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The Obama Economic Plan
Whoever the next president is in January will face a record number of economic problems. Barack Obama, who has just begun a 17 day tour of the U.S. to promote his detailed economic program, would be well advised to keep his economic message simple and easily understandable.
- Make America Financially Stronger
- Bill Clinton and Bob Rubin were able to turn around a country in deficit and leave George W. Bush with a $236 billion annual operating surplus in 2000. Bush has turned that annual budget surplus into an forecasted deficit of nearly $396 billion for 2008 and has doubled the country's total debt to over $10 trillion. Obama is against John McCain's plan to extend the Bush tax cuts to the wealthiest 10% of the country, a plan that under Bush meant a $2 trillion windfall to the wealthiest of Americans. Obama has said that all of his programs must be revenue neutral, that is they must all be paid for in advance, and that it is a priority of his administration to return the country's financial position to one of strength and stability. As a result, the U.S. dollar should strengthen considerably under an Obama administration as government deficits are often funded with newly printed money, the primary cause of inflation and currency weakness.
- Return Stability to Global Banking System
- The country came closer than many people realized to a full fledged financial collapse this winter as many U.S. investment banks and commercial banks could not have continued in operation without hundreds of billions of loans from the federal government. The eighth largest bank in England had a run on its deposits and was taken over by the Bank of England. What was the primary cause of the mortgage and housing meltdown? The financial industry lobbied our government to remove most regulation of their operations and then proceeded to lend crazy amounts of money to buy homes at even crazier price levels. Obama has told Wall Street that the gig is up, that the days of no regulation are over. His plan will require government supervision of hedge funds, banks and investment banks, he will stop predatory lending, he will increase capital and margin requirements to take damaging debt leverage out of the system and he will demand that banks and corporations become much more transparent and accountable in their reporting and in their operations.
- End Corporate Lobbying
- Name a problem in America and there is a corporate lobbying effort fighting against any needed reform. Healthcare costs - the HMO lobby, the housing crash - the mortgage banking lobby, high food and commodity prices - hedge fund lobbyists, the global financial crisis - Wall Street and commercial banking lobbyists, high oil prices - energy company lobbyists, global warming - the coal lobby, and unaffordable high drug prices - the pharmaceutical lobby. Obama has not taken any money from corporate interests or lobbyists and is making it a priority of his administration to end corporate lobbying in Washington. Will all of our problems be solved if we get rid of lobbyists? Maybe not, but at least we can then have an intelligent discussion about possible solutions to our most pressing problems in which are elected representatives work to help average Americans instead of to enrich corporate America.
- Provide Economic Opportunity to All
- Obama believes that a country cannot be prosperous and grow unless all of its citizens are engaged and working. People have to know that hard work and education will be rewarded. They have to believe that their government is looking out for their best interests. Obama wants to return America to a time when hard work was rewarded by increasing the minimum wage, providing health care benefits to all, not just the healthy and wealthy, extending unemployment benefits to the needy, reducing unemployment by creating new job opportunities and by strengthening the foundation of our retirement programs so no elderly person has to worry about making the rent payment ever again.
That is the Obama economic plan in a nutshell. It is a plan to strengthen our economy by providing Americans with the opportunity to compete in a global marketplace on a just and fair basis and with the required educational skills. And it just might work.
John R. Talbott is the best selling author of a forthcoming book "Obamanomics: How Bottom-Up Economic Prosperity Will Replace Trickle-Down Economics" from Seven Stories Press. Talbott was the first to warn of the current housing and financial crisis in his 2003 book "The Coming Crash of the Housing Market".
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67 Comments so far
Show AllTo my understanding the common dream stands for ethics and logic to rule over political affairs rather then emotionalism
Lets get real about this
Putting aside the insanity of his foreign policy, which tries to out warmonger the Republicans, take a look at his real econoic thought, sans the rhetoric and gingoism.
What is the National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank?
Does anyone with a modicum of intelligence actually think this putting National Civic Projects on the street corner to be prostituted to the Global Fat cats is a good idea.?!
Obama does!!!!!!!
And have we forgotten about Obama's "Godfather" and architect of his economic ideology.
Milton Friedman? Milton Friedman? the man that Reagan idolized with his free friggin free market crap that allowed the US dollar to be reduced to the value of toilet paper.
And if that doesn't wake you up about Obama, what about his Hedge fund buddies and his Walmart buddies, and his privatize our friggin Social Security buddies he wants to bring along to the white house? hmm.
Obama was slickly crafted(Manchurian Candidate) to lull and hypnotize my fellow African American Brothers and sisters into a Fascistic form of hero worship, were logic is put aside for crass emotionalism.
What the F, McCain is not even in the picture, you don't get it do you.
Obama went to the Bilderberg meeting in Virginia.
Old decrepid ass McCain wasnt even invited to the cocktali sip.
AIPAC looked at MCain as though he had disentary, when he spoke, but Obama got 13 standing ovations, 13!!!!!!!
Morgan Stanley and Time Warner sent him "bundled" donations and they don't put money on a loosing horse.
Look at the polls, for freedoms sake!
And if he were white he would have a greater lead over McCain.
The Fix is in!!!!!!!!!
Like Malcom X said, what looks straight is crooked
More crooked then a pretzel.
The hell with Nader, he hasn't "raided" squat in years, I'm voting for Cynthia McKenney, she seems clear on all the issues, especially 9/11
george w bush: The Chicago School of Eeek!-conomics . . . I love it!!!
eyesclosed, too bad your vote is an act of disempowerment as you have so characterized it. You describe yourself as a victim with no alternative but to vote for what you despise. If that is the sum of your value system by all means continue to act in a disempowered fashion.
Well where did all those countless Obama supporters go?
Were they ever there?
A pity Obama wasn't around when people use to buy the Brooklyn Bridge .
Ah what am I saying he snookered you all with just one word CHANGE
Maybe he ment if he beomes Resident that is all we will have in our pockets.
Just think you can tell your poor grandchildren that you helped destroy what was left of AMERICA.
One of the few sane posters, Ajagbe Adewole, says it like it is....if you don't like the direction of the country, get off your lazy ass and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Posting to CD does NOT count! and as another sane poster said, voting every four years is the LEAST you can do!
you jokers who are convinced that voting for McKinney or Nader will solve all the problems are (almost) as f*!*#d in the head than all the Obama haters that post here (and in some cases, it's the same person -- yes, i'm talking to you "huck"). voting for either of those two will provide absolutely NO progressive change...sorry it's just the reality of the system we live under. having the REAL choice of 3 or 4 legitimate candidates takes YEARS of work in changing the bloody system. but i guess announcing your "vote" does make you feel superior to everyone else who votes for either Obama or McSame/McBush.
SHAME...what the hell happened to our progressive movement? is this what we are reduced to? tearing each other down? no wonder the haters and right-wing fascists find it so easy to infiltrate...do we now need to take notes from the Mexican progressive movement (who are now entrenched in a grassroots movement to keep the bush-appointee Calderon from privatizing the Mexican oil industry)?
i close with this: This older white guy asked his older black friend, "Are you voting for Barack Obama just because he's black?"
So the older black guy fires back and says, "Are you NOT voting for him because he's black? Why can't I vote for him just cause he's black? Hell in this country men are pulled over everyday just cause they're black, passed over for promotions just cause they're black, considered to be criminals just cause they're black, but you don't seem to have a problem with that. This country was built with the sweat and whip off the slaves back, and now a descendent of those same slaves has a chance to lead the same country where we weren't even considered to be human. A country where we weren't allowed to be educated, drink from the same water fountains, eat in the same restaurants, or even vote, so you damn right I'm going to vote for him! But not just because he's black. But because he is hope, he is change, and he now allows me to understand when my grandson says he wants to be president when he grows up, it is not a fairy tale but a short term goal. Now he sees, understands, and knows, he can achieve, withstand, and do anything just because he's black!"
I'm out,
Peace
CS
Spoken like a true sheeple, CS.
The juxtaposition of your hate followed by peace sign is truly inspiring. Along with the twisting of my context. I noted my vote against Obama was a protest vote. Grow up, son.
Only one of you hit the real point because only one candidate has actually talked about real monitary reform that would benefit the people, not the system. That's abolishing the Federal Reserve (or lets call it what it is, the Private Central Bank of the U.S.) and that candidate was Ron Paul. I'm for public education, think that the government can provide a safety net for its people, administer health care more efficiently, and do public works projects that benefit the country.
But you progressives need to start talking with the better educated libertarians on the Federal Reserve issue. This private corporation controls our money supply and operates, in conjunction with our government, to create perminant debt because of the way money is created.
Also... Federal Income tax makes sense, and I feel that a progessive taxation system would help fairly fund government services such as health care, salaries for employees, and various other services. But I got a newsflash for all of you... NONE OF THE MONEY WE PAY IN INCOME TAX GOES TOWARDS PAYING FOR A SINGLE SALARY (employee, contractor, or mercenary) OR A SINGLE GOVERNMENT SERVICE. It is literally stolen. If the Fed is abolished while keeping income tax in place, we can easily afford health care, reasonable security, and large projects like public transportation and subsidized college and trade school education.
Check out the Grace Commission and start building a coalition with the Ron Paul libertarians. Perhaps we can forge a bridge where we can apply our ideologies when it is appropriate. Single payer health care, yes. Deregulating small, post-industrial farms to ease the burden on true organic farmers, I say yes. Perhaps a coalition like this is the real way to a third party. But abolishing the Federal Reserve is issue we should unite on.
Side note... only 2 candidates were not members of the Council on Foreign Relations: Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul.
cocoa swann proves my point,
Mussolini implemented Fascism by appealing to pure emotionalism.
Political fanatics, both neolib and neocon are as unhinged as religious fanatics, wether Wahabi or Opus Dei, they embrace an anti-intellectualist viewpoint, and refuse to rationally examine the facts.
To CS as an African American I wonder how Black folks let this dude in the house without being patted down?
Were was his voice when Katrina happened,
or Dafur,
or Jena,
or Duke U.
or the drugs ravaging our neighborhoods
or the lack of Afrocentric courses in high schools
or the 50 percent Black male unemployment rate,
or the forced regentrification of the Black community in Chicago
or Mumia Abu Jamal
"""before he decided to run for president"""?
And now that is running,
what promise has he made to the Black community?
None!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He takes us for granted,
but promises Isreal the entire Middle East,
no matter how many Black troops must die.
You don't get it do you?!
He is a Negro Bourne Supremacy designed to dupe Black folks into blindly following a Neocon agenda of Global Hegemony!
And that is not just a Black issue,
but an issue of National concern!
CocoaSwann June 16th, 2008 2:14 pm
Why can't I vote for him just cause he's black?
Weird, one white parent and one black parent makes you black. What makes you white? Why can't 1/2 black and 1/2 white make you white? Do I detect racism?
Why do people insist on Obama being Black? He certainly doesn't sound Black. He doesn't sound like the champion of Black people does he? He sounds more like a rich White dude.
If you cross a Poodle with a German Shepherd do you get a German Shepherd?
To Tailcap I will condescend, this first and last time,
to clarify the facts for you.
Adam Clayton Powell, though he looked white was Black.
Mulatoes(Black and white parentage),
from after the emancipation to the time of the lynchings during 1910-1930 were concidered niggers when one out of evey 10 white men were members of the Grand Knights of the Klu klux Klan.
During the time of segregation all mulatoes were conciderd classified and ostricized as colored or negro.
"He doesn't sound Black",
who is the racist now.
You know during the civil rights era white liberals were involved in the movement along with Blacks, now you want to forget all that and say he doesnt sound Black cause he doesnt talk like Jay Z or 50 cent.
Maybe you need to listen to a tape or watch a DVD of Malcom X or Paul Robeson to see who he talks like, even though his politics is on the opposite side of the spectrum.
He identifies as being Black if you read his autobiography.
I have no problem with Black folks who practice the "Sith"
faith.
I just don't think they are beneficial to the general good of Black folks or our nation.
Asante Sana!
I have heard Malchom X and MLK talk. Their message is truth. When I say Obama doesn't sound Black I am not talking about the sophistication of his oration or the tonal quality of his enunciation.
What I mean is his message. What is Obama's message to Black people? Deadbeat Black dads pay your child support? Pull yourselves up by your bootstraps? He identifies as Black. Is he just using his "Blackness" as a marketing gimmick? What has he done for the Black community?
If you cross a Poodle with a German Shepherd do you get a German Shepherd?
Adam Clayton Powell, though he looked white was Black.
I just looked up Clayton Powell. His paternal grandfather was white, as were several of his mother's ancestors. But yes, he looks white but was considered Black.
My maternal great, great, grandmother was black, my father's line was White. Although I have green eyes, light skin, Caucasian features and once had blond hair I am still black. You would never have guessed it looking at me. I presume all it takes to be considered Black is one drop. Imagine that, it took me 49 years to figure out I am Black.
Nowadays I think being a pro-establishment candidate and Black is a big plus. Look at Condi Rice, Colin Powell and Clarence Thomas. I bet it didn't take them long to figure that out.
http://johnmcpain.blogspot.com/
No, you get a German Poodle.
Part of Obama's economic plan is to get a rate cap in place on all lending, and keep it at 36%, which makes payday lending untenable. Accusations of predatory lending are only backed up by anecdotal evidence, whereas the empirical (which means legitimate) evidence stacks up on the side of the payday loan lenders providing a needed service.