Goolsbee Returns!
Senior economic advisers to Barack Obama's campaign -- Austan Goolsbee and Jason Furman -- previewed the candidate's Raleigh speech and upcoming economic tour, saying that the country's economic woes are the result of the Bush administration's failed policies.
"This slowdown is not a random business cycle event that just happened to the country," Goolsbee said. "It is very much the culmination of a failed philosophy conducted over the last eight years."
President Bush, Goolsbee said, has excessively cut taxes while not providing relief for middle-income Americans.
He presented broad-brush highlights of Obama's economic plan:
-- $50B stimulus package
-- $10B package to prevent foreclosures
-- tax relief for "ordinary Americans," specifically a $1,000 tax cut for those making $150K or less
Goolsbee said the tax cut is the "single largest line in budget."
"This combination of stimulus, housing and tax relief for the middle clas are really critical and what we need now," he added.
Obama's domestic program would not increase the deficit. His health care plan, Goolsbee said, would be paid for by repealing some of the Bush tax cuts for high income earners. Winding down the Iraq war, too, will provide money for programs at home.
Furman, a visiting scholar at NYU who recently signed on with the campaign, said John McCain "essentially has no stimulus plan." And he charged that McCain's proposals to provide tax breaks to corporations would put President Bush's efforts to shame. "John McCain's tax policy is far more radical," he said.
The duo said any charge by the GOP that Obama will raise taxes is bunk.
A reporter's question about the IL senator's NAFTA plans went unanswered. Furman told the reporter that he's new and didn't have a ready reply, and Goolsbee, who was hammered during the primary contest for telling the Canadians not to mind Obama's campaign trail calls for NAFTA reform, remained silent.
(JENNIFER SKALKA)
Wow, a short-term fix AND a long-term sustainable plan? Imagine that.
After 8 years of insanity it's almost hard to imagine what it would be like to have someone who cares about something other than "corporate profits at all costs" running this country.
What a breath of fresh air.
When a company is having financial problems and a slow down, it re-creates itself, it reorganizes, it creates new products. Tax cuts and Raising Taxes are not necessary. The government needs to reorganize, become more efficient, review spending, review federal agencies, cut spending and be more productive. Dr. Drucker has taught us that a service industry should be run like a business, it has customers, it has a budget etc. A good place to start is the General Services Administration, it rents out private space for government agencies while some federal buildings are vacant. U.S. CIrcuit Judges have two sets of chambers 1) inside a federal courthouse 2) near their home. If they want the job, move closer to the courthouse. GSA spends millions of dollars per year renting out private space and buildings.