This is Obama's initial plan

[Neil D]

Bring about real change to our economy

$1,000 Tax Cut for Middle Class American Families

Obama and Biden will cut income taxes by $1,000 for working families, because the economy needs to be revitalized from the bottom up, not top down.

Energy Rebates

Obama and Biden will enact a windfall profits tax on excessive oil company profits to give American families an immediate $1,000 emergency energy rebate to help families pay rising bills.

Create Jobs through Fair Trade

Obama and Biden believe that trade with foreign nations should create American jobs, not send them overseas. They will stand firm against agreements that undermine our economic security.

Create 5 Million Green Jobs

Obama and Biden believe that we should invest in innovation and manufacturing jobs in the growing clean energy market, freeing us from our dependence on foreign oil within a decade and creating 5 million green jobs.

New Jobs Through National Infrastructure Investment

Obama and Biden believe that rebuilding our highways, bridges, roads, ports, air, and train systems will create jobs, ensure safety, and bolster our long-term competitiveness.

Technology, Innovation and Creating Jobs

Obama and Biden will increase federal support for research, technology and innovation for companies and universities so that American workers can lead the world in cutting edge jobs and products.

Support Small Business

Obama and Biden will level the playing field for small business by eliminating all capital gains taxes on start-up and small businesses.

Labor

Obama and Biden will strengthen the ability of workers to organize for good wages, healthcare, and secure pensions. Obama and Biden will fight for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Obama and Biden will ensure that labor appointees support workers' rights and will work to ban the permanent replacement of striking workers. Obama and Biden will also increase the minimum wage and make sure it remains a real wage year over year.

Protect Homeownership and Crack Down on Mortgage Fraud

Obama and Biden will crack down on fraudulent brokers and lenders. They will make sure homebuyers have honest and complete information about their mortgage options, and they will give a tax credit to all middle-class homeowners.

Address Predatory Credit Card Practices

Obama and Biden will establish a five-star rating system so that every consumer knows the risk involved in credit card borrowing. They will establish a Credit Card Bill of Rights to stop credit card companies from exploiting consumers with unfair practices.

Reform Bankruptcy Laws

Obama and Biden will reform our bankruptcy laws to protect working people, to ban executive bonuses for bankrupt companies, and to require disclosure of all pension investments.

Work/Family Balance

Obama and Biden will help working families by doubling funding for after-school programs, expanding the Family Medical Leave Act. They will provide low-income families with a refundable tax credit to help with their child-care expenses, and encourage flexible work schedules.

Ok, there is Obama's plan....

What's right with it? What is wrong with it?

Does McCain have a better plan? Let's see it. Talkin' issues, not people.

[Woody]

A thousand dollars won't even touch what we owe the government to bail out all the rich folks.

[Dr. Shane]

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$1,000 Tax Cut for Middle Class American Families

Sounds good but middle class needs to be defined and I would like to know where all this money is going to come from.

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Energy Rebates

A guaranteed way to increase the cost of gasoline and heating oil.

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Create 5 Million Green Jobs

How? Who is going to invest? Where is the money going to come from?

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New Jobs Through National Infrastructure Investment

Great! I am always in favor of more construction. Where is the money going to come from?

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Technology, Innovation and Creating Jobs

Who is going to create these jobs? Are these going to be government jobs? Where does the money come from?

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Support Small Business

Eliminate capital gains taxes on small businesses? Great. How do we define a small business?

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Labor

Sounds like pandering to the labor unions. Reform is needed in the labor union laws buy it needs to be balanced not only to protect the workers but to protect the future of unions. Allowing unions to become to strong will mean less private sector jobs will be unionized. The private sector will simply move overseas to to right-to-work states like Texas.

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Work/Family Balance

Sounds good but I would have to see the details of the plan. I expect similar type of legislation if Palin has any influence in a McCain White House.

[Tallmark]

Take from the rich, give to the lazy. Obama 08!

[Neil D]

Take from the rich, give to the lazy. Obama 08!

No thought process as to WHY you oppose Obamas plans...Nothing like what Shane has done. You just say the same ol' rant. That's laziness. By your own principles, you should vote for Obama...

[Neil D]

A thousand dollars won't even touch what we owe the government to bail out all the rich folks.

Oh come on, Redwood. McCAin want to give you a $.60/gallon cut at the pumps for 3 months...enough to get you 250 miles down the road on a vacation. At the rate prices are increasing at the pump, I will be able to go down there and back on $1000. Is that the type of goverment you want? One that doesn't care for you?

[Tom Wetmore]

...Sounds good but middle class needs to be defined and I would like to know where all this money is going to come from...

If you paid attention to something besides FOXNoise you might have picked up what Obama has repeated over and over. The tax break for the middle class is for the 85% of Americans making less than $250,000 per year. And the money comes from the Bush tax break for the very wealthy that is scheduled to be phased in next year. Obama's plan would be to cut their unfair tax break to cover the cost for everyone else.

[Dr. Shane]

Actually I watch CNN, MSNBC, NewsHour with Jim Lerher (PBS), Meet The Press (NBC), Al Jazeera English as well as FOXNews.

I have not heard Obama define the middle class as those making less than $250,000/year. I have heard him say that no one making less than $250,000 per year will have their taxes increased.

This is the problem and why I stated I would like to know how he defines a small business. Many small business owners are not incorporated. The business owner and the small business are one in the same. Many of these small businesses make over $250,000/year and thus the Obama tax-hike will impact thousands of these small businesses.

As far as phasing out Bush's tax cuts, that is not a guarantee of increased revenues. In the past, revenues have actually decreased when taxes were raised. Furthermore, Obama has said that if the economy doesn't pick up he would be willing to consider extending the Bush tax cuts.

[Neil D]

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$1,000 Tax Cut for Middle Class American Families

Sounds good but middle class needs to be defined and I would like to know where all this money is going to come from-Shane.

From Obama campaign-

* Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families: Obama and Biden will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama and Biden will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans.

* Eliminate Income Taxes for Seniors Making Less than $50,000: Barack Obama will eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year. This proposal will eliminate income taxes for 7 million seniors and provide these seniors with an average savings of $1,400 each year. Under the Obama-Biden plan, 27 million American seniors will also not need to file an income tax return.

* Simplify Tax Filings for Middle Class Americans: Obama and Biden will dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes. Obama and Biden will ensure that the IRS uses the information it already gets from banks and employers to give taxpayers the option of pre-filled tax forms to verify, sign and return. Experts estimate that the Obama-Biden proposal will save Americans up to 200 million total hours of work and aggravation and up to $2 billion in tax preparer fees.

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Obama and Biden will enact a windfall profits tax on excessive oil company profits

Now, I know you are going to say that the oil company will pass those taxes onto the consumer, but I don't understand how that is taxing "the excessive profits" when the bottom line [ie 'Profits"] is not even known at the gas pump.

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Create 5 Million Green Jobs

New Jobs Through National Infrastructure Investment

Invest in the Manufacturing Sector and Create 5 Million New Green Jobs

Where is this funding coming from?-Shane

* Invest in our Next Generation Innovators and Job Creators: Obama and Biden will create an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to identify and invest in the most compelling advanced manufacturing strategies. The Fund will have a peer-review selection and award process based on the Michigan 21st Century Jobs Fund, a state-level initiative that has awarded over $125 million to Michigan businesses with the most innovative proposals to create new products and new jobs in the state.

* Double Funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership: The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) works with manufacturers across the country to improve efficiency, implement new technology and strengthen company growth. This highly-successful program has engaged in more than 350,000 projects across the country and in 2006 alone, helped create and protect over 50,000 jobs. But despite this success, funding for MEP has been slashed by the Bush administration. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will double funding for the MEP so its training centers can continue to bolster the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers.

* Invest In A Clean Energy Economy And Create 5 Million New Green Jobs: Obama and Biden will invest $150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial scale renewable energy, invest in low emissions coal plants, and begin transition to a new digital electricity grid. The plan will also invest in America's highly-skilled manufacturing workforce and manufacturing centers to ensure that American workers have the skills and tools they need to pioneer the first wave of green technologies that will be in high demand throughout the world.

* Create New Job Training Programs for Clean Technologies: The Obama-Biden plan will increase funding for federal workforce training programs and direct these programs to incorporate green technologies training, such as advanced manufacturing and weatherization training, into their efforts to help Americans find and retain stable, high-paying jobs. Obama and Biden will also create an energy-focused youth jobs program to invest in disconnected and disadvantaged youth.

* Boost the Renewable Energy Sector and Create New Jobs: The Obama-Biden plan will create new federal policies, and expand existing ones, that have been proven to create new American jobs. Obama and Biden will create a federal Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) that will require 25 percent of American electricity be derived from renewable sources by 2025, which has the potential to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs on its own. Obama and Biden will also extend the Production Tax Credit, a credit used successfully by American farmers and investors to increase renewable energy production and create new local jobs.

I am suspecting that the money is already there, being channeled in some government efforts already, like to Halliburton for overcharging the Military for foods....Perhaps it will be a borrowing against future taxes once the new jobs are created....

There is a LOT of tax dollars being spent...so much so, that I can't get my head around the amount nor keep track of it all...I suspect that the american people are underestimating the amount of money that's out there. William Beach, director of the Center for Data Analysis, told members of Congress that the Iraq war has already cost taxpayers $646 billion. I can't keep track of that...can you?

Support Small Business

* Provide Tax Relief for Small Businesses and Start Up Companies: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will eliminate all capital gains taxes on start-up and small businesses to encourage innovation and job creation. Obama and Biden will also support small business owners by providing a $500 “Making Work Pay” tax credit to almost every worker in America. Self-employed small business owners pay both the employee and the employer side of the payroll tax, and this measure will reduce the burdens of this double taxation.

* Create a National Network of Public-Private Business Incubators: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will support entrepreneurship and spur job growth by creating a national network of public-private business incubators. Business incubators facilitate the critical work of entrepreneurs in creating start-up companies. Obama and Biden will invest $250 million per year to increase the number and size of incubators in disadvantaged communities throughout the country.

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Sounds like pandering to the labor unions. Reform is needed in the labor union laws buy it needs to be balanced not only to protect the workers but to protect the future of unions. Allowing unions to become to strong will mean less private sector jobs will be unionized. The private sector will simply move overseas to to right-to-work states like Texas.

Labor

Obama and Biden will strengthen the ability of workers to organize unions. He will fight for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Obama and Biden will ensure that his labor appointees support workers' rights and will work to ban the permanent replacement of striking workers. Obama and Biden will also increase the minimum wage and index it to inflation to ensure it rises every year.

* Ensure Freedom to Unionize: Obama and Biden believe that workers should have the freedom to choose whether to join a union without harassment or intimidation from their employers. Obama cosponsored and is strong advocate for the Employee Free Choice Act, a bipartisan effort to assure that workers can exercise their right to organize. He will continue to fight for EFCA's passage and sign it into law.

* Fight Attacks on Workers' Right to Organize: Obama has fought the Bush National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) efforts to strip workers of their right to organize. He is a cosponsor of legislation to overturn the NLRB's "Kentucky River" decisions classifying hundreds of thousands of nurses, construction, and professional workers as "supervisors" who are not protected by federal labor laws.

* Protect Striking Workers: Obama and Biden support the right of workers to bargain collectively and strike if necessary. They will work to ban the permanent replacement of striking workers, so workers can stand up for themselves without worrying about losing their livelihoods.

* Raise the Minimum Wage: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will raise the minimum wage, index it to inflation and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs.

Does that answer your questions, Shane?

[Dr. Shane]

Middle Class: I don't see a definition of the middle class like: family of 4 earning between $45,000 and $100,000.

Profits Tax: Profits are incentives. Profits provide incentives for management to manage a company well. Profits provide incentives for companies to grow and expand. Profits provide incentives for investors to invest in a company. Hypothetically let's say the oil companies earn $1 for every gallon of gas sold and must pay 35¢ tax (35%). The windfall profits tax would boost that to 50%. So oil companies simply increase the cost of gasoline 15¢ per gallon to pay the additional 15% windfall profit tax. That way they are still netting the same amount of profits.

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Obama and Biden will create an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to

Where will the money come from to fund this fund? The windfall profits tax? If we open up off-shore drill and ANWR we will see a major increase in oil revenues and tax revenues from individuals and companies associated with the oil industry.

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I am suspecting that the money is already there, being channeled in some government efforts already, like to Halliburton

The money being spent on the war is borrowed money. We do not want to allocate that money to other areas. Once we get out of Iraq we want to reduce our federal budget by the amount we were borrowing to pay for the war.

Unions: 80% of union members are government workers. That tells us something about our government. If the government is of the people and for the people why do the people working for it need to be unionized? Such workers include teachers, police, postal workers, county workers, city workers, state employees, etc. Only 20% of union members are working for the private sector. If we want to increase that number we need union reform that will make unions more attractive to business owners. The future of unions in the US depends on making unions an attractive option for business owners. Business owners want dependable and skilled labor. Business owners don't like training employees or searching for them. Unions can be attractive providing the labor needs of businesses and at the same time assure the workers are receiving a fair wage. As long as unions have an adversarial approach to business, the business world will continue to move overseas and find ways to exclude unions.

[Neil D]

Middle Class: I don't see a definition of the middle class like: family of 4 earning between $45,000 and $100,000.

Profits Tax: Profits are incentives. Profits provide incentives for management to manage a company well. Profits provide incentives for companies to grow and expand. Profits provide incentives for investors to invest in a company. Hypothetically let's say the oil companies earn $1 for every gallon of gas sold and must pay 35¢ tax (35%). The windfall profits tax would boost that to 50%. So oil companies simply increase the cost of gasoline 15¢ per gallon to pay the additional 15% windfall profit tax. That way they are still netting the same amount of profits.

[Dr. Shane]

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windfall profit tax will fall on companys who make "excessive profits"...which means that companys who don't, wont have to pay that tax...making thier gas a few cents cheaper

Neil: just a friendly reminder. the "e" comes before the "i" in their just like in Neil.

Excessive profits has yet to be defined. What is excessive? If a company charges 7% profit for their product (like gasoline) when the cost of the product increases, their 7% is going to increase as well. Does that 7%, at some point, become an excessive?

What will result is exactly what I described. Exxon/Mobile are not going to drop their profit margin from 7% to 3% in order to avoid a windfall profits tax. Nor will Shell, Total or BP. What they will do is increase their margin from 7% to 9% in order to pay the tax.

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We need to upgrade our steel mills and upgrade our manufacturing techniques to make us more competative in the market place..

This is simply wrong. America is at the top of its game in manufacturer. There are companies manufacturing products in other parts of the world that are as good as American firms but certainly not better. Our manufacturing industry went through a rut in the '70s and '80s but has come back strong. However our efficiency has meant the loss of jobs. Many of our manufacturers are producing more goods with less workers. This is largely because of the integration of technology into manufacturing.

[Neil D]

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Neil: just a friendly reminder. the "e" comes before the "i" in their just like in Neil. bwink

Sorry, but the spell checker keeps changing it....

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Excessive profits has yet to be defined. What is excessive? If a company charges 7% profit for their product (like gasoline) when the cost of the product increases, their 7% is going to increase as well. Does that 7%, at some point, become an excessive?

I have no problem with an oil company making a couple of million, even $10 million...Shoot, $30 million is ok...and it's still a lot of money....

But when Cheveron makes $32 Billion....something inside says you are gouging the consumer and you had better start doing something to pay your customer back....I know that what they did was all within the law, but when people are hurting, there's something wrong..

[Dr. Shane]

The companies are just so big, that is why the total profit is so big. The actual percentage of profit they are making is not excessive when compared with profits made in other industries.

[Neil D]

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The companies are just so big, that is why the total profit is so big.

Nah....Think about it...they put out the same amount every day [Ok, maybe on a daily basis, a little more one day than the next, but averages are the same]...the demand goes up, they increase the price, their profits goes up...

[Neil D]

Blueprint for change by Obama

[Dr. Shane]

The oil companies do not set the price for oil. It is like a farmer and corn. The farmer doesn't set the price for corn. These are market driven commodities.

[Neil D]

The oil companies do not set the price for oil. It is like a farmer and corn. The farmer doesn't set the price for corn. These are market driven commodities.

Energy is not like corn or other products that you can choose to use or not. I may not want corn, but I also have wheat available to me....Gas and energy/eclectrical is not something that I can just do without....Nor can anyone else. Sure, camping is fun for a few days, but month after month get real old real fast.

There is a responsiblity, in the energy sector, like the banking sector, that integrety is needed. We don't need to see oilcompanys paying thier CEO, COO, and CFO megabucks while the janitor is not making a fair share as well...Everyone likes to have bonus' when the economy is doing well. When time are lean, everyone tighten's his belt and works that much harder....But the balance sheet should reflect that.

So, when your CEO is makinging literally hundreds of millions of dollars, and the janitor is still making minimum wage, you can bet your bottom dollar that there is financial/social injustice going on...That money needs to go back into the company and to the indiviual who work to make those billions. And then, it needs to go back to the society. But, hey, who am I? 'cept a man without much money..

[Dr. Shane]

Which oil company pays their janitors minimum wage?

[Neil D]

Which oil company pays their janitors minimum wage?

Substitue Hospital CEO for Oil CEO....and realize that the hospital housekeeping departemnt, each employee made 1/12 that of the Hospital CEO...and that was in '96 when I was looking it up....

And the hospital industry was concidered 'liberal'....

Those housekeepers were placing thier lives on the line for a measly $12k/year...They faced on a daily basis, needle sticks where doctors or nurses left needles or syringes with needs in the bedding of individuals who had procedures done... not to mention, the diarrhea residue that can contain some of the deadliest contact diseases....

The hospitals used to give appreciation gifts toward thier employess, like $50 gift certificates, back in the early 80's... Then they gave certificates of $35 specifically for turkeys. [Quite useless to a vegetarian], and then they just gave $35 grocery credit. Lately, they haven't been giving anything...just a generous "thank you".....But the CEO's wages [and upper management's] keep going up....

[Dr. Shane]

Has Obama suggested a wind-fall profit tax on hospitals?

[Neil D]

Has Obama suggested a wind-fall profit tax on hospitals?

A tax ON the hospital,...no...Recieving money from the goverment, in the form of Medicare....yes...