Let’s start with the highlights of the Obama jobs plan and then proceed to my thoughts.
Obama talked about workers having a decent salary and good benefits. He spoke about people looking for work and barely getting by. He stated that the recovery would be driven by our businesses and our workers. He stated that he wants all small business owners payroll taxes cut in half. He stated that he wants to modernize our schools. He stated that he wants to improve our infrastructure. He stated that he wants to put our teachers back to work. He stated that he wants to give extra tax credits to companies that hire our veterans. He stated that he wants to put our disadvantaged young people back to work. He stated that he wants a $4000 tax credit for hiring someone who has been out of work for more than six months. He stated that he wants to extend unemployment benefits for another year. He stated that he wants to give the working family a $1500 dollar tax cut next year. He stated that he wants to increase spending cuts to finance his American Jobs Act. He stated that we must reform Medicare and Medicaid in order to preserve these two important Entitlement programs. He stated that he wants tax reform. He stated that he wants to eliminate corporate tax loopholes and tax deductions and use those funds to finance the lowering of all corporate taxes. He stated that he wants to reward companies that create jobs in the US. He stated that he wants to eliminate tax loopholes for oil companies and use those funds to give small business owners a tax credit. He stated that he wants to eliminate tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires and use those funds to put teachers back to work. He stated that he wants to eliminate the barriers that prevent new companies from raising capital. He stated that he wants to help home owners refinance their mortgages. He spoke about trade agreements with Canada, Columbia and South Korea. He stated that he wants to review and reduce government regulations. He stated that he advocates collective bargaining and pollution standards.
Here is my opinion:
As I listen to all the complaints about Obama’s job proposal, I have to wonder exactly what the Republicans want. Ironically the Republicans are criticizing Obama for not coming up with some unknown new bold plan. They blame Obama for the aftermath of a deep recession that started in during the years George W Bush was President of the United States. If the lack of economic recovery is Obama’s fault, then the deep recession is Bush’s fault. That’s only fair.
Obama warned everyone that this recovery would be slow and painful. One cannot claim Obama’s stimulus package was a failure without acknowledging that the Bush tax cuts also were a miserable failure during this recession. One cannot claim that the American Jobs Act won’t be successful without acknowledging that the Republican jobs plan will also fail. Republicans claim that Obama’s stimulus package only provides temporary relief from the deep stubborn recession. History has proven that the Republican method of recovering from a recession only provides temporary relief.
The Democrats don’t like the fact that Obama caved in to Republican demands. The Republicans don’t want to finance tax cuts. They apparently want to continue to give freebies to the rich and abandon the unemployed and the poor.