I guess the 787 billion was not enough. God help us! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_jobs WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama outlined new multibillion-dollar stimulus and jobs proposals Tuesday, saying the nation must continue to "spend our way out of this recession" until more Americans are back at work. Without giving a price tag, Obama proposed a package of new spending for highway, bridge and other infrastructure projects, deeper tax breaks for small businesses and tax incentives to encourage people to make their homes more energy efficient. "We avoided the depression many feared," Obama said in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. But, he added, "Our work is far from done." For the third time in a week, Obama sought to focus on job creation, noting that the unemployment rate was still at 10 percent in November, though down slightly from its 10.2 percent peak. He said "a staggering" 7 million Americans have lost jobs since the recession began two years ago. While his proposal did not include the kind of direct federal public works jobs that were created in the 1930s, he said government could set the stage for more job creation by private businesses. A major part of his package is new incentives for small businesses, which account for two-thirds of the nation's work force. He proposed a new tax cut for small businesses that hire in 2010 and an elimination for one year of the capital gains tax on profits from small-business investments. Obama also proposed an elimination of fees on loans to small businesses, coupled with federal guarantees of those loans through the end of next year. He called for more government spending on infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges and water projects and for new tax breaks for consumers who invest in energy-efficient retrofits in their homes. This could be what some administration officials have called a "Cash for Caulkers" program modeled on the now-expired Cash for Clunkers program of tax rebates for people who turned in old cars for more fuel-efficient models. The administration also is eyeing ways to get money still not spent in the $787 billion stimulus bill passed last winter into projects more quickly. Obama did not characterize his new proposals as another stimulus program like that mammoth measure, but Republican critics have called it just that and have said it will increase a federal deficit that is already at a record level. Obama included sharp criticism for Republicans in his speech, accusing them of opposing economic stimulus efforts and his health care overhaul while supporting tax cuts and spending that have ballooned the deficit. He said that soon after taking office, he and congressional Democrats took "a series of difficult steps" to try to stabilize the financial system and pull the economy out of a deep recession. "And we were forced to take those steps largely without the help of an opposition party which, unfortunately, after having presided over the decision-making that led to the crisis, decided to hand it to others to solve." Obama did not say how much his proposals would cost, although congressional Democrats are eyeing a $70 billion package to help create jobs and to provide aid to hard-pressed state and local governments. Administration aides suggested that the part of the package dealing with roads, bridges and other infrastructure could total about $50 billion. While acknowledging increasing concerns in Congress and among the public over the nation's growing debt, Obama said critics present a "false choice" between paying down deficits and investing in job creation and economic growth. To pay for the new programs, the administration is citing the Treasury Department's report on Monday that it expects to get back $200 billion in taxpayer-approved bank bailout funds faster than expected. Obama suggested this windfall would both help the government spend money on job creation while also paying down the nation's debt, which now totals $12 trillion. Obama called the bank bailout, under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), "galling." "There has rarely been a less loved — or more necessary — emergency program," Obama said. The program is expected to go out of business at the end of this year unless extended by Congress. Since the program is costing taxpayers at least $200 billion less than expected, Obama said, "This gives us a chance to pay down the deficit faster than we thought possible and to shift funds that would have gone to help the banks on Wall Street to help create jobs on Main Street." But Republicans continued to insist that the leftover and repaid TARP money must be used exclusively for deficit reduction and not for a new jobs program. "The president's announcement is further proof that TARP has morphed from an emergency injection of liquidity to thaw frozen credit markets into a $700 billion revolving slush fund to promote the Democrats' political, social and economic agenda," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas. Obama said he is backing the measures he outlined because they "will generate the greatest number of jobs while generating the greatest value for our economy." "These targeted initiatives are right, and they are needed," he said.
in one sense he is correct... but the people spending our way out of a recession are not the politicians/government... its the consumers... and the best way to fix that problem is to fix jobs and put more money in the consumers pockets... this is the part he and the dems just DO NOT GET
Yeah but you know damn well he is not talking about consumers spending so we get out of the downturn; he wants to do the spending. The problem with stimulus is that in essence it is just recirculating money. Whatever they spend they have to take (someday) out of the hands from someone else that would of or could of spent it. I wrote this e-mail to a bunch of friends at the end of October and it still holds true. I'll cut and paste it here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_stimulus_jobs So I read this article and did a little math. I can’t believe no one else has done this yet (or if they have I didn’t see it) According to this article we are spending $787 billion tax dollars on this stimulus. So far the White House’s estimates 650,000 jobs have been either created or saved. That is their own estimate. Documented right here in the link above. Their goal is 3.5 million jobs by the end of the year. So getting back to the math $787 billion / 650,000 jobs = $1,210,769. So far our bang for the buck is $1.2 million dollars per job created or saved. Ouch! Let’s give the White House the benefit of the doubt and say they meet their goal of 3.5 million (Probably sometime in 2013). Now it will cost $2,248 per job created or saved. That is their goal! The US has 304 million people. $787 billion / 304 million people is $2,588 per person including every man women and child. You know darn well probably only 60-70% (my estimation) of the 304 million is actually paying taxes by the time you take out children, the disabled, the retired and the unemployed. That means if I take 70% (conservative) of the total US population I only come up with 212,800,000 actual taxpayers. Divide that into the 787 billion and it comes to $3,700 per taxpayer. So if you compare all these numbers….. Each taxpayer has to pay $3,700 to fund the stimulus but we only create one job per $2,448. Is this really the goal? And I believe that I gave the numbers a lot of help by giving them the benefit of the doubt. That is IF they reach their goal. I think that $3,700 of the money I earned, in my pocket, and spending it the way I want, would help the economy more than this mess. And at least it would be more American.
of course, don't get me wrong, i'm not defending him, in my eyes he's lining up right behind the worst president of the modern era and trying to beat him out for the job (Carter)... HE wants to do the spending so he can create his own little utopia... he's such an ideologue, there is no way to deny it... his direction for this country is BAD by BAD...
This isn't even "recirculating" money. It's PRINTING it.....and stamping on our children a promisory note tattoo....and their kids....and so on.....and so on. We better hope and pray America is as great in the future as we have been in the past. Or.....I see Hoover flags as the "norm" in my lifetime.
Spend our way out the recession? GOOD god. How about pay off some of our damn debt? OR how about doing the right thing and give money back to the hard working americans instead of allowing the federal government to spend our hard earned monies?
You can certainly spend your way out of a recession. That's no new concept. But the best way to get out of one is to have more people working (gotta think about the economic impact flow chart whenever a job is eradicated. It's astounding). If you're not making it more advantagous for employers to hire workers......you're missing the boat. The democrats run on NOT doing this. Their "tax the rich" strategy just won't work. The "rich" will simply go into a hole with their $$ and hoard them. And, they're the only ones who can afford to do that. Make it attractive for an entrepreneur to hire more workers.....and their entreprenurial spirit (and patriotism) will prevail. Ronald Reagan knew what he was doing.
The real question is, what would Eddie Salter say about our current state of affairs and the strategy that is being advocated the president to combat the problem?
Of course Obama would tout this. He must be feathering his kids future nests now as well. Because it's all a money funneling scheme. Just like every nation building debacle the government leaders have gotten this country into over the years. The money flows into pockets from the top down through the middle. I worked making forklifts where the company won a navy contract...prices tripled.
