From Pennsylvia -
comments mine.
Obama says he would cut taxes for middle class
Jun 14 11:51 AM US/Eastern
By CHARLES BABINGTON
Associated Press Writer
WAYNE, Pa. (AP) - Democrat Barack Obama told voters Saturday he would push an aggressive economic agenda as president: cutting taxes for the middle class, raising taxes on the wealthy, pouring money into "green energy" and requiring employers to set up retirement saving plans for their workers.
Campaigning in Pennsylvania, a key battleground in the fall campaign, Obama said he would take a much more hands-on approach than would Republican John McCain. He again criticized McCain's proposal for a temporary halt in the federal gasoline tax. It would "actually do real harm," Obama said, by reducing revenue for road and bridge construction even as oil companies make record profits.
I don't really care about a temporary gas tax relief measure, but I am never opposed to anybody who thinks taxpayers will spend their own money more productively than the government will spend it. Obama isn't taking into account the reduced government revenues from a tourist and travel industry depressed because of high gas taxes. McCain does.
Speaking to about 200 people in Wayne, a Philadelphia suburb, Obama made no new proposals but emphasized earlier ones in light of rising gas prices, inflation and job losses. They include a $1,000 tax cut for most working families; a new Social Security tax on incomes above $250,000; a "windfall profits" tax on oil companies; a $4,000 annual college tuition credit for those who commit to national or community service programs; and an end to income taxes for elderly people making less than $50,000 a year.
What provision will be made I wonder to collect that $4000 credit for students who drop out? What will constitute a 'national or community service program'? Why not provide some strong incentives for universities to make higher education more affordable and increase their graduation rates so that more students would be able to finance their own education?
Obama said he could pay for his programs by eliminating the Bush administration's tax cuts for the wealthy, winding down the Iraq war and spending more on alternative energy programs that eventually will save money.
Well at least we have moved from 'bringing the troops home immediately' to 'winding down the Iraq war' which makes Obama's plan for Iraq identical to everybody else's. Obama misses the boat, however, by elminating the Bush administration's tax cuts for the 'wealthy' because I believe history shows that we will see almost an immediate decrease in treasury revenues and economic growth.
He said employers should be required to set up retirement saving plans for workers even if they contribute no money to them. Workers would automatically be enrolled unless they choose to opt out, he said. That way, he said, "most people will save more."
The federal government should not be requiring private employers to do anything other than not violate the Constitution and file appropriate necessary paperwork. This is waaaaaay too much big brother for me.
He also vowed to spend $150 billion over 10 years to establish a "green energy sector." It would require greater fuel efficiency in cars and devote more money to solar, wind, and biodiesel energy.
Oh goody. We can look forward to even higher taxes, higher fuel costs, and higher food costs by not providing incentives and otherwise leaving all that to the private sector to accomplish. More big government.
Taking audience questions, Obama praised Thursday's Supreme Court decision to allow detainees at Guantanamo Bay to challenge their imprisonment in federal courts. Enforcing habeas corpus rights, he said, is "the essence of who we are."
Even when Nazis' atrocities became known in the 1940s, he said, "we still gave them a day in court" at the Nuremberg trials. "That taught the entire world about who we are," he said.
McCain sharply criticized the court ruling, saying it would hamper the war on terrorism.
The Nazi war criminals were tried and convicted via military tribunal, not under any nation's Constitutional law or court system. John McCain who has refused to condone torture and has advocated closing Guatanamo still sees the very real problems and danger of giving enemy combatants the same rights and privileges as US Citizens. I think Obama is likely to appoint judges who will do just that. McCain won't.
Obama said McCain would be likely to appoint Supreme Court nominees who would allow states to outlaw abortion. "You're just one justice away from that," he said, alluding to the court's narrow ideological divisions.
Abortion nor any other issue like it should have ever been a federal issue in the first place. States or local communities should be able to excercize their 10th Amendment right to set the moral and ethical standards for their own people. I'm guessing a few states might outlaw most abortion, but I'm guessing most won't. Several might adopt Roe v Wade type legislation that would make it more difficult to casually use abortion as just one more form of birth control.
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