Obama's "Jobs for America"

Thursday September 8th, Obama gave his "Jobs for America" speech, in which, he proposed a new stimulus package along with various tax cuts.  If you are unfamiliar with his plan, you can click here.


There is a lot of doubt about whether this bill will pass, let alone pass the work, but personally, I think Obama is on the right track.  Obama's plan not only gets people to work, but it will also cut taxes.


The proposed plan is roughly around 447 Billion dollars.  A mix of $253 billion in tax cuts and $194 billion in new spending.  The tax plan will cut taxes for employees making less then $100,000.  Normally, these employees pay around 6.2%, but for this year, the taxes will only be 3.1%.  Obama is also asking for tax cuts on the payroll tax, essentially cutting them in half.  He is also proposing tax credits for employers that hire someone that has been unemployed for 6 months, or was a military veteran.  Also, if a business hires a new worker or gives an existing worker a raise, all payroll taxes will be waived.  

On the spending side of the plan, Obama wants extend unemployment benefits for people out of work, subsidized job training, modernize schools, build/repair freeways, rehire teachers and first responders.  He also wants an infrastructure bank.  


So, the plan sounds decent right?  It will at least give this stagnate economy a jolt, but the question is "how can we pay for this?".  Its a good question, and the answer Obama gave was we will NOT have to borrow for it.  Obama said this will be paid for by asking the super committee already charged with removing 1.2 trillion from the deficit, to asking them to now remove nearly 1.6 trillion dollars from the deficit, along with spending cuts elsewhere.  

Now that we have the money to do this, the next question should be will it work?  The answer for this will be debated, but the tax credits should defiantly get people back to work, along with infrastructure building.

The last question that should be asked is if it will even be passed, and this is where I have my doubts... The republican majority in congress will stall this for as long as possible, but Obama has given more tax cuts then spending.  Recently, the Republican party has tried to stop any new proposal given by Obama.  It seems like even if it was the best solution, the Republican party will shoot it down simply because it was Obama's idea.  Personally, I really hope this will bite the Republican party in the ass, congress is suppose to compromise, not wage war on their fellow members.  It also seems like the Republican party is the only party that is standing firm as to what they want.  I would like to see Obama stand up and say something along the lines of "I am the commander in chief, the American people elected me to this position, and you, the congress is stopping every piece of legislation I put forward.  I want to see this passed and passed now, for the sake of the American people, not for the sake of your political career."  I hope the American voting public realizes this.  Its not that Obama is a bad president, its that the Republican led congress is pulling everything it has to stop him from doing his job.  

Also, doesn't it seem undemocratic that super P.A.C.'s are able to give a congress member unlimited funding for their campaign?  Some super P.A.C.'s are making congress members sign a contract vowing to never raise taxes as long as they are in office?  Seems like total B.S. if you ask me... I guess it just shows the greed involved in congress these days.  They are not representing their people, they are representing the corporations funding their next election.  

Also, on a side note:  America is facing one hell of a debt problem, what is it now? 15 or so TRILLION dollars?  Now, if I was in that much debt, first off, I would stop spending so much of my money (spending cuts).  Secondly, I would GET ANOTHER JOB (raising taxes).  There is a problem with that second option, the republican party has been hijacked by the tea party, and the republican party has the majority in the House.  A lot of the republicans in office have accepted money from the super P.A.C.'s I talked about earlier and signed the "no new taxes" contracts.  Which means, unless the democrats can take back the house (which probably wont happen because the tea party has so much steam at the moment) we will never get that "second job", which also means we can never get our debt problem figured out.  

I guess if the American people don't realize this, and continue to vote for people who are basically selling their vote in congress for campaign money, then its sadly the government we deserve.  We have the ability to kick the corrupt members out of office, but if we choose not to, then its our fault.


That's all I have to say right now.
Tyler Anderson