If you didn’t have a chance to sit down and watch President Barack Obama’s speech on Wednesday night, you missed what you thought you missed: information that may affect your wallet. His focus was placed some on health care reform and foreign policy, but mostly, he discussed job growth and financial rules.
Job Growth a Top Priority
In Obama’s address, he noted, “One in 10 Americans still cannot find work.” He also touched on the problems associated with Americans having to work harder for less money and being unable to save for their retirements. And he acknowledged that “change has not come fast enough.”
“Jobs must be our number one focus in 2010,” he explained.
His proposal was to create a jobs bill that would include the following:
- Tax credit for small businesses: His hope is that providing tax credits to small businesses that hire new workers.
- Bailout repayments should go to companies: He proposed to use $30 billion of the money repaid by Wall Street banks to be redirected to community banks to help stimulate small small-business lending.
- Eliminate small business tax: He also called for eliminating capital-gains taxes on investments in small businesses to help them keep more money with the company, which could in turn offer more money for hiring.
The idea is to get businesses stimulated first, which in turn could stimulate the economy over a long period of time.
Financial Reform
Another priority on Obama’s list of things to do was to push for greater financial reform. After the financial crisis exploded and resulted in millions losing their jobs and homes, he explained that it is not just important for Big banks to repay what they owe, but also to make sure no more reckless actions occur to cause a similar situation in the future.
As a part of his solution, he reiterated his desire to impose a tax on Big Banks, which would guarantee that they would pay back their bailout funds.
Responses to the Address
There were many responses to the address, including some support from Republicans and even some criticism from Democrats. Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell gave a Republican party response to the speech that applauded and praised Obama’s efforts to support charter schools as well as his decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
However, he did criticize the nation’s inability to create jobs and said “our very liberty and prosperity” were threatened.
Business leaders also chimed in on how they felt about the speech. In response to Obama’s plans for small businesses and job growth, chief executive of Liz Claiborne Inc., Bill McComb, told reporters that he “love it” and that it was “what I wanted to hear.”
On the other hand, Dan DiMicco, chief executive officer of Nucor Corp. thought the speech showed a weak grasp of U.S. unemployment and felt that the stimulus plan/jobs bill was “not working on scale to stop overall job losses.”
For those who are still looking for work, the hope is that having greater access to employment opportunities and stricter financial regulations can indeed have an immediate effect on your wallet. However, after not-so-great approval ratings for his first year, many are skeptical that the president will be able to pull off what he promises to bring real change to the economy.