Global News

Monday September 06, 2010

President Obama has for months said that rebuilding the economy and creating jobs is his "most urgent task." and today, despite sagging public confidence in his abilities, he will launch a week of events to again make the case that he means business.

Obama travels to Milwaukee, where he will begin to explain a "broader package of ideas" to stimulate the economy, including a six-year, $50 billion infrastructure plan to expand and renew the nation's roads, railways and runways.

The proposal, which needs congressional approval, would create 150,000 miles of road, 4,000 miles of rail and 150 miles of runway. White House officials say they are still devising a way to pay for the plan.

The president will also head to Cleveland on Wednesday, when he is expected to propose new tax breaks for small businesses and permanent extension of a research and development tax credit to help spark economic growth.

"The economy is moving in a positive direction, jobs are being created; they're just not being created as fast as they need to, given the big hole that we experienced," Obama said Friday. "We're moving in the right direction. We just have to speed it up."

The latest round of proposed economic fixes comes after the Labor Department reported last week that the economy shed 54,000 jobs in August and the unemployment rate ticked upward to 9.6 percent.

But private sector businesses did continue to add jobs for the eighth consecutive month, a sign that the White House maintains shows the economy is bouncing back.

"The economy is continuing to recovery, albeit at a somewhat slower pace than in the early spring," said Christina Romer, the outgoing chairwoman of the president's Council of Economic Advisors.

Many economists believe additional stimulus measures, such as those Obama is proposing, could hasten the job growth the economy needs in the months ahead.

"At this point, it's not my ideal strategy," said the economist Paul Krugman. "But I think if [Obama] can get a payroll tax holiday that's really largely, on paper, a tax cut for businesses, a lot of the benefit would flow to workers and be a reason to employ more people. So, I'll take it."

Still, its unclear whether Congress will consider and pass the measures before the November elections or whether their effects would be felt by voters before they head to the polls.

So far, the small, positive economic gains touted by the administration -- and the argument by many Democrats that the recession could have been much worse without their economic policies -- have failed to win popular support.

The latest USA Today/Gallup poll found Americans believe Republicans would do a better job than Democrats in handling the economy by a 49 to 38 percent margin.