With an economy that's weak and getting weaker together with a public that can be said to be seething as well as being starved for even the slightest amount of actual presidential leadership on the issue, Barry "Almighty" is, unfortunately, expected to offer up very little on Thursday. If the rumors are anywhere near being accurate we'll be hearing little than more of the same of we've already heard ad nauseam, and definitely nothing which warrants a speech before a joint session of Congress. A speech that will, in all likelihood, be nothing more than an attempt my Barry to scold Congress in yet another effort to pass the buck. Because, as always with Barry, the buck can never be expected to stop with him, it's usually made to stop with Bush. Anyway, what we are most likely to hear from Barry, on Thursday night, is his proposing of "Stimulus II" which will consist of nothing more than an additional $300 Billion in federal spending and tax cuts that Barry will once again boldly promise as being that which will result in getting Americans working again. Republicans did offer, on Tuesday, to compromise with him on jobs, but at the same time also assailed his plans in advance of his much ballyhooed prime-time speech. In effect, however, Barry can be considered as batting cleanup on this shortened holiday week, with Republican White House contender Mitt Romney beating Barry to the punch in releasing his jobs proposals on Tuesday and front-running Texas Gov. Rick Perry hoping to join his presidential rivals Wednesday evening on a nationally televised debate stage for the first time. Also added into the mix is the fact that a bipartisan congressional committee is slated to hold its first public meeting on Thursday as it embarks on a quest for deficit cuts of $1.2 trillion or more over a decade. So it's a very crowded week with Barry doing his best to grab some time on the spotlight.
So it is then that according to people familiar with the White House deliberations, two of the biggest measures that we can expect to see in Barry’s proposals for 2012, are a one-year extension of a payroll tax cut for workers and an extension of expiring jobless benefits. Together those two would total about $170 billion, and neither of which, it is said by those who should know, will do much of anything in working toward the solving of our continuing unemployment situation. And as always, of course, those choosing to speak on the topic, did so on the condition of anonymity because the plan was still being finalized and some proposals could still be subject to change. The White House is also considering a tax credit for businesses that hire the unemployed. That could cost about $30 billion. Barry has also called for public works projects, such as school construction. Advocates of that plan have called for spending of $50 billion, but the White House proposal is expected to be smaller. Barry also is expected to continue for one year a tax break for businesses that allows them to deduct the full value of new equipment. The president and Congress negotiated that provision into law for 2011 last December. Though Barry has said he intends to propose long-term deficit reduction measures to cover the up-front costs of his jobs plan, White House spokesman Jay "Dim Bulb" Carney said Barry would not lay out a wholesale deficit reduction plan in his speech. Of course not! Look, businesses are simply not going to go on some hiring binge without knowing what's going to be happening long term. These intermediary proposals will accomplish absolutely nothing. Which I still contend, is Barry's intention. It's all window dressing. He's getting us further into the ditch while at the same time maintaining or increasing the number of people becoming dependent on the government.
In a letter to Barry on Tuesday, House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor outlined possible areas for compromise on jobs legislation. Separately, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said last month’s unemployment report, it showed a painfully persistent 9.1 percent, which in reality is 16.2 percent, jobless rate and no net gain of jobs, “should be a wakeup call to every member of Congress.” Whatever the potential for eventual compromise on the issue at the top of the public’s agenda, the finger pointing was already under way. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell predicted Barry’s Thursday night speech to Congress on jobs legislation would include “more of the same failed approach that’s only made things worse over the past few years.” McConnell spoke a few moments after Reid spewed the standard Democrat mantra, accusing Republicans of insisting upon “reckless cuts to hurt our economic recovery,” rather than working with Democrats to create job-creating legislation. Left largely ignored in the latest round of political bitchslaps was a remarkable run of late-summer polls that show the country beginning to sour on Barry’s disastrous performance in handling the economy. A Washington Post-ABC survey, usually one of the more dubious polls out there, released Monday found that 60 percent of those polled expressed disapproval of Barry’s handling of the economy. Thirty-four percent said his proposals were making the situation worse and 47 percent said they were having no effect – dismal soundings for a president headed into a re-election campaign. Only 19 percent said the country was moving in the right direction. But Congress doesn't fare much better with the Post-ABC News poll finding only 28 percent approval for the job the Republicans are doing, and 68 percent disapproval. But just what kind of a job are people expecting the Republicans to do? Controlling only the House doesn't provide much of a platform from which to push a very ambitious agenda.
In their letter to Barry, Boehner and Cantor wrote that neither party would win all it wants from the coming debate over jobs legislation. “We should not approach this as an all-or-nothing situation,” they said, striking a conciliatory tone in the first moments of a post-summer session of Congress. But it was unclear what, if any, concessions they were prepared to make. “We are not opposed to initiatives to repair and improve infrastructure,” they wrote, saying they favor repeal of a current requirement for 10 percent of highway funds to be spent on items such as museums or bike trails. But they did not say they would support any additional funding for construction, and aides declined to provide any additional details. Boehner and Cantor also said the House was ready to pass free trade agreements negotiated with Colombia, Panama and South Korea measures, which they noted the White House estimates would create 250,000 jobs. The administration wants the trade deals approved simultaneously with legislation to provide job training and other benefits for workers who lose their job to imports, and the letter from the Republican leaders promised they would consider such measures rather than pledging to pass them. There was maneuvering on another front during the day. Democrats won approval in a Senate subcommittee for legislation adding $6 billion in spending to pay victims of Hurricane Irene and past disasters dating to Hurricane Katrina, including $4 billion for the 2012 budget year. Republicans did not object, even though the legislation did not include other cuts to offset the cost and the new spending would exceed levels permitted in a sweeping compromise passed last month to cut future deficits by nearly $1 trillion over a decade. It is unclear when the measure will come to the Senate floor, and whether Republicans will attempt to offset the increase when it does. In comments in recent weeks, Cantor has said any increase must be offset.
For his part, Mitt Romney chose Nevada, where unemployment stood at a nationwide high of 12.9 percent in July, for a campaign speech in which he outlined numerous proposals to create jobs. He called for lowering the maximum corporate tax from 35 percent to 25 percent and abolishing the tax on dividends and investment earnings for anyone making less than $200,000 a year. He also said any new government regulation that raises costs for businesses should be accompanied by other steps to reduce the burden by an identical amount. “America should be a job machine, jobs being created all the time,” he said. The elements Romney outlined, lower taxes and less regulation, are the same as those advanced by Republicans in Congress. They are not something that we can expect to hear coming from Barry "Almighty" because these are actually something that would most likely result in a reducing of unemployment which is simply not something that Barry is wanting to have happen because it would result in people moving off the government dole therefore slipping through the grasp of the Democrats who want these people to remain in a position that would make it much more conducive for them to vote Democrat in an effort to preserve their government "benefits." Barry continues to play games with the lives of those who currently find themselves unemployed. They are considered as being nothing more than pawns in his continuing efforts to get re-elected.
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