Thread: What is Obama's new jobs bill and what will it do?

Originally Posted by Rick Scarf

Temporary bandaids to perk up the economy for the next year or so, while ignoring the underlying causes. He'll probably get re-elected because he wants to help the teachers, firefighters, middle class, tax the rich their "fair share" etc. But he isn't making any attempt to get credit flowing again by looking at the system of capital reserve requirements or the fact there are only a handful of large banks anymore where these used to be dozens and dozens. Too much government tinkering and attempts by the Federal Reserve to devalue our dollar to boost exports is the real problem, because it leads to market uncertainty which causes investors to be weary of any long-term investing.
If it passes, things will tick up a little, artificially outside of the free market system, and he might just be re-elected because of it. If it doesn't pass because the Republicans block it, he will run on the Truman podium of a "do-nothing Congress", so really this works out ok for Obama either way, and you and I will just be deeper in the hole in a year or so.

Well, that's a good thing, right? To get re-elected because he helped out the middle class, supported education, and and emergency services. Sure, it is definitely suspicious. That is how the game is played, and with political commentators, online op-ed columnists, and blogs, the rules are transparent to pretty much everyone. I think what separates him from his predecessor is that it sounds reasonable because it applies to me and to a majority of Americans. Despite the top wealthy getting the shaft, it will help overall, but as you stated it won't cause a total paradigm shift in our economy. Just a step up. My opinion, a step in the right direction.

Warren Buffet agrees, but maybe he is crazy. He's definitely smart, but he definitely agrees that he and the other wealthy Americans are too rich. Tax the rich he says. Let the government take care of the people because the government is overall responsible to the people. From my understanding of Keynes economic theory, letting the big businesses and the wealthy get richer and richer will eventually see that as an investment that will trickle all the way down and create new opportunities. Well, people are greedy, and the faucet is broken.

Personally, I'm mixed on what the government should be and should not be involved in, and in a situation like this, I think the President is going in the right direction. If I were in the top 1% of wealth in this nation, maybe I'd be angry, but dammit, this is a democracy and at one time or the other you'll end up on the receiving end.