Posted on 08/25/2011 2:13:13 PM PDT by Qbert
President Obama is finalizing a jobs package that could include a program to refurbish school buildings nationwide and tax breaks to encourage firms to hire workers.
[Snip]
But economists and advisers familiar with his strategy say Obama will argue next month that the financial crisis was worse than anyone thought at the time and say more stimulus is needed to make any real dent in the unemployment rate.
The details are still being discussed during the president's annual vacation in Martha's Vineyard, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
But the broad contours of the jobs package are quickly coming into focus.
The president is widely expected to repeat his calls for an extension of a payroll tax cut, push for patent reform and bilateral free trade deals, and suggest an infrastructure bank to upgrade the country's roads, airports and other facilities.
Retrofitting schools with energy efficient technology would allow the government to directly hire for labor-intensive work and also give a boost to the clean energy sector that Obama has said could be an important U.S. economic motor.
Other measures being considered, according to economists who have advised the White House, include tax credits for firms hiring more workers, funds for local governments to hire teachers, and retraining help for the long-term unemployed. Steps to boost the ailing housing market are also under review.
"What's going to be included in this plan are some reasonable ideas that could have a tangible impact on improving our economy and creating jobs ... the kinds of things that Republicans should be able to support," Earnest said. "These are bipartisan ideas that the president is going to offer up."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
The money needed to refit school buildings—moving students elsewhere all the while—is extraordinary. Actually, there isn’t a word to describe it.
Yep, always a targeted spending gimmick to try to trick gullible voters
Yep. And I thought the 900 B stimulus plan was supposed to do all that stuff.
A perfect example of how clueless these clowns are, with actually getting something ‘done’.
If you want to spend serious money on ‘energy efficient technology’ in a school, you have to do serious planning, building modeling, design, get it past the school board, get a building permit from the city, etc.
This all takes time...and their deadline would be late May to get anything approved. Why late May? Because you want to do this kind of work while school is out.
Its not going to happen. The lead time on large hvac equipment is up to 6 weeks just to ship.
These clowns are thinking in terms of hanging drapes and slapping a new coat of paint up. They don’t really know how real things get ‘done’, or how much time or effort is involved.
So, how would you get lots of money quickly injected into the economy? I dunno, maybe lower corporate tax rates to that of most European countries for a start. How about a federal fuel excise tax holiday? Etc.
One has to look at Joplin, Missouri to see how to educate on a local level. Close the Department of Education. Get back to reading, writing, math, and science.
Obama is an idiot. Government borrowing, taxing and spending just makes the problem worse.
I thought the MSM and Libs banned the word target?
More political crap from Obama - the waste of massive amounts of money doesn’t matter, but the cheap PR and union payouts do.
Here in my upstate NY city - they just spent $1 billion renovating city schools, for a district with 36,500 students - about half of whom don’t even graduate from high school.
Right on top of the dubious deficit reduction plan he will propose massive new spending. The Republicans will balk and he will scream they’re playing politics. Lovely.
Trillions more in totally wasted Obama corruption/incompetence.
Yes there is. FUBAR
I thought this was part of the first $ trillion shovel-ready BS. This time, it's meant to convey, "It's For the Children."
The business "tax incentive to hire" is more BS. Cut the corporate income tax rate to zero, and we'll talk.
Clueless - or at least pretending to be so he can hasten Americas bankruptcy by borrowing and spending billions more on what amount to WPA projects and short-term Band-Aid 'fixes' that will not have a major effect on improving the economy. The 'economy was worse than anyone thought' bit is just a variation on Obama's tired old theme 'it's Bush's fault'. I can't believe anyone except hardcore leftists are still buying that BS. I also can't believe his actual job approval numbers aren't in the 20's. What I do believe is that Obama will be a one-term president, no matter who his Republican opponent may be.
“Right on top of the dubious deficit reduction plan he will propose massive new spending. The Republicans will balk and he will scream they’re playing politics. Lovely.”
It should be pretty entertaining to watch as he proposes this additional spending mush... right before the “Super-committee” is tasked with trying to cut another 1.5 Trillion.
Fail, fail, fail and more fail.
Students used to learn more in one-room schoolhouses.
“extension of a payroll tax cut”...
Loot Social Security AND reduce payments to it, then blame Republicans...
What a plan!
Yeah.
Over 15 years ago, in one Eastern state with old schools, ‘campus buildings,’ the odd, extra double-wide, etc., the estimation for such capital improvement was over $5 Bn. That did not include private school systems, or....asbestos removal, security enhancements, professional training, continuous IT support, upgrades/break fix, dealing with poisonous animals/bugs, etc. The unexpected was off the chart expensive. And there was very little money provided. 80% of any school budget goes to salaries, and that’s a conservative figure.
How soon before McCain starts to heap praise on this “plan?”
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