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Obama unveils $450 billion plan to spur jobs

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Obama to appeal for $450 billion plan to spur jobs

More of the same that will have the same result - continued deficits and exploding debt, and an economy running headlong towards a double-dip recession. Last year he announced "Recovery Summer" and it never happened. The president has convened a joint session of Congress for the sole purpose of kicking off his re-election campaign.

Republicans and a handful of Democrats will not support Obama's doubling down on the same policies that have already failed to bring America on track to a sustainable recovery.

White House officials said Obama would formally send his plan — coined by the administration as the American Jobs Act — to Congress next week

Wow, he has a plan? Now that is news!

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

I would not want that job.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

He makes a speech but doesn't tell specifically how he will pay for it. This speech could have been done from the Oval Office, and did not need the ceremony of a joint session of Congress.

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"Nearly 80% of people think the country is headed in the wrong directon"

How could this possibly be? I mean, sure, the Republicans have control of the House, but the Democrats have control of the White House and the Senate...

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"He makes a speech but doesn't tell specifically how he will pay for it."

Hawaii: He said that he wants more cuts, even cuts in entitlement spending, something his own party opposes.

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What to do? What to do? The republicans LOVE tax cuts but they simply must to oppose Pres. Obama. It's their mandate. This may cause boehner's head to explode. No...we're not that lucky.

Taka

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Interestingly, despite winning the House on promises of creating jobs, the first jobs plan to be revealed comes from a Democrat and it even has some of those sweet, sweet tax cuts the Right loves so much... and yet, they're still somehow not satisfied.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Whatever happened to "95% ( of Americans ) will get a tax cut"?

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The National Review has an interesting article titled "Labor Leaders Tell Obama: Stop Killing Jobs."

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Paul: Yeah, how much? He has never put a specific plan on paper that details actual numbers on how entitlements will be cut. We have heard all of this before during the debt ceiling debate.

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Wolfpack: More of the same that will have the same result - continued deficits and exploding debt,

So it looks like when Obama does agree to tax cuts Republicans focus on the debt, and when he proposes raising taxes to pay for the debt then he's a job killer. I'm guessing that will be the double position from Republicans.

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Let me get this straight: We're cutting FICA again, the primary source of Social Security funding, to stimulate the economy. In order to provide political cover, we're going to fund the lost income from these cuts back into the Social Security system out of general revenues (derived from income taxes, which 51% of our population doesn't pay), whose pot is already $14T short of having enough in it to cover our existing bills. W. T. F.???

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Wolfpack: "Wow, he has a plan? Now that is new!"

Not really. What would be new is if Republicans actually consider it before saying 'no' simply because it's Obama (and the Dems) suggesting it.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

I heard the speech. It sounds good, but I have to ask: Why bring up this now? If this plan has bipartisan items in it, why did it take so long to bring it out?

Some of the things sound good, but I seem to have heard them before. If he would have come out this boldly say in 2010, I think he would be in a better position than he is in now.

But I hope it works out. Now what he has to do is get rid of his healthcare plan. For all of the taxes he is saying that this plan will give, there will be new taxes that are required under Obamacare.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I have Cerebral Palsy and am prone to many things. I can't work full-time and am currently not working. Since SSDI will go broke faster because of this "jobs plan" should I just crawl in a corner and wait to die. I'm only half-joking :(

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Let me get this straight: We're cutting FICA again, the primary source of Social Security funding, to stimulate the economy.

Yup, that's the case. The US is in a liquidity trap, and the only way out of that is to stimulate demand. This can be done by federal spending (states being unable to run deficits) , which Obama proposes be directed primarily at education (which again will take a burden off state budgets), or by putting money into the hands of those most likely to spend it: average working Americans; and since they pay a far higher proportion of their income into FICA than do wealthy Americans, they will receive a benefit proportionally higher to their incomes. Plus, the tax holiday on employers hiring new workers, as it is temporary, encourages them to hire rapidly. Sweet, eh?

...we're going to fund the lost income from these cuts back into the Social Security system out of general revenues...

Nope, that's not the case. This will bring the "day of reckoning" for SS forward by a year or so, perhaps to 2034, but that's far enough over the horizon that it makes sense to utilize its resources to help overcome the present crisis.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

This can be done by federal spending (states being unable to run deficits) , which Obama proposes be directed primarily at education (which again will take a burden off state budgets),

The borrowed money from our future generations runs out in two years, the states will once again be left holding the bag and have to either raise taxes to make up for the loss of money or slash budgets their budgets yet again.

Plus, the tax holiday on employers hiring new workers, as it is temporary, encourages them to hire rapidly. Sweet, eh?

Employers think long term not short term. And armed with the knowledge that the tax rate is just going to go back up again in the near future and along with the fact this plan adds another 450 billion in debt on top of the debt we already have accrued through the first go round of Obama's stimulus, they are not going to throw out the "Now Hiring" sign on the front door anytime soon even if this passes.

This will bring the "day of reckoning" for SS forward by a year or so, perhaps to 2034, but that's far enough over the horizon that it makes sense to utilize its resources to help overcome the present crisis.

Our kids will appreciate the noble sacrifices we are making now to ensure their happy retirement in 2033.

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Everybody wants something whether its jobs or entitlements, but no one wants to speak the cold reality. 1) a vast majority of the unemployed are unemployed because they are unemployable -- they lack the skills needed in this economy. You waste your time getting a degree in Psychology, History and the like and be prepared ot move back in with Mom & Dad. 2) Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is a Ponzi scheme at best, but its reality they are just a handout. The reality is if you work for 40 years and contribute to SSI, at the current payout rate you receive all of it back plus 8% interest in approximately five years -- after that, its just a welfare payment. BTW, 8% is about what you would receive from an Indexed Stock Fund over the same period.

Americans need to place more emphasis on useful educational skills, take care of their bodies (and stop eating like every meal is Thanksgiving), save more of their income and stop buy all that crap at Wal-mart...

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Another speech. Just what we needed. this president is in love with the sound of his own voice, He is taking the party over a cliff.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Americans. Borrow then Spend, Borrow then Spend, Borrow then Spend.

Then we'll constantly complain and blame everyone else for our lack of discipline, impatience and greed.

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My post above is referring to the American government.

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I don't see how Social Security or any other social program is an "entitlement" when Americans pay taxes that fund these programs. Did any of you ever think that these "entitlements" would be solvent if the Feds didn't steal from these funds?

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The borrowed money from our future generations runs out in two years, the states will once again be left holding the bag and have to either raise taxes to make up for the loss of money or slash budgets their budgets yet again.

Thank heavens you're not a doctor, Sailwind: "Don't bother with the blood transfusion, nurse; he's just going to have to make his own blood in a few days anyway." You're also not much of an economist, apparently not understanding the meaning of "stimulus."

Like Rick Perry saying "Don't spend all the money," there is a misperception that money is somehow like gold, that it is finite and some given away now necessarily leads to less held afterward. Money is simply a tool used to simplify and stimulate the real economy, which is the use of resources to create things of value. The longer millions of potentially productive Americans are out of work due to imperfections in a market economy, the greater grows the damage to that economy over the long run. There has never been a case so typifying penny-wise, pound-foolish.

Employers think long term not short term.

Actually, they think medium term - what with us all being dead in the long term - but they also think short term. And they certainly put the deficit rather far down on their list of concerns; remember, this crisis began during the Bush "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter" Administration. Comments on the Web from businesses are mostly positive: the expectation that the economy has reached bottom, that unemployment will gradually fall, that more spenders will appear with more dollars to spend - that is what will create hiring, the expectation that demand is there and the requirement to ramp-up to meet it - not any long-term, fantastic vision of government debt or deficit.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The best thing the Government can do to help the economy is to do nothing at all. Government can't create jobs. Besides, unless the US begins manufacturing again, then it has no future.

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So for us to get the special Obama Laser Focus again costs $450B?

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What ever happened to his high speed train plan?

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I think the high speed train construction, to design their own train and build the infrastructure for it, would create a lot of jobs.

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The US is too big for high speed rail to be effective, isn't it?

And I also heard it's one small step from mass-transit to communism...

Heh, but they were the same cranks that call Mr Obama a neo-marxist...

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Not in the mega-corridors, Madverts - the east and west coasts. How many people fly between, say, LA and San Jose daily, then have to rent a car and deal with the mess at the airport? - a lot. Many of these would go for the train, I'd bet. It'll probably never happen, though. If cheap synthetic air fuel is developed, that probably won't lead to problems; if it is not and fossil fuel prices surge through the roof, it will be too late. Looks like the US is betting on the latter.

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SuperLib: So it looks like when Obama does agree to tax cuts Republicans focus on the debt, and when he proposes raising taxes to pay for the debt then he's a job killer.

Growing the economy is the only way to eliminate huge annual deficits and reduce the ballooning debt under President Obama. Raising taxes does not grow the economy; if it did, Europe would be in the middle of an economic boom rather than a sovereign debt meltdown. Cutting the tax that is paid for Social Security is misguided as well because it contributes further to the coming insolvency of the program. Everything the man proposes is exactly backwards when it comes to improving the economy and the nations budget outlook. Obama has taken an economy that economists say was recovering before his stimulus plan was implemented in 2009 to where last month there was zero job growth.

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smithinjapan: Not really. What would be new is if Republicans actually consider it before saying 'no' simply because it's Obama (and the Dems) suggesting it.

Why should conservatives (notice I didn't say Republicans) consider President Obama's latest plan? His idea is to repeat the failed 2009 stimulus but at roughly half the size. He is just replaying the same failed Kenysian ideas that has America on the precipice of a double dip recession but with vastly expanded annual deficits and accumulated debt. Obama is so tied to his ideology of spreading the wealth and punishing success that he is willing to drag the country into an extended economic malaise just to avoid giving Republicans any credit for an economic revival. Obama is a slow learner and incapable of adjusting his actions during a crisis.

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Obama has taken an economy that economists say was recovering before his stimulus plan was implemented in 2009 to where last month there was zero job growth.

Oh, Wolfpack, you just made me spit coffee on my monitor laughing! Please name one - ONE - economist that said that.

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Laguna

You've evidently never heard the saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

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The US is too big for high speed rail to be effective, isn't it?

And I also heard it's one small step from mass-transit to communism...

Heh, but they were the same cranks that call Mr Obama a neo-marxist...

Not in the mega-corridors, Madverts - the east and west coasts. How many people fly between, say, LA and San Jose daily, then have to rent a car and deal with the mess at the airport?

No offense, but what do you intend to all the Private for profit small commuter airlines employees after you put them out of business?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Sorry, USNin, I'm more familiar with the Bush version:

Fool me once shame on.. shame on you… eh.. um.. a fooled man can’t get fooled again.

Whatever. Social Security has worked for well over a half century and, with some tweaking, is set to work for another century more. Those trying to fool are those who do not like government to have a hand in the social welfare of Americans, so this is one case where I agree with Bush: shame on them.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Whatever. Social Security has worked for well over a half century and, with some tweaking, is set to work for another century more.

Good points, Laguna.

For all the invocation by the candidates of the name of Ronald Reagan, you never once heard the late Mr. Reagan refer to Social Security as a "Ponzi scheme." In fact, when tweaks were needed, Mr. Reagan convened a blue ribbon commission to make the necessary adjustments.

The very simple fact of the matter is that this new crop of loony, far-right-wing Republicans have never wanted Social Security to succeed in the first place. It goes against their ideology.

A critical fork in the road was reached during the campaign of 2000: Both candidates claimed to want to ensure that Social Security would be viable for the next century by wise use of the massive projected surpluses. Vice President Gore rightfully predicted that the humongous tax cuts proposed by then-governor Bush would make it impossible for the federal government to maintain a surplus. Indeed, The New Republic knew that Mr. Bush was lying because Bush himself regarded the surplus as an "overpayment" that had to be returned immediately to the taxpayers -- forgetting all about the large national debt. Bush couldn't possibly maintain a surplus, give large tax cuts, AND keep Social Security safe the way he was promising the American people.

The point is this: the Republicans under Bush and both houses of Congress purposely launched massive spending programs and started wars without paying for them in order to drive up massive deficits again -- because that was the only way to manufacture a "crisis" with Social Security. The very same way they wanted to manufacture a crisis that led to the lowering of the United States credit rating. These people absolutely despise our American form of government, wanting to return it to some mythical state of the past.

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How could this possibly be? I mean, sure, the Republicans have control of the House, but the Democrats have control of the White House and the Senate

Because all money related issues have to start from the congress with a bunch of newly elected morons-Tea Party extreme right wingers.

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What's really saddening was to hear mitch mcconnell reject Pres. Obama's job proposal before he had even heard it.

It was straight "party of no." No thought for the American people, just anti-Obama. These people should be jailed.

Taka

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"These people should be jailed"

So much for freedom of speech :-D

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780 billion here, 4 trilllion added to the national debt in 2 years, another 450 billion here, and pretty soon you are talking about a lot of cashola.

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So much for freedom of speech :-D

They dont speak for all of us in the Democratic Party.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I think the high speed train construction, to design their own train and build the infrastructure for it, would create a lot of jobs

The first appropiatioin for a high speed train occured in America back around 1968 when it passed the Highspeed Rail Act, and gave $8 billion dollars to it (that's a lot of money in 1968). What have we gotten from it, nothing. Every since then, it has been used as a rallying cry to get more money to the railroads in order to get more construction jobs and build up these so called lines. In reality, nothing has been done. The money is used to fund "studies" and used to pay off other political capital.

Then every so many years when the American public forgets, they ask again, also on the state level.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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