Joshua Hitz
freshman from Paducah, Ky.
It’s been years since the beginning of the recession. Many people have lost their jobs, homes and so on. But with President Barack Obama’s new jobs plan there is supposed to be hope for the unemployed to regain their lost lives. Unfortunately it is still lacking some thought.
It seems like Obama is putting his foot down, and trying to do what he believes is right for the country, harping that Congress needs to pass the bill soon, if not immediately.
I’m glad to see our president finally getting off his ass and doing something not last minute, but congress has some legit reasons to not go head strong into this most recent job giver. As usual they aren’t going to handle with immediate or even delicate care.
The plan is to keep layoffs from happening to more than 28,000 teachers, as well as supply opportunities for unemployed vets., even giving jobs to the unemployed, mostly consisting of road, school, rail road and bridge construction. The next part of this plan is to increase payroll tax, thus giving approximately $1,500 dollars to the typical family.
Right now the plan is still being talked about, and is not yet a bill. Overall this plan sounds good enough, but there’s a little hole in the increase in payroll tax cuts.
This is what most people find is the biggest problem with Obama’s job’s plan and it makes sense why people, even Democrats, to the public’s surprise, are against it. The idea is that the tax cuts will help the country pocket more money, thus helping employers hire new workers and help get more jobs for everyone.
The problem is this is a theory, if anything. There is no proof that the payroll tax cuts will actually do anything due to the fact that only the employed will actually benefit from having more money for working.
The plan would decrease the amount of pay for hiring someone, while the hired individual would be able to keep more of their money, rather than having to relinquish some of their pay to taxes. So the idea is that the more money available, the more jobs can be accumulated.
The problem, again, is that this hasn’t been tested, and the biggest issue is that only the employed would benefit from this since, as described before, they could keep more money in their salaries. Now most of these individuals would have no real need to save this money.
Yes, they would be smart to save extra cash, but the economy is still in a recession, so there still isn’t much spending that can be done. The unemployed would not be affected positively or more negatively, besides the obvious fact that they have no job, no way to get income in the first place.
So while it may assist in keeping the hardworking individuals working, as very little assistance as it may be, it doesn’t quite help the jobless, which is the target and reason for the entire plan.
But by far the most serious concern is that Social Security will be taking a punch in the gut. Less tax income means less money for what most people consider workers compensation and will affect people in their later years.
Taxes for Social Security were put in place for the unemployed, usually retired.
Social Security is supposed to put us in a position where we get to spend as much money as we want, so it’s really just shooting yourself in the foot by stripping money from it. Unfortunately this will be the first, if not biggest cut for this plan to succeed, leading to bankrupt and penniless unemployed elderly, and/ or injured citizens who just cannot work under their disabilities.
I can at least give the heads of our wavering country some props, for actually attempting something even slightly competent. But the plan still isn’t dealing with the root of the problem, rather just one of the side plots of it.
We need more income, plain and simple. And while getting more jobs and increasing spending is a good way in the long run there is just not enough to benefit the already unemployed and not much reason for those already working to spend more money.
Social Security does not need to suffer from this either. It’s a decent try, but Obama needs to focus more on getting more money not just more jobs.