Barack Obama: As President Of The United States? Part V: The Economy

  Moving right along, we next look at Senator Obama's plans to deal with the economy, which are pretty nifty if he can pull it off as the President. This post covers Obama's plan at a glance with more details to follow.

“I’m in this race to take those tax breaks away from companies that are moving jobs overseas and put them in the pockets of hard working Americans who deserve it. And I won’t raise the minimum wage every ten years – I will raise it to keep pace so that workers don’t’ fall behind. That is why I am in it. To protect the American
worker. To fight for the American worker.”
-- Barack Obama, Speech in Des Moines, IA, November 10, 2007

BARACK OBAMA’S PLAN TO STRENGTHEN THE ECONOMY
AT A GLANCE
Taxes
Obama will cut income taxes by $1,000 for working families to offset the payroll tax they pay.
Trade
Obama believes that trade with foreign nations should strengthen the American economy and create more American jobs.  He will stand firm against agreements that undermine our economic security.
Technology
Obama will encourage the deployment of the most modern communications infrastructure to reduce the costs of health care, help solve our energy crisis, create new jobs, and fuel our economic growth.
Labor
Obama will strengthen the ability of workers to organize unions.  He will fight for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.  Obama will ensure that his labor appointees support workers’ rights and will work to ban the permanent replacement of striking workers.  Obama will also increase the minimum wage and index it to inflation to ensure it rises every year.
Home Ownership
Obama will crack down on fraudulent brokers and lenders.  He will also make sure home buyers have honest and complete information about their mortgage options, and he will give a tax credit to all middle-class homeowners.
Bankruptcy Reform
Obama will reform our bankruptcy laws to protect working people, ban executive bonuses for bankrupt companies, and require disclosure of all pension investments.
Credit Cards
Obama will establish a five-star rating system so that every consumer knows the risk involved in every credit card.  He also will establish a Credit Card Bill of Rights to stop credit card companies from exploiting consumers with unfair practices.
Work-Family
Obama will double funding for after-school programs, expand the Family Medical Leave Act, provide low- income families with a refundable tax credit to help with their child-care expenses, and encourage flexible work schedules.

 THE PROBLEM
Wages are Stagnant as Prices Rise
While wages remain flat, the costs of basic necessities are increasing.  The cost of in-state college tuition has grown 35 percent over the past five years.  Health care costs have risen four times faster than wages over the past six years.  And the personal savings rate is now the lowest it’s been since the Great Depression.
Tax Cuts for Wealthy Instead of Middle Class
The Bush tax cuts give those who earn over $1 million dollars a tax cut nearly 160 times greater than that received by middle-income Americans.  At the same time, this administration has refused to tackle health care, education and housing in a manner that benefits the middle class.

BARACK OBAMA’S PLAN
Provide Middle Class Americans Tax Relief
Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families:  Obama will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need.  Obama will create a new “Making Work Pay” tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family.  The “Making Work Pay” tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans.
Simplify Tax Filings for Middle Class Americans:  Obama will dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes.  Obama will ensure that the IRS uses the information it already gets from banks and employers to give taxpayers the option of pre-filled tax forms to verify, sign and return.  Experts estimate that the Obama proposal will save Americans up to 200 million total hours of work and aggravation and up to $2 billion in tax preparer fees.
Trade
Fight for Fair Trade:  Obama will fight for a trade policy that opens up foreign markets to support good American jobs.  He will use trade agreements to spread good labor and environmental standards around the world and stand firm against agreements like the Central American Free Trade Agreement that fail to live up to those important benchmarks.  Obama will also pressure the World Trade Organization to enforce trade agreements and stop countries from continuing unfair government subsidies to foreign exporters and
non-tariff barriers on U.S. exports.
Amend the North American Free Trade Agreement:  Obama believes that NAFTA and its potential were oversold to the American people.  Obama will work with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to fix NAFTA so that it works for American workers.
Improve Transition Assistance:  To help all workers adapt to a rapidly changing economy, Obama would update the existing system of Trade Adjustment Assistance by extending it to service industries, creating flexible education accounts to help workers retrain, and providing retraining assistance for workers in sectors
of the economy vulnerable to dislocation before they lose their jobs.

( to be continued )

Part IV: HEALTHCARE

Part III: ETHICS

Part II: ETHICS

Part 1

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, NAFTA, Bankruptcy Reform, wages

Philadelphia Housing Director Punished By The Republican Leaders?

  I've spent the last few days in court so I have gotten behind on the latest issues of the day. Time to play catchup, a little.

  WaPo

After Philadelphia's housing director refused a demand by President Bush's housing secretary to transfer a piece of city property to a business friend, two top political appointees at the department exchanged e-mails discussing the pain they could cause the Philadelphia director.

"Would you like me to make his life less happy? If so, how?" Orlando J. Cabrera, then-assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, wrote about Philadelphia housing director Carl R. Greene.

"Take away all of his Federal dollars?" responded Kim Kendrick, an assistant secretary who oversaw accessible housing. She typed symbols for a smiley-face, ":-D," at the end of her January 2007 note.

Cabrera wrote back a few minutes later: "Let me look into that possibility."

HUD has argued publicly that this decision was not related to the demands by HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson that Greene turn over a $2 million vacant city lot to Kenny Gamble, a friend of Jackson's. HUD officials have said that Greene was not punished for his defiance.

But Greene and the Philadelphia authority have accused HUD and Jackson in a lawsuit of fabricating problems in the authority's performance as a way to retaliate against Greene.

The e-mails suggest that HUD leadership sought to punish Greene by threatening the authority's funding. What is not explicitly said in the e-mails is why.

  This would be President Bush and his cronies attempting to screw over not just another individual who won't tow the party line, but the people who are living in the housing.  Just to see how fast Bush's boys went on the attack, there is this:

On the date these e-mails were sent, HUD notified the housing authority that it had been found in violation of rules requiring that 5 percent of housing be accessible to disabled residents. The department later argued that because the authority refused to acknowledge it was in violation and to agree to a specific remedy, it was in violation of a broader agreement that put $50 million in federal funding in jeopardy.

  The Republican criminals waste no time trying to discredit anyone who does not bow down to them when it comes to the President and his boys making a little extra cash. Cash is king with this group of hoods, and everyone else and anything else means nothing to them.

  Copies of the emails were sent to Senators Arlen Specter (R) and Robert Casey Jr. (D) of Pennsylvania, and they were both urged to have Jackson and his cohorts explain their reasoning.

Casey said that he has "serious questions" about the e-mails and that "80,00 low-income Philadelphians deserve answers."

"This is the kind of stuff you read about in novels, not what you expect from government officials," Greene said in an interview. "It would appear they would carry out a vendetta against me even if it means damage to an entire city."   Read More

  Can we begin impeachment actions against all of the Bush Crime Syndicate members yet?

Technorati Tags: HUD, Philadelphia, Kim Kendrick, Alphonso Jackson, Arlen Spector, George Bush