Obama's Job Speech

[Jacob]

Really, really bad. I think he is really being sincere and thinks he might convince someone in congress. But he's probably not that dumb. This is a political speech.

But the speech is so poorly written that I'm guessing he wrote most of it himself.

[Surfah]

I can't believe he used the Warren Buffet pays less taxes than his secretary and is willing to pay more bit.

[Surfah]

I wonder how much the latest terrorist threat will distract from his speech and plan. I effing hate terrorists.

[dabrockster]

There was a Presidential speech??? Sorry. Was busying watching Big Brother..

[Moliere]

I can't believe he used the Warren Buffet pays less taxes than his secretary and is willing to pay more bit.

I didn't watch the speech but it sounds like he's proposing stimulus #ilostcount.

[NorthwestUteFan]

(quoted from memory):
"America used to be an economic superpower. We cannot stand idly by while China builds new state-of-the-art airports and high-speed railroads while we have millions of construction workers out of work. We need to put them to work building bridges, highways...and schools."

Perhaps China will lend us the money to build up our infrastructure? Of course China will probably point to the fact that we have already spent ~$6 Trillion over the last 15 years doing precisely that. And this doesn't take into account whether the highway, airport, of railroad should be built because it is required to support commerce, or if it will be built 'just because' or solely to create jobs.

And if Buffet's claim of paying a lower rate on his INVESTMENT-derived income than his secretary whose income is 100% derived from WAGES, then perhaps he should suggest raising the capital gains tax rate to somewhere north of the top income tax rate. That probably wouldn't have an effect on investments in this country, would it Mr. President?

[dabrockster]

I didn't watch the speech but it sounds like he's proposing stimulus #ilostcount.

Sadly. When I went a read how he wanted to spend the 400 billion it made me sad. I do not think that will have any impact on our current situation. Most of those spending is through infrastructure which takes time to set up and is not an immediate influx of money directly to the people who will either spend or save it..

I think this "Jobs Act" he wants will continue to leave the markets unstable. The other question I have.. Where is he getting the money to cover this stimulus package.....

[Surfah]

(quoted from memory):
"America used to be an economic superpower. We cannot stand idly by while China builds new state-of-the-art airports and high-speed railroads while we have millions of construction workers out of work. We need to put them to work building bridges, highways...and schools."

Perhaps China will lend us the money to build up our infrastructure? Of course China will probably point to the fact that we have already spent ~$6 Trillion over the last 15 years doing precisely that. And this doesn't take into account whether the highway, airport, of railroad should be built because it is required to support commerce, or if it will be built 'just because' or solely to create jobs.

And if Buffet's claim of paying a lower rate on his INVESTMENT-derived income than his secretary whose income is 100% derived from WAGES, then perhaps he should suggest raising the capital gains tax rate to somewhere north of the top income tax rate. That probably wouldn't have an effect on investments in this country, would it Mr. President?

Yeah the infrastructure thing was weird also. Is he still pushing his high speed railroads?

[NorthwestUteFan]

Sadly. When I went a read how he wanted to spend the 400 billion it made me sad. I do not think that will have any impact on our current situation. Most of those spending is through infrastructure which takes time to set up and is not an immediate influx of money directly to the people who will either spend or save it..

I think this "Jobs Act" he wants will continue to leave the markets unstable. The other question I have.. Where is he getting the money to cover this stimulus package.....

Before the $600B QE2, the banks had ~$1T sitting in reserve. Now they have $1.6T in reserves, and they still won't lend money. A 'job stimulus' will be similar.

Also I am not one bit convinced in the magic of 'green jobs'. We will probably design the next generation of products, but most likely these products will be made overseas. America is no longer the manufacturing powerhouse it once was because we no longer train high school-aged to be machininsts, sheetmetal mechanics, steel workers, toolmakers, etc., because those are all 'dirty jobs' and "we love watching Mike Rowe do them, but our children are meant for better things."

[FN Phat]

Yeah the infrastructure thing was weird also. Is he still pushing his high speed railroads?

As an infrastucture/civil construction superintendent, I love the talk of pushing a much needed improvement to our infrastructure system in the US. That being said, why would he not want to get the union tradesmen amped up with the prospect of more work, especially when they are experiencing the greatest rate of unemployement in years?

[NorthwestUteFan]

Yeah the infrastructure thing was weird also. Is he still pushing his high speed railroads?

He mentioned them. They seem to work great in Europe, Japan, China, and a few other places. But America is too big and the infrastructure would be far too expensive to get it to work here.

We tried to take the Acela from Boston down to the DC area to visit my in-laws for Thanksgiving one year. This is what we found:

Acela - ~$240-$360/person RT, 6.5 hours travel time each way, and that was in Coach.
Southwest - ~$98/person RT, <2hrs each way

Needless to say we went with the airline.

I am all for improving our infrastructure, but very strongly believe funding them should be left to the states. Even federal highway funds for the Interstate highways come with some very sticky strings attached, many of which extend beyond transportation (i.e. 'do such-and-such, or we will withhold highway funds').

[Surfah]

He mentioned them. They seem to work great in Europe, Japan, China, and a few other places. But America is too big and the infrastructure would be far too expensive to get it to work here.

We tried to take the Acela from Boston down to the DC area to visit my in-laws for Thanksgiving one year. This is what we found:

Acela - ~$240-$360/person RT, 6.5 hours travel time each way, and that was in Coach.
Southwest - ~$98/person RT, <2hrs each way

Needless to say we went with the airline.

I am all for improving our infrastructure, but very strongly believe funding them should be left to the states. Even federal highway funds for the Interstate highways come with some very sticky strings attached, many of which extend beyond transportation (i.e. 'do such-and-such, or we will withhold highway funds').

I used to take Amtrak from DC to NYC all the time so I know all about it.

[NorthwestUteFan]

I used to take Amtrak from DC to NYC all the time so I know all about it.

Regular Amtrak trains were half as much and really weren't much slower (~8 hrs vs 6:30). But I wanted to experience the high speed train.

Oh well. The 737-400 at 517 mph was a better fit for our needs anyway. I can't imagine trying to bounce a bored 3 year-old boy for 8 hours on a train!

[Surfah]

Regular Amtrak trains were half as much and really weren't much slower (~8 hrs vs 6:30). But I wanted to experience the high speed train.

Oh well. The 737-400 at 517 mph was a better fit for our needs anyway. I can't imagine trying to bounce a bored 3 year-old boy for 8 hours on a train!

Yeah I don't know why people take the Acela over normal Amtrak. Either way it's never on time. It's not unlike riding a Greyhound in many ways. Except there are like 8 of them tied together.

[WashingtonCoug]

I don't understand why he's focusing so much on construction. What happens when the construction is done? Those workers will have jobs until the project is finished. They won't spend any money more than to pay off debts and bills. Hopefully if their smart they'll be saving the money. Which means the banks keep the money and add to the piles they already have. In the end we spend a ton of money that doesn't create any long term job.

Money needs to be spent in research and development. Innovation has been a trademark of the US during our most prosperous times.