HuffPo: White House Recovery Package Heavy On Business Tax Breaks, Jobs An Afterthought

[Amerigo Vespucci]

(edtied for copyright purposes-proud patriot Moderator Democratic Underground)

White House Recovery Package Heavy On Business Tax Breaks, Jobs An Afterthought



White House considers pre-midterm package of business tax breaks to spur hiring

By Anne E. Kornblut and Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 2, 2010; 9:23 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/02/AR2010090204235.html?wpisrc=nl_natlalert

With less than two months until the November elections, the White House is seriously weighing a package of business tax breaks - potentially worth hundreds of billions of dollars - to spur hiring and combat Republican charges that Democratic tax policies hurt small businesses, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations.

Among the options under consideration are a temporary payroll tax holiday and a permanent extension of the now-expired research and development tax credit, which rewards companies that conduct research into new technologies within the United States.

Administration officials have struggled to develop new economic policies and an effective message to blunt expected Republican gains in Congress and defuse complaints from Democrats that President Obama is fumbling the issue most important to voters. After weeks of vacation and foreign policy, White House advisers have arranged a series of economic events for Obama next week, including two trips to swing states and a press conference.

"We'll continue to do everything we can, understanding that recovery will require persistent effort. There are no silver bullets," senior Obama adviser David Axelrod said in an interview Thursday. "At the same time we have to make clear our ideas and theirs, and the fact that the Washington Republicans, having helped create this recession, have attempted to block our every effort to deal with it."

But with the unemployment rate expected to rise again in new jobs numbers due out Friday, panic is setting in among many Democratic candidates who fear it is too late for Obama to persuade voters that he understands the depth of the nation's economic woes and can fix them.

(snip)

[babylonsister]

1. Jeeze, no spin there. Aren't tax breaks supposed to spur

hiring, as indicated in the damned article? That headline really sucks.

[Selatius]

4. Tax breaks work best if aimed at consumers.

It's still true that aggregate demand for products and services is the ultimate generator for any economy. FDR operated upon this principle, which is why he set up works programs with the aim of putting money directly into the pockets of consumers. Once they had money, producers were willing to hire more people to meet that demand, but they wouldn't hire if there was no demand.

[MadHound]

6. Tax breaks for anybody are the least effective form of economic stimulus

But then again, it is a nice bipartisan gesture. The question becomes which is more important, bipartisanship or dragging this economy out of a ditch. I would have to go with the latter.

[hedgehog]

7. Yeah, I noticed that , too.

[bobbolink]

8. Yeah, its been working sooo well ever since Raygun, hasn't it?

:crazy:

[ThomCat]

9. Tax breaks are classic Trickle Down Economics.

Those that have, and therefore pay the most in taxes, benefit the most.

Direct stimulus, such as in real jobs programs and aid programs get the stimulus to the people who need it most, instead of giving it to the people at the top who don't need it.

But direct stimulus programs are exactly what Obama doesn't seem to want to consider. :(

[ShamelessHussy]

11. that's what bush and the banksters say, but how's that working for you and yours?

doesn't seem to be working so well from the cheap seats.

[DJ13]

2. Trickle Down lives!

[ThomCat]

10. "Trickle Down" is alive and well.

[bluestateguy]

3. I think we need to see what they propose before making judgements

Rather than Georgetown Cocktail Party media speculation, anonymous sources and speculation.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

5. Another misleading headline from Huffington. Pushing the fake-ass NYPost smear against Big Ed

wasn't enough.

The tax breaks are to incentivize hiring for small businesses. The other money left from the first stimulus hasn't been doled out yet. Much of that money will be devoted to promoting green jobs through retrofitting.

Thanks to Randi Rhodes for not buying into the spin and for explaining what's really going on.