Do more on jobs, Dems tell Obama

[iwishiwas]

Source: thehill.com



Do more on jobs, Dems tell Obama
By Alexander Bolton - 06/10/11 06:00 AM ET
.................

“I am concerned about the Obama administration’s approach on this,” Harkin said. “It always has been about jobs. I think the administration kind of got snookered talking about the deficit and the debt after the last election.

“The last election was about jobs and the economy, and now we’re in a position where we really do need some economic pump-priming by the federal government,” he said.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, endorsed Harkin’s argument for more infrastructure spending, and said it is gaining support in the broader caucus.
......................

Rockefeller said a spending package was discussed at several meetings Wednesday and that there’s a recognition Democrats need to be tougher in negotiations with Republicans. ..............

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/165731-do-more-on-jobs-dems-tell-obama

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Yes, a massive infrastructure FDR type!! I am dreaming to think it would be that big. But I do fear Harkin is spot on in that the news has been nothing but debt and deficit and very little about jobs except to hear of few jobs with low pay. We need something massive!!--and Dems need to get at it.


"its the economy stupid" will come back to bite us come Nov of 2012 if we are not working by then!

[dkf]

1. Where is the money for this?

Would we need to increase the debt ceiling even more?

[MannyGoldstein]

4. No, we'd need to restore taxes on America's wealthiest to

historically-normal levels - about twice what they pay now.

Easy-peasy.

[dkf]

11. Tax rates are a joke. We all know it's the deductions that make the difference.

[MannyGoldstein]

19. OK, I should have said *effective* tax rates nt

[Enrique]

6. where's the money for the Libya war?

are you asking that?

Where's the money for the war in Yemen? Are you asking that?

[SammyWinstonJack]

7. Of course not. nt.

[iwishiwas]

8. Harkin wants the money to come from taxes. I agree.

[think]

10. Agree. But it's time to rethink military spending too....nt

[dkf]

12. Hard to reduce spending when we enter more wars, not get out of them.

[think]

25. antiwar.com has really gone down hill.....nt

[sulphurdunn]

14. Not if you raise taxes,

end some wars and cut the Pentagon budget.

[TBF]

24. No we need to tax you and all your wealthy friends. nt

[dkf]

33. I'm not wealthy but I'm single with no kids so yeah I'm sure my taxes will be raised.

[go west young man]

26. It's in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya.

And a lot of it is in Israel.

[MannyGoldstein]

2. "Working Americans don't have cash for me and my posse

so why should I do anything for them?

Hey, Ben and Timmy! Give the bankers another trillion, I'm getting nervous about 2012."

[Dulcinea]

3. Big DUH!

Why is there little or no political will to do anything to get Americans back to work, on either side of the aisle? We never seem to hear about unemployment anymore. Has it just gone away?

[No Elephants]

5. FDR was turning things around with his programs (once he scared the Supremes with his court-packing

plan). However, the Republicans (not the Democrats, folks, the Republicans) started yapping about the deficit and FDR caved, whereupon the progress he had been making stalled.

After that, it took WWII to end the Depression. Unfortunately for us, modern wars seem to tank our economy, not save it. (Or perhaps that is fortunate, depending on how you look at it.)

Hoover's policies on the other hand, only made matters worse.

Amazing that Obama hired Republicans like Bernanke (supposedly a Great Depression scholar) and Geithner to help him shore up the economy during the biggest recession since the Great Depression.

Then again, during the Great Depression, we could largely resolve matters (or not) by looking almost exclusively within our own borders. We weren't dealing with globalization. "It's complicated."

[FreakinDJ]

18. Back then it was inconceivable to charge a profit for the War Effort

In fact several defense contractors (including Howard Huges) were hauled up in front of congressional committee on the "suspicion" they were charging excessive profits, or shipping out defective parts

[cstanleytech]

9. Be realistic people

there is almost jack that Obama and the dems can do atm while the republicans continue the current plan of trying to see to it that he is a one term president by stonewalling him in congress with no regard to the cost to the nation.
About all we can do is stay strong, some would say its as little as making sure the dems get all the support we can get them and kick the collective ass of the GOP out of control in washington but thats not enough because in the long term the gop is more likely to win.
Why? Because they own the state governments for most states and they are using their control to gerrymander those states so we need to also focus on retaking the state governments or else they will just use their state control to solidify their control of the majority of districts in their states and thus in washington as well.

[iwishiwas]

15. Yes, the state level is the real problem. Look at WI, OH and other

states-like NJ. Once blue, now red. And very conservative policies are being put in place-have been enacted. And conservatives are getting a big MOJO from these polices (also pushback).

[Enrique]

17. to whoop their asses we can't fight for jobs?

to whoop their asses we have to accept the "reality" that we can't advance our own agenda?

To whoop their asses we have to embrace their agenda?

that's crazy thinking.

[cstanleytech]

29. Tell me how would you advance the agenda then

with the republicans stonewalling in congress at the federal level and at the state level they are gutting things like workers rights and the public schools because they control so many state governments?
And I did not say we should embrace their agenda I said we need to focus on the bigger picture of taking the state governments back``, if we dont manage to do it by the next census we are gonna be plowed under as they gerrymander district after district in state after state.

[Coyote_Bandit]

13. Obama

is not the champion of the unemployed, the underemployed, the working poor, the less fortunate. He, his wife, his kids, his associates will never find themselves in those circumstances. He just can't help everybody and, well, it really is more expedient to help those who have the influence and the ability to recipricate the favor.

If the job market hasn't significantly improved by Nov. 2012 then perhaps we are deserving of that bite.

[OhioChick]

27. Can't argue with that n/t

[sulphurdunn]

16. Wall Street wants tax cuts

and deficit reduction, not job creation.

[msongs]

20. there is no "vision" - plans follow the vision which sets the general goals. No vision, no goals. nt

[somone]

21. But but corporate profits are terrible

and corporations are so short on cash right now

We need to help them more and more :sarcasm:

[ProSense]

22. Congress needs to do more. From the OP:

<...>

The tight budget picture has forced Democrats to advance relatively modest jobs bills, such as the reauthorization of the Economic Development Administration, now pending on the Senate floor. Democrats want to boost the agency’s budget to $500 million a year, a small increase compared to the roughly $15 trillion national economy.

“It’s small but it’s helpful, it’s in the area where unemployment is, which is largely unskilled people who need a manufacturing-type job,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

Without ending tax breaks to fund new stimulus legislation, jobs bills will have to remain modest.

<...>

The media has been pushing the story about the $500 million EDA budget when there are larger stimulus bills that Congress needs to address.

How can Feinstein argue that the President needs to do more on jobs while claiming that new stimulus has to remain modest until tax breaks end? Congress has the power to vote to end them.

The focus is almost entirely on the President, and Congress gets a pass. For example, this report from May 25 got little attention: Obama's transportation plan to shrink in the Senate

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama's sweeping spending plan for roads, rail and bridges is shrinking as it travels through Congress.

In the next two weeks, the Senate will begin considering legislation to authorize about $339 billion over six years for transportation, Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer told reporters on Wednesday.

That is less than two-thirds of the $556 billion package Obama proposed in February.

<...>

The Senate is considering a stand-alone bill to create a national infrastructure bank, which Obama has pushed since his presidential campaign, with an appropriation of $5 billion a year.

Obama's initiative to spend $53 billion on high-speed rail will be taken up in separate legislation, Boxer said.

<...>

Yet, the OP article is big news?

Pass the $500 million EDA bill, which the President supports, and then pass the President's $556 billion transportation bill.

Congress also needs to pass the BUILD ACT, which was introduced in March. What's the hold up?

[Name removed]

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[NikRik]

28. Unemployed since 2009 !

Since being unemployed my life has become a nightmare of trying to keep from losing our home and struggling to pay out utilities and other bills. I was hoping that Obama would create somekind of new deal like program to put the unemployed trying to survive and support their families to work. The pay rate of the jobs in the area I live N. California is a joke ,most are paying $10 an hour the samr hourly rate of pay I started making in the early seventies.The cost of living here in the San Francisco Bay area is very high and trying to live on ten dollares an hour is a joke. The corperations are loving it, they now have what hthey always wanted labor union free no benift workers.Most of the jobs are part time no vacation pay,no sick pay. The death of our middle class has arrived !
NikRik

[cstanleytech]

30. Pretty much the same problem here but

I am not blaming Obama.
Why? Because its not his fault as he is only the president he doesnt have the power like a king to pass whatever laws he wants at will he has to work with congress and the senate and if they or some of them oppose him enough they can make anything he wants to do next to impossible as the republicans have proven themselves willing and able to do for now.
I'm not saying he is a perfect president but he is better than the McCain/Palin alternative which still gives me nightmares.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

31. Unemployed since Jan. 2010.

[julian09]

32. Obama is hindered by Gop house

they control spending and agenda of items coming up for votes. The Gop doesn't want to fix the job situation because it will help Obama, it's that simple. The Dems should challenge the opposition on jobs programs and make the issue about obtsruction on all fronts. Congress should help Obama make the case for jobs, he is only one voice against the citizens united bought republican house. Low information voters will get the message if they are told enough and get why the repugs are not bringing up jobs programs, only anti union, anti abortion anti voter registration, legislation.
The Gop job program is no jobs creation while Obama is president.

[blue97keet]

34. We need a trade war stimulus package; build refrigerators, cars and TV sets

instead of tanks and drones and ammo.

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

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[ClarkUSA]

36. These Democrats need to convince their Blue Dog & GOP colleagues to vote for an Obama jobs plan...

... instead of whining to Daddy Obama.

[hollowdweller]

37. Need to raise min wage to $10 an hour at least

The jobs they can't outsource are the retail and service jobs.

I think raising the minumum wage would create more jobs than extending the Bush tax credits, or a payroll tax holiday because people there at the bottom are often putting off spending on stuff they really need, like a new roof or to get their house painted because they don't have the money. Put more money in the people who are living closest to the bone and I bet the effect would be huge, especially in rural areas where that's basically all the jobs there are.