Obama Continues To Target Wall Street, Help Mainstreet (Weekly Address)

Sources: Whitehouse.gov, Youtube

Pundits Rate Pres. Obama's Jobs "Bail Out" Plan...No Price Tag

President Obama unveils Jobs plan, no price tag


President Barack Obama laid out a slate of job-creating ideas in a speech at the Brookings Institution Tuesday – a sort of “stimulus lite” — but carefully avoided saying how much the new plans would cost.

Obama touted the success of his stimulus and economic recovery efforts so far this year and endorsed a series of new ideas, including tax cuts for small business, new infrastructure spending on highways, rail and other projects, and a so-called “cash for caulkers” program that would give rebates to people who retrofit their homes to be more energy efficient.

Obama’s remarks represent a sort of political doubling down on the idea of federal stimulus spending. Indeed many of the ideas he mentioned are extensions of or additional funding for, items that were included in his $787 billion stimulus package earlier in the year.

It comes at a moment in which Republicans have been gaining political traction with the voter anger over bailouts and deficits in Washington. And Obama’s speech comes as he prepares to host Democratic and Republican leaders from both chambers of Congress at the White House Wednesday to discuss jobs and the economy, two sources familiar with the meeting told POLITICO. The meeting is scheduled for 11 a.m. and is expected to last 50 minutes.

“Our work is far from done,” Obama said. “For even though we have reduced the deluge of job losses to a relative trickle, we are not yet creating jobs at a pace to help all those families who have been swept up in the flood.”

Obama called the more than 7 million Americans who have lost their jobs since the recession began a “staggering figure” and a “continuing human tragedy.”

“It speaks to an urgent need to accelerate job growth in the short term while laying a new foundation for lasting economic growth,” he said.

But the president did not say how much all this will cost.

Instead, he sought to remind voters about how dire the economic picture was when he took office, reminiscing about briefings he got from his economic team soon after he was elected. And he joked about the scale of the problem that landed on his plate: “Having concluded that it was too late to request a recount,” he said, “I tasked my team with mapping out a plan to tackle the crisis on all fronts.”

In a conference call with reporters before the speech, senior administration officials also avoided offering any specific price tag for the new effort. The official said the reduced cost of bank bailouts gives them as much as $200 billion in additional “fiscal room” for spending and reducing the projected deficit, which was calculated assuming that the government would spend the entire $700 billion allocated to TARP.

The only detail on the financial wallop of the president’s plan today came from a senior administration official who said that the president’s ideas on infrastructure would cost “in the range of $50 billion,” meaning the total cost of the jobs package would likely be multiples of that amount.

Obama’s comments met with harsh criticism from Republicans on Capitol Hill. “Now, with unemployment at 10 percent, the President proposes another special interest slush fund using ‘savings’ from the TARP program. This is absurd,’ said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). “TARP should be shut down as soon as possible and any unused funds should be returned to taxpayers by reducing our $1.4 trillion deficit.”

The White House said the president has a variety of ideas in each category, including five different proposals to help small businesses. “It is so important that we help small business struggling to open, or stay open, during these difficult times.” Obama is calling for a one-year elimination of the tax on capital gains from new investments in small business stock, and the extension of a stimulus bill provision that allows small businesses to immediately expense up to $250,000 of qualified investment.

And the president would like to see another provision extended that accelerates the rate at which business can deduct the cost of capital expenditures. Obama also proposed a short-term tax incentive to encourage small business hiring and eliminating fees for businesses that take Small Business Administration loans in 2010.

Within the infrastructure category, Obama called for spending on highways, transit, rail, aviation and water. “These are needed public works that engage private sector companies, spurring hiring across the country,” Obama said. He also said that the first stimulus bill – known as the Recovery Act – is just hitting its stride going into 2010. “What this means is that we’re going to see even more work – and workers – on Recovery projects in the next six months than we saw in the last six months,” Obama said.

And within the clean energy category, Obama said he would like to see rebates for consumers who make energy efficiency retrofits – which has become known as “cash for caulkers.” That plan, he said, “creates jobs, saves money for families, and reduces the pollution that threatens our environment.”

Obama said that even as he announces plans for new spending, he is striving to be fiscally responsible. He took the opportunity to remind voters how high the deficit was when he was inaugurated -- $1.3 trillion. “And I’d note: these budget busting tax cuts and spending programs were approved by many of the same people who are now waxing political about fiscal responsibility while opposing our efforts to reduce deficits by getting health care costs under control,” Obama said. “It’s a sight to see.”



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Sources: Politico, Google Maps

Pres. Obama Spells Out Jobs "Bail Out" Program (Infrastructure)...2nd Stimulus Plan

Highlights from Pres. Obama's Jobs "Bail Out" Speech.

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US Commerce Secretary discusses Pres. Obama's Jobs "Bail Out" plan.

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President Obama outlines measures that will "generate the greatest number of jobs" and stimulate the economy.

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Pres. Obama outlines bailout for Main Street


President Barack Obama outlined new mult-ibillion-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.



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Sources: MSNBC, CNBC, Google Maps