Obama jobs plan: a whole lot to like
So, how about that jobs speech?
I thought the President introduced a great jobs plan tonight鈥揳 plan that accomplished a number of important goals:
鈥搕he package is of a magnitude that could help a lot of folks get back to work. I agree with Paul : 鈥渋f it actually became law, it would probably make a significant dent in unemployment.鈥�
鈥搃t鈥檚 a plan that in normal times would be broadly supported by partisans on both sides of the aisle; about 60% of the $450 billion in the American Jobs Act is tax cuts, the rest is largely infrastructure and unemployment insurance, and we鈥檝e never in our history failed to extend UI benefits with unemployment this high.
鈥搕he President pressed the urgency of the moment, the need to rise above partisanship, to stop with the self-inflicting wounds, the political circus, and get down to the people鈥檚 work, and he did it with some real fight in 鈥榚m.
I also really liked the spirit he brought to this and I like the policy agenda, especially:
鈥揳dding another percent to the payroll tax holiday on the employee鈥檚 side, taking it up from 2% to 3%, which means the tax break for most working people would increase by half. So if you earned $50K, your tax break would increase from $1K to $1.5K. For weeks on these pages I鈥檝e talked about how renewing the payroll cut would just keep the macroeconomic foot on the accelerator, not push it down further. Well, this renewal/increase presses the pedal down further.
鈥揾iring tax incentives targeted at small business and at the unemployed.
鈥揊AST!鈥攚ell, something like it: $30 billion for school renovation and repair.
鈥揝ummer jobs for low-income youth and a subsidized employment program for low-income families.
But then there is, of course, the politics.
Interestingly, R鈥檚 made more favorable sounds than you might have expected. I was on the tonight with conservative economist Doug Holtz-Eakin and note how at the end of the segment, he offered his opinion that the payroll tax cuts, the UI extension, and perhaps some infrastructure could pass. Rep Cantor made some similar sounds after the speech.
The R鈥檚 are probably chastened by recent visits to their districts where one expect they got earfuls from constituents to stop screwing around and get to work on the damn economy. And no, that won鈥檛 last and they won鈥檛 give the President nearly what he鈥檚 asking for. I also expect some funky horse trading to start soon鈥攚atch for R鈥檚 to insist on corp tax breaks in exchange for some of the jobs measures.
But tonight we saw a spirited President present a solid, smart jobs plan to a nation in need of just that. Obviously, a lot more to come on this, but in this town, in these days, I鈥檇 call that a very good thing.
