The President’s Biggest Challenge: It’s All about the Money!
The United States has a brand new president; those of us who watched the live presentation of the Inauguration certainly saw history being made! However his presidency is fraught with unenviable challenges which people expect him to sort out right away: the US currently is facing its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s. And since it is ALL ABOUT THE MONEY (which is also this blog’s tagline in case you didn’t notice) I thought it makes sense to make ourselves aware of what it is that the new president and his Vice President plan to do to pull the US out of the black hole of economic depression that it is currently sunk into. Let us take a look at how the new broom plans to sweep clean the economic mess.
The problems identified by the new president and his team that they will be seeking to address are:
- Wages are stagnant as prices rise
- Tax cuts are benefitting the wealthy instead of the middle class
So the president and his vice president aim to jump start the economy by
· Enact a Windfall Profits Tax to Provide a $1,000 Emergency Energy Rebate to American Families
· Provide $50 billion to Jumpstart the Economy and Prevent 1 Million Americans from Losing Their Jobs
Obama and Biden aim to cut taxes by $1000 for working families to offset the payroll tax they pay and provide the middle class American tax relief by:
- Creating 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.
· Eliminate Income Taxes for Seniors Making Less than $50,000
· Simplifying tax filings for middle class Americans.
Trade, another area where the US is perceived to be lagging will receive a shot in the arm by
- amending the North American Free Trade Agreement,
- ending tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs to other countries
- rewarding companies that support American workers.
Obama and his Veep also have a Green Agenda and want to create new jobs
- By investing in the manufacturing sector, they want to create 5 million new green jobs!
- New Jobs Through National Infrastructure Investment
- Increasing federal support for research, technology and innovation for companies and universities so that American families can lead the world in creating new advanced jobs and products.
- Protecting small businesses
What is also a priority is to protect the home owner and crack down on mortgage fraud. A universal mortgage credit is sought to be created, more accountability is sought to be enforced in the subprime mortgage industry, accurate loan disclosure is sought and bankruptcy loopholes for mortgage companies are sought to be plugged.
For more details about their Economic Agenda, look here.
All this sounds really reasonable. We’ll have to wait and see what comes out of it
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As I see it, Obama’s biggest challenge now lies in living upto people’s expectations and in fulfilling his promises to not only to an eager nation but to the entire expectant world. Few presidents have borne such a huge burden of expectations.
We can only hope he has the courage not to buckle under this mountainous weight.
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my only hop is obama stop all the wars, i really hop he can do what he says
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We are all expecting a lot form him. We must be patient as a nation and give him time to put the country on track again.
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Well, they are right and I agree with the. all we have to do is wait and see.
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Climbing out of this crisis is is going to be very difficult but I the Obama administration has the capability to do it. As I write, Obama has just signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into a law. The Recovery.gov website, where citizens can track every dollar spent and every job created, is also a very good development.
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Well, the worst is yet to come. Many of the adjustable rate mortgages purchases in 2004-2006 have a 5 year adjustment that in many cases will double a person’s mortgage payment. You’ll see many more families losing their homes in the next year or two. There is no amount of Obamism that will correct this. A self-correction is the only plausible solution!
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@Kennewick: I like the term Obamism
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When Obama became President, I believe he gave our country and most of the world, hope! He walked into a tough time and position, and we are all looking to him for guidance, with much anticipation. Look forward to seeing things only improve from here.
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I admit he is all over the place doing interviews and all. I never seen a president so persistently giving presentation after presentation. I think he is making the best moves so far.
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During the prohibition and great depression back in the mid 20 and 30s things were totally screwed up. Compared to that we are doing darn good. I just thank goodness for the advancements that we have to overcome this thing. Great informative article on this subject.
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