Senator Obama on the Economy

The high cost of living and the scarcity of high paying jobs makes today’s economy a dangerous place for working families.  Barack Obama’s economic plan is to relieve the tax burden that the Republican administration placed on middle and low income families and senior citizens.  Obama will work to create more jobs, strengthen the efforts for clean technologies, and strive to make college education less expensive.    

Obama’s economic plan is designed to help the families that are hurt most by high interest rates, high gas prices and the astronomical fees associated with college.  The mortgage and credit card industries are important areas that need to be regulated in order to protect American consumers.  Obama’s economic plan will simplify unnecessarily complicated topics, like borrowing money for buying a home and paying taxes.  Obama’s strategy will help the country to recover from the present recession and move the United States into its next period of prosperity. 

Mortgages, Protection and Government Priorities                                                               

The mortgage industry is a dangerous place for consumers, and the predatory lending practices that have been allowed by the Republican administration must be prohibited.  Barack Obama intends to protect the borrower, instead of creating bankruptcy loopholes for mortgage companies, as the Republicans have done.  Obama will close this loophole that protects mortgage companies and hurts hardworking families. 

Obama plans to create several programs to help ease the plight of the American worker.  His Stop Fraud Act will provide a government approved definition of mortgage fraud, which will allow the government to punish offending mortgage companies.  The government will fund investigations and enforce rules and regulations pertaining to dangerous lending practices and work to protect American families from predatory lending.

Taxes, College, and Money for Working Americans

Obama’s economic plan includes a series of tax breaks for the Americans that need them the most.  Senior citizens who earn less than $50,000 annually will not be required to pay income taxes.  The income tax for the general public will also be altered to help redistribute the tax burden to the wealthy tax payers and alleviate some of the weight placed on the shoulders of the lower and middle income families.  Also, Obama intends on simplifying the method by which Americans pay their taxes.  Obama’s economic plan claims that in 2004 it took Americans an average of twenty eight hours to complete their tax forms.  Much of this time was wasted filling in information that the IRS already knows.  Obama will change the tax forms so that the IRS will fill in all the information that they are privy to, and then send completed tax forms to Americans for their review and signature.  (BarackObama.com)

Obama’s “Making Work Pay” program will eliminate income taxes for millions of Americans and make the income tax refundable for others.  Obama claims that his plan will eliminate the income tax for millions of Americans.   This along with his plan to make college tuition cheaper will help to ease the worries of raising a family in today’s economy.  Obama’s plan to make college tuition less expensive is part of his proposal to expand the Child Care and Dependent tax credit.  Under Obama’s plan a “…universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university.” (BarackObama.com)

Credit Cards and Homeownership

Obama will also strive to help working class Americans by simplifying the tax system and the credit system.  He is dedicated to creating a Credit Card Bill of Rights that will protect borrowers and consumers and prohibit predatory lending.  This bill of rights will stop credit card companies from raising interest rates on old debt.  Obama wants to protect the American worker by helping families instead of making it easy for big business to manipulate them. 

Barack Obama plans to create a system that will make borrowing simpler.  A Homeowner Obligation Made Explicit score will standardize the home mortgage market.  Every mortgage company will be assessed and given a HOME score.  These scores will be a clear system that allows homeowners to appraise which mortgage is best for them right now and in the future.  Similarly, the government will also begin to rate the value and integrity of credit card companies.  A five star rating system will allow consumers to choose the company that is best for their future.  These rating systems will help to make borrowing and saving money simpler during this economic downturn. 

Click on the links below to read more about Barack Obama and the Economy:

A Stark Choice on the Economy - The Boston Globe 

Obama Holds Economic Roundtable with Governors - Washington Post

How Obama would fix the Economy - MSN.com

For Barack Obama’s Full Economic Plan click HERE. 

Click to download the AFL-CIO's Fact Flier about Barack Obama: Building an Economy that works for All.

Click to download the AFL-CIO's Fact Flier: Barack Obama Would Create Good Jobs and PROTECT Wages