Obama Plans Vast Expansion of Assistance to Unemployed
 Printer-friendly
|
 Email article |
Related subjects: Denver Lessing, Economic Recovery, Education Policy, Healthcare Policy, Mortgage & Credit Crisis, U.S. Economy, U.S. news, U.S. Politics Comments Off
As the economic downturn deepens, and job losses continue, with the Treasury moving tens of billions of dollars in “bridge loans” into Chrysler, GM and GMAC, in hopes of preventing the collapse of American manufacturing and the loss of millions more jobs, with banks desperate enough to “deal over debt” that credit-card holders can no longer pay, President-elect Barack Obama is reported to be planning an expansion of unemployment assistance.
The New York Times reports:
President-elect Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats are considering major expansions of government-assisted health care insurance and unemployment compensation as they begin intensive work this week on a two-year economic recovery package.
One part of the plan is reported to include the extension of unemployment assistance to part-time workers. Republicans have blocked this proposal in the past, but Obama has been careful to include all specific policy points in an overall approach to economic recovery, a goal Republicans do not want to work against.
[ad#cafsen-intext]
Part of Obama’s plan to reinvigorate the job market includes a renewed focus on adult education. Without going as far as Sen. Bill Bradley’s 2000 proposal for “lifelong learning”, Obama has said he wants adults to be able to return to school or retrain, as needed, to ensure the American job market is more agile and richer in overall knowledge and skills.
The Times also notes that:
The proposals indicate the sorts of potentially long-range changes that Mr. Obama intends to push in his promised American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, as he named it in his weekly Saturday address on the radio and YouTube. They will be combined with one-time measures that are more typical of federal stimulus packages to jump-start a weak economy, like spending for roads and other job-creating public works projects.
Economic recovery is not a quick fix in Obama’s view, according to statements he has made, and plans he has announced throughout the transition. Public works, community reinvestment, spurring consumer spending —which will include a massive economic stimulus package and entails not abetting further waves of layoffs, and not leaving the unemployed unable to pay for basic expenses—, and a comprehensive overhaul of energy infrastructure, will fit together into a long-term strategy to restore sustained prosperity to the American economy.
| Printer-friendly
|
Email article |
CafeSentido Partner Sites: