Obama: Economic fix should also help Main Street (radio address)

[cal04]

Source: associated Press

Barack Obama urged the Bush administration and Congress to follow basic economic principles to return prosperity to not just Wall Street, but also Main Street.

In Saturday's Democratic radio address, the presidential nominee praised the efforts of Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to protect the well-being and savings of American families and help the financial markets avoid collapse.

"We need to help people cope with rising gas and food prices, spark job creation by repairing our schools and our roads, help states avoid painful budget cuts and tax increases, and help homeowners stay in their homes," said the Illinois senator. "And we must also ensure that the solution we design doesn't reward particular companies, or irresponsible borrowers or lenders, or CEOs, some of whom helped cause this mess."

Obama's remarks came the day after the Bush administration laid out a radical bailout plan with a breathtaking price tag — a takeover of a half-trillion dollars or more for worthless mortgages and other bad debt held by tottering institutions.

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ityr953buDYKd1fFoOZZnIW32aUAD93AH5480

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1. "avoid tax increases"? I know it's a bad idea to talk about

tax increases when you are running for president, but there is going to have to be massive tax increases. Surely we all know that.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Sure will.

And we can start by taxing the two out of three corporations in the US that pay no taxes every year. Then, we can roll back the estate tax. We can also roll back tax breaks for the wealthiest. Add a per transaction tax on all Wall Street transactions: stocks, bonds and commodities. We can make sure that any companies left standing thanks to direct government fiduciary intervention pay a stiff premium. We can raise the federal gas tax by one cent. We can enact a one cent VAT. We can re-enact taxes on luxury items like yachts and private jets, and stop the tax breaks on certain types of vehicles. We can enact certain taxes on the oil companies. We can close loopholes on executive compensation.

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3. That's right. Those who "made out like bandits" over the last eight years can

now shell out the cash to pay for these bailouts.

[bluedeminredstate]

5. All excellent ideas.

I hope Congress is sensible enough to do some or all of them.

Biden is right. The wealthy should feel it is their patriotic duty to pay taxes on their wealth.

:patriot:

[SahaleArm]

4. No they'll just inflate us into a Banana Republic, United States of Zimbabwe n/t

[Pale Blue Dot]

6. Sounds double-plus good!

"And we must also ensure that the solution we design doesn't reward particular companies, or irresponsible borrowers or lenders, or CEOs, some of whom helped cause this mess."

Has he read the proposal? That's ALL it does.

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7. Why doesn't he hammer his 6 core principles?

They're good and they need exposure and repetition.

[anitar1]

8. I totally disagree with Obama on this. It will be a worse

disaster than holding the banks accountable and letting them slide. Instead they want to put all of this on the backs of the taxpayer. Just think about it. Read William Greiders' column , currently featured on the greatest page today.

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9. Exactly. Hence my post above.

The 6 principles of reform he proposed are mostly about accountability. Not sure his team is on target about this one...

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10. Obama's address (video) on CNN

In the weekly Democratic radio address, Sen. Barack Obama says "we can truly reform our broken economy.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/20/campaign.wrap/index.html#cnnSTCVideo