The above looks pretty good, I just have two objections. The first objection is that his plan omits changes to the Alternative Minimum Tax. Due to generally increasing incomes middle-class individuals may find themselves "bracket-creeping" into higher AMT liabilities. (To be fair to Senator Obama, not many other politicians are talking about this either).White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) unveiled a package of tax breaks and programs Wednesday in Iowa that he said would help middle-class Americans.
As part of the initiatives, the senator proposed a $1,000 cut on payroll taxes for working families, the elimination of income taxes on retirees making less than $50,000 a year, a 10 percent tax credit on mortgage interest payments and a $4,000 tax credit for college tuition.
“We’re tired of tax cuts for the wealthy that shift the burden onto the backs of working people,” said Obama, who is trailing only Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) in the race for the Democratic nomination. “We need to give working families a break.”
The Illinois Democrat also promised to pass a universal healthcare bill that would cut family premiums up to $2,500 by 2012.
“Mark my words,” the senator said, “I will sign this bill by the end of my first term as president.”
Obama vowed to “press firms to put more money into their pension funds and require firms to disclose their pension fund agreements.”
In another effort to provide relief for middle-class Americans, Obama proposed to create a credit card bill of rights that would ban unilateral changes to a credit card agreement. The senator also promised to expand both after-school programs and the Family Medical Leave Act, crack down on mortgage fraud and reform student aid programs.
Obama’s campaign estimated his proposals would cost $26 billion a year.
My second objection is to this
I'd rather see something that works for the 47 million uninsured first. I think that has precedence to tinkering which affects those who do have coverage. Also I'd prefer to see how well uninsured people are covered before changes are made to the insurance system.The Illinois Democrat also promised to pass a universal healthcare bill that would cut family premiums up to $2,500 by 2012.
I was surprised about this one
I would have thought existing contract law prevented one party from unilaterally changing the conditions of the contract. I might be misunderstanding the proposal and the problem <shrug> anyone with knowledge feel like chiming in on this part?In another effort to provide relief for middle-class Americans, Obama proposed to create a credit card bill of rights that would ban unilateral changes to a credit card agreement.
I would have thought that SEC rules would have required that already. Maybe he means to expand those to companies that aren't publicly traded.Obama vowed to “press firms to put more money into their pension funds and require firms to disclose their pension fund agreements.”
It makes good sense to me regardless, more transparency is a good thing. And public scrutiny of previously private agreements might catch errors that were missed in planning.
So far I'm impressed by Senator Obama's policy proposals. I read a column a while back by George Will where he had words of praise for the Senator's economic adviser (Goolesby I think?), despite his advisor's differing (i.e. liberal) views.
ahh, a quick google search turned up the article in question. And the spelling is Goolsbee link
