WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to give anxious Democrats a boost ahead of the November elections, President Barack Obama is pitching a trio of economic initiatives Wednesday and voicing unwavering opposition to Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthy, an issue on which he’s looking to draw a stark contrast with Republicans.
The White House said the package of infrastructure investments and business tax incentives Obama was to outline during a speech in Cleveland is meant to put the economy on a path toward long-term growth while also allowing for some immediate job creation.
But with Washington’s already heated partisanship likely to escalate as the midterm elections approach, it’s uncertain whether Congress could pass any of the incentives in time to help the economy — and Democrats — before November.
Obama is asking Congress to consider three proposals:
— A $50 billion infrastructure investment to rebuild and repair the nation’s roads, railways and runways.
— A permanent extension of research and development tax credits for businesses.
— Tax breaks to let businesses quickly write off 100 percent of their spending on new plants and equipment through 2011.
Senior administration officials said the three proposals would be the full extent of new economic policies the president would announce before the midterms, eliminating the possibility of a pre-election freeze on payroll taxes, an idea supported by many businesses.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the president’s speech, said Obama would draw a contrast between his economic proposals and those of the GOP, going so far as to give his remarks in the same city where House Minority Leader John Boehner outlined the Republican economic agenda last month.
As he often does, Obama will paint Republican leaders as seeking a return to what he calls the failed economic policies of the past, singling out Boehner’s call to extend tax cuts for the wealthy that were enacted by former President George W. Bush.
Obama and Democrats have long said they want to renew the tax cuts only for households earning under $250,000 a year, a policy difference with Republicans that administration officials said Obama would portray as a difference in the parties’ values.
“This economy is not hurting people that make $800,000 a year,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. “It’s hurting families that are making $40,000 a year.
Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said the president‘s focus on the minority leader’s speech showed that the White House is out of touch with Americans and “in full panic mode about the November elections.”
Some of the proposals Obama was to outline Wednesday have enjoyed broad bipartisan support in the past. That creates a dilemma for Republicans, who could be forced to choose between handing the president legislative victories ahead of the election or saying no to ideas they’ve previously supported.
The White House made no apologies for unveiling its proposals during the contentious pre-election months.
“We understand what season we’ve entered in Washington,” Gibbs said. Even if Congress doesn‘t take up Obama’s new proposals before the elections, Gibbs said, “the president and the economic team still believe that these represent some very important ideas.”
Mindful of the public’s anger over the mounting federal deficit, the White House has carefully avoided calling the new economic proposals a stimulus plan, like the $814 billion economic package Congress passed last year.
Even with fresh proposals in hand, officials said the president would continue to prod the Senate to pass a bill that calls for about $12 billion in tax breaks for small businesses and a $30 billion fund to help unfreeze small business lending. Republicans have likened the bill to the unpopular bailout of the financial industry.
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Comments (90)
Azmodious
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:09amThis is what happens when a sleazy marxist lawyer who couldn’t run a stop and go is elected president.
Report Post »Skwerl
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:04amThere is so many nice things in Cleveland, I just wish it was let off the leash and go after the prosperity it is due. Its chained hand and foot with regulations and taxes- and the eternal blight that is Dennis Kucinich.
Report Post »The quasi-socialist Shambala on the banks of Lake Erie. Come for the flaming waters, stay for the taxed to death driven despair!
firethecommunityorganizer
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:02amEPIC FAIL:
http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/multimediafinal.html
Report Post »angelcat
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:56amWhy can’t he stay at the White House to do all his “selling” and save the taxpayers some money? I really think the man is addicted to the attention and doesn’t really like being home at the White House. Does he want to get away from his wife and mother-in-law?
Report Post »OHIO1
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:48amObama is preaching to his choir today
Report Post »City is a mess
Broke, dirty, crime ridden
Been controlled by Progressives 4-years
Unemployment is off the scale
Parts of city are unlivable
Lost so many jobs here, that latest downturn of economy was not even noticed
But they will vote for him, and Kusinich
Keep getting welfare checks
Never changes, Keep voting for Progressives,
Cleveland is your future
JJMinor
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:38amObama’s only real job is to try and convince Americans that Socialism really is the way to go. And we’re more than half way there. Oh, gosh, I can hardly wait until Comrade Obama re-invents the Soviet Dream. Way to Go America, you voted in a covert communist as your leader.
Report Post »firethecommunityorganizer
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:09amWe’re approaching the Confiscation Phase of the Soviet Dream. Involuntary Servitude comes after that.
Report Post »A Patriot
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:35amI thought he ran on a platform of “Change”. The only change I have seen is more socialized welfare programs, more socialized bailouts, and more of the failed Carter-Clinton doctrine. You cannot spend your way out of debt.
They say the economy is getting better. I sure cannot tell, nobody is building homes around here. Three of our four major car dealerships have folded and left town. Countless other small businesses have closed, our unemployment rate is over 10%. I am paying more in taxes than I ever have. I am paying more for insurance than I ever have. I am paying more for gas than I ever have.
Folks these same democrats say there is no oil in the Gulf of Mexico and the seafood is safe to eat. They even posed for a photo op in St. Andrews Bay, 50 miles away from the nearest oil slick to prove it. The dispersant Corexit is being found in the crab and shrimp larvae, along with oil. These are known carcinogens, but don’t you worry folks the seafood is safe.
Obamacare is going to bankrupt the nation. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida will not underwrite any new individual insurance plans for children.
If we don’t Take Back America in November our children will not have an America to grow up in. They will be indoctrinated into a Marxist Socialist New World Order.
Report Post »Debrabate
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:20amwant to stimulate the economy? Here is a RADICAL Idea:
how about you divide up the remaining balance of the unspent stimulus money equally among every living LEGAL US Citizen…. we are paying for it anyway
Give each of us $30,000 cash. For my family that would equal $180,000. that would be more than enough to get me spending again. Get us all out of debt so we can go back into debt again! Citizens are more than likely more responsible for thier money than the gov’t is.
I want some Obama-money too!
/sarcasm
STOP SPENDING MY MONEY!!!!!!!
Report Post »Promotefreedom
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 1:19pmWhat you propose is classic redistribution of wealth (Obama’s progressive agenda)… Almost half of the people getting $30,000 paid no taxes.
Report Post »Debrabate
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 2:08pmI know… hence the /sarcasm.
Report Post »Born2Run
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:07amTax write-offs on new plants and equipment to produce –what?
Who is going to work in these new plants, with all of the new equipment? We already have millions of people out of work not utilizing the equipment in existing plants.
Report Post »Promotefreedom
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 1:08pm“Tax write-offs on new plants and equipment to produce –what?”
It’s all made in China.
Report Post »Mike777
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 9:57amI‘d rather see Obama go on vacation again so he can’t hurt our country anymore.
Report Post »Beverly Barnum
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 9:54amIn order to fix a problem, you have to understand why the problem exists:
1. Financial markets, primarily fueled by Freddie and Fannie’s overreach to uncreditworthy borrowers collapsed. Detroit’s auto industry, largely fueled by union pensions/wages and poor product design faced bankruptcy.
2. State government worker and union pension funds, which had been allowed to operate like Ponzi schemes faced serious shortfalls.
3. Consumer spending, largely fueled by generous credit, slowed when credit became harder to obtain and people began to worry about debt. Consumers began to reduce their personal debt and save more and spend less. Business will not produce more until demand drives it and demand remains weak.
3. Rather than allow market forces to adjust the auto industry and the housing market and cause severe financial loss to some segments of the population) government stepped in to artificially prop them up.
4. All this was financed by government borrowing to levels never before imagined.
5. A power-mad and ideologically motivated Congress passed several huge bills, unread, and incomplete, requiring more regulatory agencies having to further define policy. Criteria which were already understood caused business to retrench, saving assets and to wait for more certainty and less destructive government policy to “fix”/repeal healthcare and the financial oversight bills. Reportedly over two trillion dollars are sitting on the sidelines waiting for certainty, favorable certainty of low taxes, less regulation and an atmosphere friendly to capitalism…not the certainty of Obama’s dream!
While this may be overly simplistic, you get the drift. It is my sincere belief that nothing this president can or will suggest will rectify the current situation because his policy is the problem. I am probably not alone in believing Obama, Pelosi and Reid, czars and presidential advisors are all working to collapse the current system and replace it with their form of benevolent socialism. To fix the problem, remove these people and return to free market principals and let people and business decide how to spend their own money, not government.
Report Post »Rickfromillinois
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 9:39amWhy in the wold would the people of Ohio want this clown to return to their state. Don’t they already have enough problems?
Report Post »senah
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 9:29amWow, I wish this prez would stay in his office and do some actual work. His GD face is on TV everyday. I’m sick of seeing this guy.
How about the Senators and Congressmen in the state of OHIO promote this crap. They are the ones who need to sign it off.
Report Post »StevenMitchell
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 9:20am“Obama will paint Republican leaders as seeking a return to what he calls the failed economic policies of the past”
-What is Obama going to do about his failing economic policies of the present?
Report Post »davejag
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:39amI, for one, would prefer to return to the “failed economic policies of the past”, simply because they were so much better than the completely dismall economic policies of the present.
Report Post »Beckofile
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 6:15pmSaid he can’t afford the pricetag of the tax break extension. Premis is wrong. The money does not belong to them. They spent the money before heisting it from you. Cut spending then they can afford to leave free people with the fruits of their own labor. Pretty easy!
Report Post »MercyMe
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 8:55amMore spending won’t change the fact that Obama and the other Dems have failed.
Fortunately the regular people of America understand this and more and more of us are coming to that realization everyday.
Report Post »jrichardson
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 8:33amThat is a joke what Gibbs said about tax cut hurting people that earn 40,000 a year. That would be the taxpayers that do not pay taxes anyway. When will congress get real and ensure the 47% of our country that don’t pay taxes start contributing? You shouldn‘t have a voice in our government if you don’t pay taxes, but oh wait, democrats would lose their base.
Report Post »wingedwolf
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 8:28amThe most intelligent man to ever sit in the oval office can‘t figure out that the reason no one is hiring is because we all know and well understand what govt’ takeover of our medical care is going to cost a business owner. He touts tax credits for this and tax credits for that and thinks that if he keeps it up we won‘t remember that those tax credit can and will be taken away at the messiah’s whim and you won’t be allowed to fire anyone without having to pay their bills for 4 years. READ THE BILL. IT’S IN THERE!!!!!!!! People, obama really thinks we ARE that stupid.
Report Post »amerikidd
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 8:23amIf I hear one more person ask “How are we going to PAY for a tax cut?” I think I will scream.
Report Post »chuchu12
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 8:22amIf this simple plan was enacted our economy would begin to recover in weeks
If congress and the president were to have a window period of 0% capital gains tax on any real estate purchased it would get the investors to let loose of some of the trillions of dollars they are sitting on and buy property which will create jobs.
* This should only be allowed for properties bought from the day it is passed moving forward for a window period of 3 months or 6 months or whatever. We should then analyze it and adjust the window as necessary. It should not be used for properties already owned because that would flood the market, we want people to want to buy instead of sell to create demand again so that prices will stabilize and consumers will begin to have confidence in their homes and begin to spend again to support the economy and create jobs.
* This should qualify for any buyer of any property whether it be an investment, owner occupied or commercial. The goal is to get the big investors with all their cash on the sidelines to start buying to stimulate the recovery and also to make it widespread so to have a quick effect. This will bring quick money into the treasury by quickly creating jobs and consumer confidence.
* The new property purchased should have no restrictions on when you sell it, if sold in 1 day, 1 year 10 years or 100 years it should be exempt from capital gains tax. This will be the quickest way to incentivize buyers, remember this is just a window period and we can adjust the window anytime either to avoid over heating or lack of desired results.
The largest commodity held by Americans is real estate and over the last 3 years as their home values dropped they lost confidence in their future. If home prices stabilize and slowly begin to increase again people will start regaining confidence, they will also hire builders, painters, landscapers, plumbers, Realtors, loan and mortgage officers etc. They will also spend on vacations, restaurants, new cars, etc. In my opinion, one mistake the current administration did was the cash for clunkers, why in the world would we incentivise people to put a monkey on their back in the form of a higher payment to purchase a depreciating asset when we could incentivise them to purchase property that typically can go up in value and then they would buy the car on their own along with other goods and services?
Another great reason to put the 0% window on the cap gains is because for all practical purposes there is no cap gains tax being collected now anyway because nobody is selling at a profit so there is little to lose and much to gain.
Also by doing this foreclosures will cease quickly and banks will begin lending again. Banks will realize that values have stabilized and not be so fearful of lending.
Sure, this will probably help the professional investor but most importantly it will create jobs for the guy who has to put food on the table for his children. We need to get the big money that the investors have buried back into the system and real estate is the best way because it will create a snowball effect of jobs.
Report Post »tisherself
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 8:07amIt’s going to take more then another campagain speech from Mr. Destructo to undo the damage this administration has done in the last two years. He’s a good campaigner but a lousy leader. November can’t come quick enough for me. Temporary infastructure jobs are not the answer. They are just Union paybacks. Try creating some long term jobs for the average Jane and Joe that wants to feed their familys and pay their bills.Let the Democrats keep sleeping with the Unions and the EPA regulators while they hand out their entitlement checks to the freeloaders Not everybody is content with government handouts. Those of us who would rather work for what we get, need LONG TERM JOBS and will vote for the GOP in Nov.
Report Post »annarondac
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 8:20amAgreed, good post.
Report Post »MercyMe
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 8:57amI agree completely.
Report Post »StupidWindmill
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:29amOh yes its very easy to agree with this.
However there is no such thing as a long term job.
Report Post »Porter
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 12:09pmRe: long term job, I have been at same job 38 years, is that long term?
Report Post »cemorela
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 12:21pm@stupid Is lifetime appointment long term?
Report Post »Navyee
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 1:25pmI think you sometimes forget how blind some people can be. Obama got to where he is because people could not see through the smoke and mirrors. And from what I can hear from some people is they still believe his garbage. Why you may ask? Because a lot of Americans are lazy and yes, don’t care about reading whole stories. They see thirty second news headlines and big online news headlines that make him sound good. And THEY BELIEVE. I don’t, I think he is going to take away our rights and make us a socialism. He is no better than the president of Sir Lanka.
Report Post »JJ Coolay
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 7:54amHIp hip hooray…let’s spend some more money!!!!!
Report Post »Freelancer
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 7:52amI live in Ohio and what a sad day it is for us. When this man appears, it degrades our state (more than it already has been). Cleveland is known as :The Mistake on the Lake” and deservedly so. But adding one mistake to another is adding insult to injury. It’s also known as “The Dirty City” so I guess he will fell right at home here.
Report Post »kralspaces
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 8:11amDo you guys still have a dog pound?
Report Post »Freelancer
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 8:21amThe Dawg Pound still exists but not too many people are all that enthused any more….
Report Post »Freelancer
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 8:22amKind of long but you will get the point. It’s worth the read.
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does.
You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits….. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
Report Post »Freelancer
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 8:31amP.S. I did NOT write this…. Someone named Charlie Reese did.
Report Post »independentvoteril
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 9:43amSo funny.. where is he getting the people to show up?? Even in his home town he has a hard time scraping up support.. The Dems have done such a BAD job here even the MAYOR is stepping down.. and OBAMA is going to try to insert RAHM just to get him away from him.. 80 years of DEMOCRATIC rule in the city they can’t even blame the REPUBLICANS..I have to say though that the people in CHICAGO are waking up.. last poll is both the MAYOR and PRESIDENT have over a 50% disapproval rating..
Report Post »Boldnfresh
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:39amThere will be a moment over the next 55 days when you will realize that the Obama Administration and the DNCC has had a plan so well put together that Agent Orange and his destroy the Middle Class gang will be cleaning out their offices.
By the way – I live in Ohio and you couldn’t even get a seat for this event because of the high numbers projected to turn out.
Report Post »StupidWindmill
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:25amMr. Reese argument is based on a generalization, therefore wrong.
Report Post »Beckofile
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 6:17pmIt’s only 5o Billion on the statest credit card for your kids to pay off. This is generational theft!
Report Post »Eagle07
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 7:50amCut all corporate welfare and give that money back to the people that might help. Oh wait if he does that he probably won’t be allowed to use their corporate jet during his next campaign.
Report Post »StupidWindmill
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:21amJust as long as he still bails out the banks.
Report Post »TomBurpee
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 7:45am“This economy is not hurting people that make $800,000 a year,” – Robert Gibbs
Uh, yeah it is, they‘re shedding jobs like nobody’s business. Hence is why the people making $40,000 a year are hurting. If you have no industry to spend the tax cut money on, then the economy will not move. Without a moving economy there are no jobs to produce material goods, and or perform services to consumers. It’s a vicious circle. Why the rich can’t have a tax cut, AS WELL AS the middle/lower class, I’ll never know.
It’s too complicated for most people who have attained or plan on attaining public office to understand I guess..
Report Post »StupidWindmill
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:19am…And yet amidst all of this as company profits go up, people‘s wages don’t.
Report Post »Lucci
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 1:53pmI remember, either during Bush 1 or Clinton, congress enacted a luxury boat tax to get those evil rich people. The result was the evil rich quit buying big boats and all the little people that buillt the boats lost their jobs.
Report Post »Mike Ivey 2010
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 7:44amthe stimulus was suppose to do that and yet a 3rd still has not been spent. Give me a break it is just more tax and spend
Report Post »ishka4me
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:29ami know this much, my pay has been exactly the same for 6 years. not sure why but take home pay is over $100 less every two weeks, probably because of insurance and government fees( i consider them taxes) i challenge anybody with same pay to compare take home pay now, and what it was before obama
Report Post »VRW Conspirator
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 12:09pmI can tell you this…hard facts about the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts…. My income taxes fell under both cuts and I am nowhere near the 250,000 level. So Obama and the Dumbocrats saying the Bush tax cuts were for the rich only…bite me….I dropped from a 32% bracket to a 28% bracket, that is a 4% raise to my income and with the marriage penalty dropping off and the increase in the child tax credit, I gained another 4% back from my pay. So Bush gave me an 8% pay raise and now Obama wants to let that all expire.
He says he will keep the tax breaks for those under the 250,000 limit but what they don’t tell you is that the Death tax repeal, marriage penalty, and child tax credit will NOT be kept!!
Report Post »skistowe
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 12:39pmAll politics. We can’t get rid of the “spenders” fast enough. Anyone out there know how much it costs us taxpayers every time POTUS feels like taking a spin on Air Force One? Is it just me, or does he seem obssessed with his office in the sky. He’s going to Ohio to politic for his troubled party and we all have to pay! I wonder how much it costs to fuel and staff that bird. Make your pitch from the DC and stop spending (borrowing) our damned money!
Report Post »Beckofile
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 6:00pmThey have always sold higher taxes on the rich but what they don’t tell you is that the middle class is really in the cross hairs. The rich bury it in their business and know ways to move it around and avoid high taxes. The middle class will recieve their W-2 just after the rich business owner was forced to be the hand of the tax man. He will send your money to the IRS while shielding his like a smart man. When you advocate taxing the rich then you will end up paying yourself. Oh forgot Obummer said we could not afford the 700B tax break for the rich. The problem is the argument is on its head. It was never the governments money in the first place. What he is really saying is the money has been spent before the heist has taken place. Just like any robber saying he needed to steal the money because the credit card bill had already arrived. Just can’t afford not to steal.
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