Barack Obama's latest proposals will only bolster the right's dominance in Washington.

[another saigon]

Too late and way too little

http://socialistworker.org/print/2010/09/08/too-late-and-way-too-little

September 8, 2010

THE FEEBLE inaction of the Obama administration in the face of one of the worst unemployment crises in the last 75 years could be summed up with two numbers from his "economic development"--please, don't call it a stimulus--proposals unveiled this week.

-- $50 billion: That's the amount Barack Obama proposed for spending on infrastructure investments, mostly directed at transportation projects.

-- $200 billion: That's what Obama is proposing for...tax breaks for Corporate America, so businesses can fully deduct the cost of new capital investments.

There you have it in a nutshell: The Obama White House throws together a last-ditch please-don't-call-it-a-stimulus proposal, nakedly aimed at mobilizing support for Democrats in the November elections, and without a hope in hell of passing Congress as long as a single Republican senator can breathe the word "filibuster."

And Obama still proposes four times more money for corporations that are doing fine than for a government program that would create actual jobs, though only a fraction of what's needed.

The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression is dragging on for workers and their families, if not the banksters. But the Obama administration remains devoted to the discredited economic policies--hysteria about budget deficits, tax cuts fraudulently promoted as a way to spur growth, strangulation of government programs that help working people--which set the stage for the crisis in the first place.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. What a load of horseshit.

[spanone]

2. naw

don't think that shit will stick around here long

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Our Long National Nightmare is not over, It is Just Beginning.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9106879

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. So it's just fairies and pixies that make all the stuff that corporations buy

and apparently only buy with magic pixie money?

You do know what "deductions for $200 billion in capital investments" means, right?

That means investments in capital - capital is things like factories, equipment, machines, cars, silos, storage warehouses, piping, electrical, solar panels, parking lots, etc. - not stock market investments.

[ProSense]

5. "President Obama is finally attempting to cut through some of the disinformation"

What Is President Obama’s Fiscal Message?

By Simon Johnson

President Obama is finally attempting to cut through some of the disinformation and confusion that surrounds US fiscal policy in general and taxes in particular. His suggestion this week is: let’s (effectively) raise taxes on relatively high income people – by letting the Bush tax cuts expire for those people – while introducing temporary tax breaks that will more directly stimulate business investment and presumably hiring.

<...>

The president’s point is simple. If you are arguing to keep the Bush tax breaks for upper income groups in order to support the economy, his proposal represents a direct and reasonable challenge – there are better ways to “use” (i.e., for the government to forgo) tax revenue to help reduce unemployment.

<...>

In the context of redesigning the tax system to promote employment and responsible savings, it is entirely appropriate to look for ways to shift the burden of taxation back to relatively high income individuals. This group has had a great run over the past 30 years – while the consequences for most Americans, as seen for example in real median wages (flat), the stability of employment (look around you), or the vulnerability to financial crisis (2008-09 was a wake-up call), have been much less favorable.

The president’s latest proposals are tinkering at the margins and will likely only have a limited impact. But if the president moves the broader debate towards considering fair, reasonable, and efficient ways to tax higher income individuals, this is a step in the right direction.

EPI:

Investing in the future
President Obama’s proposal to invest in the nation’s long-neglected infrastructure would create good jobs and lay the foundation for future economic growth. Multiple EPI reports have outlined the value of this sort of investment.