President Obama Plans to Inject $300 Billion to Increase Job Opportunities

According to Bloomberg, as the unemployment rate remains at 9.1%, President Obama plans to increase the job opportunities in the states by injecting over $300 billion into the economy next year, mainly through tax cuts, infrastructure expenses and direct assistance to the local and state governments.

Obama will appeal to Congress to increase taxes in the next few years in order to offset the costs of the short term jobs measure. This will be part of a long term deficit reduction package, which includes revenue increases as well as spending and entitlement cuts.

The $300 Billion job package has the similar structure as his economic stimulus plan in 2009, which also covered tax incentives, infrastructure and aid to local governments. The main portion of the stimulus plan will be tax reduction. Throughout the year, Obama has pressured Congress to renew the payroll tax holiday and to extend unemployment benefits. Nearly half of the job stimulus package will be from tax cuts, including the extension of the 2% reduction in taxes the workers have to pay due December 31, and the reduction of the taxes paid by the employers.

Obama plans to propose the plan in the Congress speech on September 8th. Obama’s plan may have trouble winning support from the US House. There is evidences that the leaders of the Republican majority are against the plan: House speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor released a letter to Obama yesterday about their opposition to his 2009 stimulus plan.