Posted on 10/28/2011 11:16:31 AM PDT by tutstar
Edited on 10/28/2011 12:25:59 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
(Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama, sidestepping Republicans in Congress who have thwarted his $447 billion jobs plan, has invoked his executive powers to help homeowners, students and veterans struggling to find work.
Touring the country with the slogan that Americans "can't wait" for lawmakers to act, he has rolled out a series of initiatives this week and the White House promises a steady stream of more measures for months to come.
On Friday, Obama told federal agencies to streamline their research efforts to get innovative breakthroughs into the marketplace faster, and to create a website aimed at helping firms that want to export.
The administration has declined to predict how many jobs any of these initiatives will create, with the exception of help for veterans, where the goal was a modest 8,000 over three years. Critics say the moves are political gimmickry that lack economic heft and will do very little to boost hiring.
Following are a list of the actions taken so far:
RESEARCH AND EXPORTS
Obama issued a memorandum to instruct federal agencies to speed up public-private research partnerships, help agencies partner with the private sector, and devise a five-year plan to keep closer track of progress and patent creation.
He also issued a second memo to create a new website called BusinessUSA, mainly aimed at small businesses, to aid export-hungry firms find information on federal programs.
Obama wants to double U.S. exports by the end of 2014 and is on track to reach that goal, although to hit it the United States must grow exports by 15 percent annually from now onward.
HOMEOWNERS
On October 24 the White House announced steps to make it easier for some homeowners to refinance their mortgages, allowing credit-worthy borrowers to reduce their payments thanks to currently low interest rates. The changes eliminate some fees and increase competition for refinancing business.
The Obama administration also extended the length of time unemployed borrowers can suspend mortgage payments without being foreclosed to 12 months from four months, and simplified the process for distressed borrowers to get help with loans.
STUDENTS
On October 25 Obama unveiled a "pay as you earn" proposal to help reduce monthly student loan payments for some college graduates. Accelerating a program that starts in 2014, borrowers from next year will be able to reduce monthly student loan payments to 10 percent of their discretionary income, and debt balances will be forgiven after 20 years of payments.
Current U.S. law allows borrowers to limit their loan payments to 15 percent of discretionary income and forgives all remaining debt after 25 years. The White House says this will help around 1.6 million students.
Obama also used an executive order to allow students to consolidate federal college debt into a single monthly payment, and offer a 0.5 percentage point cut in the monthly interest rate on that debt. Up to six million students could benefit from this initiative.
U.S. students graduating last year had an average debt of $24,000. More than 36 million Americans have federal student loan debt, but only 450,000 have so far taken advantage of the existing income-based repayment program.
VETERANS
On October 25 Obama challenged community health centers to hire 8,000 veterans -- including former military medics -- over the next three years. The White House also asked health centers to start reporting on the number of veterans they employ.
It also announced an initiative to help train veterans for careers as physician assistants, a fast-track to get military medics into the civilian health field. Physician assistants work in emergency care, counseling and follow-up care.
(Reporting by Laura MacInnis and Alister Bull; Editing by Paul Simao)
And for you trolls, get the hell out.
The idea isn’t necessarily to accomplish much of anything. But if his opposition shouts “abuse of power” when he really isn’t doing anything, then it looks to the voters like he’s actually doing something. Remember Clinton’s “triangulation” strategy?
Don’t forget dream act by fiat, not enforcing doma , drilling offshore and more I’m forgetting probably .
If we just Complain here on fr and don’t make phone calls etc the congress is not going t dO anything . If anyone is not using twitter and Facebook you have to start!! Social media is wry effective !
The more he tampers with it the worse it will get. The worse it gets the quicker he is looooonnnnggggg gone.
This one is tricky — Boehner could call out Bobo, but what more than to humiliate him, exposing expose how lame or worthless Bobo’s EOs are. But why give him red meat for his dwindling troops? I’d rather see the GOP neckbeard sockpuppet crew (Hannity, PhoneSex O’Creepy, etc.) make hash of this...
Well Sam he definitely has some impeachable offenses. Problem is no one has the guts, well maybe Issa .
Sucks!
Some articles say action and others say order. Msm wont be honest about it. The website is already up and running so how did it get paid for?
Thanks tutstar.
Sure. Should have read House and Senate. I sent a follow up correction.
I believe you’re right.
I just think the Republicans could blunt some of Hussein’s moves by saying something like, “Well, Mr. Hussein, you’re using these executive orders NOW...why did you wait to help the students? Why did you wait to help homeowners?”
ROFLMAO! History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, then as a farce. Obamaoism at its farcical finest.
Seriously, most of these measures will merely produce a blizzard of bureaucratic paperwork and more compliance costs on the economy. More government job security at the expense of the private sector.
Here are two very important facts not reported about the student loan program changes. First, Obama has shafted note holders again. Consolidation means that the federal government will prematurely repay student loans, transferring the outstanding liabilities to the US treasury. While it is true that these loans do not have repayment penalties, most of these loans would not have been prematurely repaid. Obama has just cancelled the income stream of legitimate note holders. No compensation has been offered to the note holders.
Second, the 20 year limit on payments is a ruse. Private sector workers have a 20 year maximum payment period compared to government workers and non profit workers who have a 10 year maximum payment period. More importantly, the 10year repayment period for is a non taxable event for politically favored workers but the 20 year period is a taxable event private sector workers. For example, if a government worker has $50,000 of forgiven student loan debt, taxes will not be owed no matter how large the loan forgiveness. In contrast, all amounts forgiven are taxable for private sector workers. I predict many private sector workers will choose to continue paying the student loan rather than be faced with the tax consequences.
Once again, the rats have made one policy for their people and another policy for everyone else.
“On Friday, Obama told federal agencies to streamline their research efforts to get innovative breakthroughs into the marketplace faster, and to create a website aimed at helping firms that want to export.”
I want to export something alright.... every damn communist back over to Europe where they belong with nothing but the clothes on their back never to set foot in this country again upon penalty of death.
And while I’m at it.... the traitors, stripped of their citizenship, can keep them company.
That ought to make a good start in opening up a few jobs.
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