Friday, August 12, 2011

Obama’s Economic Growth Agenda: Payroll Tax Cut, Unemployment Insurance Extension, and an Infrastructure Bank

President Barack Obama laid out three ideas for growing the economy during his August 8 address on the Standard & Poor’s credit downgrade and its impact on the markets.





“We should extend the payroll tax cut as soon as possible, so that workers have more money in their paychecks next year and businesses have more customers next year.

“We should continue to make sure that if you’re one of the millions of Americans who’s out there looking for a job, you can get the unemployment insurance that your tax dollars contributed to. That will also put money in people’s pockets and more customers in stores.”

The last time Obama got Congress to agree on these ideas, it was tied to an extension of the Bush era tax cuts on top-bracket earners.

“We should also help companies that want to repair our roads and bridges and airports, so that thousands of construction workers who’ve been without a job for the last few years can get a paycheck again. That will also help to spur economic growth.”

Obama doesn’t specifically mention an “infrastructure bank” here by name but describes the concept. Such a bank would extend targeted loans and limited loan guarantees to projects that would repay them through future revenue streams. Examples, as explained in this “New York Times” op-ed, would include toll roads and power plants.

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