SuziavanSwol#8 Obama Proposes New Economic Recovery Measures

We have a democracy. We have elected officials to represent the people. Or is it to control the people? We are in the midst of a recession, and I keep reading this and that about the economic recovery, but those of us waiting tables and struggling to pay the bills don't seem to be feeling the "recovery" measures and uphill turn. Sometimes I really think that the government just views us as a herd of animals, and they are going to "create jobs" for us and "help us". Maybe it would have helped if they hadn't gotten us in this mess in the first place, but hey, the nice part about being controlled is that when something goes wrong, WE HAD NO CONTROL OVER IT.

Obama Proposes New Economic Recovery Measures
Staff
By Ravi Bhatia – Talk Radio News Service

President Barack Obama discussed his administration’s plans to continue accelerating economic recovery Tuesday at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C.. Obama suggested that growth will occur through tax cuts and incentives for small businesses, continued investment in American infrastructure and the creation of jobs through clean energy investments.

The measures, at least in part, would be funded by the money saved from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, a program which allowed the U.S. government to purchase assets and equity from financial institutions in order to strengthen the financial sector. Administration officials say TARP cost about $200 billion less than expected.

“We are going to wind down [TARP],” Obama said. “There has never been a less loved or more necessary program. It was flawed… but today has served its original purpose and at a much lower cost.”

["This] gives us a chance to pay down the deficit faster than we thought possible and to shift funds that would have gone to help the banks on Wall Street to help create jobs on Main Street,” added Obama.

However, senior administrations officials noted that the administration has not determined the minimum costs of the proposed programs.

Obama said that the programs would eliminate a tax on capital gains from new investments in small business stock for one year and expand on the 75 percent exclusion in the Recovery Act. The small business measures would also create a new tax cut for small businesses to encourage hiring next year and would continue giving companies enhanced expensing provisions through 2010, allowing them to instantly expense up to $250,000 of qualified investments.

Besides investment in bridges, roads and infrastructure, the new economic programs would provide new incentives for consumers who invest in energy efficient retrofits for their homes.