Sunday, August 17, 2008

Barack visits Reno

Sen. Barack Obama returned to the campaign trail today speaking at Earl Wooster High School in Reno, Nevada.

Among the subjects Barack discussed was the housing crisis, which has hit Nevada particularly hard.

Here is a video of Barack's opening remarks.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Would the AIG bailout save Wall Street and the financial markets? I don't know. I do believe the cost of this bailout will be born mainly by the middle class. Is there another way to save the markets without harm to the middle class? Are there not other companies in similar straights? Isn't it the declining housing market that has lead to the recent bank failures? Will this help eliminate the record number of foreclosures? Is this actually the best way to improve the economy? Could this $85,000,000,000 be better spent?
What if instead, Congress immediately passed legislation to provide help to people who actually pay the mortgages? Wouldn't this create not just incentive to pay the mortgages, but also increase the ability to make the payment? I would like to see Congress consider an immediate (retroactive to the beginning of this year) bill to make the first $2000 payment per month of a primary residence mortgage 100% deductible for individuals or couples with an income limit for eligibility. This does not affect in any way the other mortgage related deductions, such as interest payment.
The amount of Adjusted Gross Income and the deduction could be similar to:




Single Married Monthly mortgage limit
<35,000 <70,000 $2000
<40,000 <80,000 $1750
<45,000 <90,000 $1500
...

>or = 85,000 >Or = $170,000 $0

However, I am less concerned with the actual income limits than with a move to drive the economy by empowering the middle class. If all these $24000 annual reductions of taxable income are assumed to be in the 25% tax bracket, then this becomes a $6,000 tax saving per individual or couple. For the same number as proposed for AIG - $85,000,000,000 divided by 6000 means this can be used by over 14 million tax payers before it costs more. Considering Fannie, Freddie, the banks and other institutions, this is much less expensive.
Can't we address the problem? People cannot afford their mortgages, demand for and values of houses are declining. Instead the current proposal addresses the symptom, which is companies who bought mortgage based securities are going broke. Solve the problem and the symptoms disappear. The assets of the companies recover, crisis averted.

Tom Strickland

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