on . Borderland, sunday at 9 eastern, only on al Jazeera America. President obamas plan to help the middle class including triples the child care tax credit to 3,000 per child for kids under five. The white house says the changes will help more than 5 million families cover child care costs. Those costs impose a huge Financial Burdens on many families. Annual child care now costs more than an entire year of instate public college. As mary snow reporting, finding affordable child care is no longer a problem for just the working middle class. Reporter for these working parents taking care of their baby and getting their 4yearold up and running each morning can be nothing short of a miracle. But juggling the costs of child care for their two daughters has become the real daily struggle. What book do you want to bring to school. One third went to child care the next third went to rent. So when im buying groceries, im thinking let me make sure i havent overdown. Todd runs a music nonprofit and teaches parttime at columbia university. They can barely play for preschool fees and one day of baby sitting a week. That means trading off days working from home. Theres something systemically wrong when an associate professor with a partner who is making, you know some salary truly cant make ends meet. We fall in between. Child care is typically the highest household expense in most regions, exceeded only on the west coast by housing. Reporter lanette is executive director of a nonprofit that studies the costs of child care. Fees vary state to state. Massachusetts ranks as most expensive. With mississippi the lowest. But nationwide child care costs have been growing at a rate five times that of family incomes. Were seeing a time in the United States where people are having babys literally off an economic cliff. Reporter she cofounded moms rising, with over a million members across the u. S. She says the larger issue is a matter of supply. Day cares in 19 states had waiting lists or turned away families all together unable to keep up with the de demand of the labor force. Nearly 50 of families are relying on moms wages as the primary breadwinner. Reporter and yet the economic squeeze of child care has increasingly forced moms like jessica christie, a washington, d. C. Mother of three out of work. Working for the Environmental Law Firm was one of the most satisfying jobs i have ever had. Reporter christy gave up a litigation assistant job when her second son was born but like many families she couldnt afford to give up a second income all together. She picked up consulting work to keep their budget afloat. But even for parents with fulltime jobs professional sacrifice is a constant. She recently landed a coveted teaching fellowship for the fall but worry that she and todd wont be able to afford the extra baby sitting. If we cant get the salary increases that we need for next year what will dwoe in what is the plan b . There is no plan b. We have a tiny bit in our savings that will go away that wont be enough. And thats sort of that. Studies have shown the expense in difficulty of finding child care hurt the overall economy. A nonprofit focused on Business Investment in education, employee abcentimism Cost Companies 3 billion each year. A lesson in why this matters to all of this when real money returns. President obamas plan to offer students two free years of Community College would cost u. S. Tax pairs 60 billion over ten years. Higher taxes on the rich and fees on big banks would fund the plan which is, republicans will probably not approve it. But student debt in this country now tops 1 trillion. That directly effects 1 in 8 americans. But the student debt crisis poses serious risks to the entire economy. Reporter this 31yearold graduated with a masters in 2008 during the depps of the great recession. She quickly defaulted on her bill. Which brought on fines and fees. Oh well ill just file for bankruptcy like everyone else is doing, and then you realize the only way to get alone from your Student Loan Debt is to die. Reporter some 40 Million People are living with student debt together and other their lifetimes that adds up to a staggers wealth loss of 4 4 trillion . Why because they are paying off educations that were supposed to level the Playing Field to give americans of equal ability an equal shot at wealth. Im angry, because its unfair that its happening to us and we eefrn being sort of blamed for the amount of debt that were putting in. It is absolutely cuts in state funding that have been the major cause. Reporter this man exams funding trends for state Higher Education. Nice wade state funding plummeted 27 per sunt between 2008 and 2012, while tuition at fouryear state institutions increased 20 . And that has huge implications for all of us. Consumer spending generates some twothirds of our Economic Growth and young people are the plankton in that ecosystem. These students who are paying 300 or 500 a month towards reducing their student death that is 500 they could be spending towards a down payment on a house or a new car. Reporter about seven of every ten College Graduates in 2013 left school with student debt the average bill 28,400. President obamas new proposal to make Community College more accessible is aimed in part at bringing down that tab. Americas College Promise will make two years of Community College free. The plan requires students to maintain a 2. 5 gpa attend school at least halftime and enroll in programs that lead to a twoyear professional degree or serve as a steppingstone towards a fouryear college. The free Community College plan could save 9 Million Students 3,400 a year in tuition, but congress would have to approve the cost. 60 billion over ten years. As for this woman, she faced down her debt demons moved home and worked at the u. N. And as a cocktail waitress to pay off her education. It became a game to me. Reporter today she is debt free but on the back foot financially. I have no Retirement Fund no savings. Reporter thanks to an education that still has her playing catchup with those who graduated debt free. Patty what is the other criticism of this Free College Tuition for Community College that the president is likely going to face . The major criticism is that its not means tested. It is available to everyone regardless of their financial position. Opponents is likely to point out the burden on lowerclass students. There was a study that found that kids from lower income families graduated on average with 10,000 more in student debt than kids with more affluent families. And that is because of the pell grant. Is Higher Education still a ticket to the American Dream . One of the perverse things about student debt is that it is actually crystallizing precipitation privilege. But because these graduates are paying back Student Loans precisely in their prime earning years, when they are supposed to be buying stocks houses saving mobny for their retirement. And that equals a wealth loss. However, the Federal Reserve of San Francisco did a study and they found it is still a good investment because College Graduates by the time they hit retirement they have made 800,000 more than high school graduates. What is the biggest obama victory. Some of the primary ones have been to help students manage their Monthly Payments through programs like pay as you earn that cap those payments at 10 of the income. If you default, it is a disaster, it follows you for life. Theres no way to get out of student debt inless you die. But probably the biggest victory for obama is he has made this a Kitchen Table issue. Most americans realize student debt is a crisis. Even in the alvaz polite came up in the top four in terms of concerns that people have about concerns facing their family. Patricia sabga thank you very much. Up next well take you to philadelphia where one middle class neighborhood has managed to stake intact where areas around it fell into disrepair. Today marks the intersection of to important events the day america celebrates the garrett of Martin Luther king, jr. , and the eve of president obamas state of the Union Address. The president is expected to call for tax increases in order to fund new tax measures that he hopes will help the middle class. Philadelphia has lost a critical number of middle class paying residents, but one primarily black African American neighborhood has somehow managed to keep its Community Together over the last 40 years, while others hallowed out. Ali velshi takes a look. Reporter its sunday morning at Penn Memorial Church in the winfield neighborhood of west philadelphia. Reporter francis has been going to this church for decades. She moved here in the 60s, when the neighborhood was primarily jewish. This church used to be a synagogue. Back in the 1800s, it was mostly anglosaxon, then in the 60s, the africanamericans in fact i was the second black family to move on diamond street. Winfield is one of philadelphias few predominantly black middle class areas. What you dont see is that many of these blocks have block captains who keep an eye on what is going on. Whether its garbage collection or snow removal or crime. Win field has a strong identity it is a night knit Community Spread out on curving treeline streets with beautiful homes. Its not unusual to see Something Like this. Tell me why this area has maintained itself in a way that other areas havent in philadelphia . Well, you have for instance the win field residence association, and its one of the oldest residential institutions in the city in the country. They have marched and walked and had block captains staying up all night with candles, candlelight marches, you have individual block clubs formed because of crime. Reporter the middle class is more diverse today than it was in the 1970s. Back then 74 of the population was white. Now blacks make up 42 of the middle class, but the general feeling here is theres a difference between white and black middle class. When you look at the Median Income it is such a wide gap from blacks to whites that you never catch up to what whites are making because you dont have those opportunities. Reporter income varies between white middle class and black middle class which neighborhood. In hereby rocks burrow a traditionally white middle class neighborhood the Median Income is 60,000. Larry studied this. He said even though there are more blacks in the middle class today, they dont have the same kinds of jobs as the white middle class. What some people in the black middle class will tell you is a lot of that is generated by Public Sector jobs and related jobs and some African American analysts and scholars will tell you they havent made as much progress in the private sector. Reporter some economists believe this makes it harder for black middle class citizens to climb the economic ladder or send their children to better schools. And some of the neighborhoods arent gentrifying, so their home values are depreciating. Austin says the resillance of this neighborhood is due in large part by the resilience of its residences. When you look at white neighborhoods, they may not be public publicized as much. They have the resources that often African American communities dont have and they have to work harder to get to that level. They may have a network of relatives who are judges and lawyers and indian chiefs where they can get things done where africanamericans may not have access to that community. Reporter the majority of black philadelphias worry about their standing in the middle class. 59 of black philadelphiians fear they will slip out of the middle class, some compared to 41 of white middle class americans. African American Community wealth i think over the last few years generally has gone up not as much as some communities, and were also seeing immigrant wealth going up as well. The biggest challenge is actually poverty. Were not only seeing that in the city but even poverty rising in the suburbs. So that has been an inner generational channinger. Reporter philadelphia poorer than in the 1970s. But alston says many people who left winfield in the past are starting to return and reinvest in their neighborhood. You see them moving back because of the taxes and blatant racism. These are middle class people who decided its much better to come back here and they are working to fight to make the School System better to make changes because they have that courage and that passion. Reporter ali velshi al jazeera. Next Artistic License gone too far. There is oscar buzz for the film selma, but historians are questioning its accuracy. More reporters. They dont have the resources to take the fight to al shabaab. More bureaus, more stories. This is where the typhoon came ashore. Giving you a real global perspective like no other can. Al jazeera, nairobi. On the turkeysyria border. Venezuela. Beijing. Kabul. Hong kong. Ukraine. The artic. Real reporting from around the world. This is what we do. Al Jazeera America. As the country commemorates Martin Luther king day, one of the most poignant dedications took place in selma, alabama. To honor dr. Kings birthday civil rights activists marched with Oprah Winfrey leading the way. She starred in the movie selma. Reporter these days 71yearold annie peril avery enjoys a stroll across the bridge in selma, but when she set off for a peaceful march in 1965 it was a starkly different scene. Protesters wanting to vote were met by armed police and annie not for the first time was arrested. Our real heros are the people who died. I could have gotten killed but im just saying i think it was a small contribution that i paid because other people paid more. We have people walking off of the street reporter what happened in selma during the 60s is deeply engrained in this community. Every year thousands come here to mark protests that lead to one of the most important pieces of legislation in u. S. History. Just months after marches were lead by dr. Martin luther king the Voting Rights act was passed. It changes the course of history for this country and the world. Reporter those changes are the subject of a new film that upset some. Some say the president was reluctant to pass those bills. What happened here has been universally praised by these people in selma. And arguments over perceived inaccuracies are simply overwhelmed by the achievement of ordinary men and women. Many of selmas residents were extras in the film. Its going to give us the opportunity to talk about it. Its kind of amazing to have the movie in selma. Its about selma, and its 50th anniversary in civil rights. Reporter for Annie Pearl Avery and the thousands of others who risked so much, this anniversary is not so much about the box office but more about the freedoms they fought for and won. Questions about accuracy is one controversy, the other is its lack of oscar nominations. Our next guest says the snub reflects a larger problem in hollywood that he calls shameful. You say shameful what do you mean . Well i think we cant exactly put our finger blame on the nominations, but an entire industry that doesnt hire women, hispanics or africanamericans in this enormously lucrative industry. If the image isnt produced by the same sort of patch work that makes up the country it is is going to be a very flawed image. The depiction of Lyndon Johnson and some of the inaccuracies there, may have contributed to the subs. Any truth to that . You never know. These people all fancy themselves movie experts and vote as they wish. Each of the smaller awards the nominations are put together by the people in that guild. Actors nominate actors directors nominate directors, but that said i think the movie industry also know movies are written in crayon they are black and white sometimes, and i think the portrayal of Lyndon Johnson representing the resist importance of the United States government is part of the movie, and theres lots of inaccuracies in movies. American sniper gives a very atenuated portrait of that character too. I had the opportunity to see selma this werent, and i thought the actor that portrayed Martin Luther king was simply brilliant. He also gave a great supporting performance in a most violent year. Which also got a snub. Last year four or five people of color were nominated in the top oscar categories and again, sometimes theres the luck of the draw. And of course we do have remember that selma was nominated for best picture. The director didnt get a best director nomination but she is the first African American woman to direct a movie that was nominated for best picture, and thats an extroerd neir achievement. The criticism that the academy itself is too white too old, and doesnt reflect the american public. How does that register as them . I think a lot of people in the arts think of themselves as good hearted liberals. Steve mcqueen narrowly lost out as best director so the academy can see look at what happened last year we had extraordinary nominations. Katherine biglow recently won best director so i think the academy would say, look its incredible possible that david came in sixth in the best director race. Its probably very likely and sometimes you know she was obviously in that top mix. So with some theres some cause for them to be a little bit defensive of this understandably. Bill thanks as always. We appreciate it. David, thank you. Finally about ten minutes after president obama delivers his state of the union speech freshmen senator will deliver the response. Six years ago after president obama first addresses a joint session of congress the pressure was on louisiana governor bobby jindal. Pundits compared him to mr. Rogers. Its a Beautiful Day in this neighborhood the next year the republican response came from newly elected Virginia Governor bob mcdonald. Im joined to share a republican perspective. Reporter he is now headed to prison after being convicted last year on corruption charges. In 2011, the tea Party Presented a response by michele bachmann. The tea party is a dynamic force. She looked into the wrong camera for her entire speech. In 2012, indiana governor was preparing a president ial campaign. Within weeks he decided not to run, and soon left politics completeny is. In 2013 it was a bad case of cotton mouth that sidetracked another up and coming star florida senator, marco rubio. Nothing has frustrated me more than the false choices the president laid out tonight. Reporter the pressure joni earnst is feeling could be enormous. She was a state senator until last year. She has no experience on the national stage, and rocketed to fame because of a political commercial. Im joni earnst i grew up castrating hogs on a iowa farm. Reporter instead of marks on tape earnst will be looking into a camera live with as many as 30 million americans watching. Is that a recipe for disaster . Perhaps, and given the g. O. P. Track record could the republican response really be cursed. Tune in tomorrow night after the president finishes his state of the Union Address. Thats our show for today. Ali is back tomorrow to kick off the state of the Union Coverage starting at 7 00 pm eastern time. For everybody here at real money, thanks for watching. Hi everyone this is al Jazeera America, im John Siegenthaler in new york. Yemen unrest. New attacks on the government. State of the union, the issues the politics the president sets the table for his final two years. Martin luther king, remembering an icon as the struggle continues. American sniper, the film shattering records and the