President Barack Obama addressed the nation’s economic progress in a Sept. 10 press conference. He focused on the looming expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts. Particularly, he pressed the need for giving tax breaks to national corporations to spur job creation. There is a proposed permanent extension of the tax credit for companies investing in research and innovation. It’s expected that companies will also be allowed to accelerate depreciation of property, plant and equipment by writing off all such investments in 2011.
The high unemployment rate was another main focus of the address. As most economists press job creation as the only solution to push the economy out of the recession, Obama announced a six-year plan focused on modernizing America’s infrastructure as well as revitalizing the construction sector. The president believes this measure will solve some of the country’s unemployment-related woes.
The president also encouraged the Senate to pass a small business job bill. “It will provide incentives to invest and create jobs for 4 million small businesses,” Obama said. “It will more than double the amount some small business owners can borrow to grow their companies.” The bill also extends tax cuts to small business owners and eliminates capital gains taxes for investments in more than 1 million small businesses. The president emphasized that the bill will not add to the skyrocketing national deficit.
During the final moments of the speech, Obama named Austan Goolsbee the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. Goolsbee is set to replace Christina Romer.
While the president acknowledged that U.S. economic progress has been “painfully slow,” he insisted that current policies are bolstering the lagging economy. The speech was deeply laced with the pressure of partisan politics and the upcoming elections. Come November, Americans will decide who should command the economic turnaround.