During his speech Wednesday, Barack Obama called for the breakdown of party factions. The focus of the political atmosphere today should not be on the debt crisis, but on the unemployment and party crisis.
When Obama spoke about his American Jobs Act, I, along with thousands of other students, waited anxiously to see the President of the Unites States himself. I knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the President. And, I was excited to hear what he had to say about the American Jobs Act.
Obama explained his act as one that could be supported by both major parties, saying it included ideas that both Republicans and Democrats had supported in the past. Since that is the case, there should be no issues on either side of this argument.
There are five major parts of the American Job Act, according to the White House website.
The first part of the act is “tax cuts to help America’s small businesses hire and grow.” If anyone has a problem with cutting taxes, then there’s something seriously wrong with you. It’s obvious that we want small businesses to hire, in order to create jobs, and to grow, in order to boost the economy. It’s pretty straightforward. Take less money from small businesses so that they can afford to hire and grow.
The next part of the act is about “putting workers back on the job while rebuilding and modernizing America.” This part of the act supports veterans. Obama said, during his speech, that the last thing those who fight for our country should have to do is fight for a job. And, I totally agree. Another part of this section prevents layoffs for teachers, cops and firefighters. These are some of the most important jobs in our country and we can’t afford to cut them.
The rest of this section has to do with modernizing schools, rebuilding roads, rails and airports; and creating jobs with “Project Rebuild” which has to do with rebuilding homes, businesses and communities. Making our country better and creating more jobs can’t possibly be seen in a negative light. With unemployment so high, jobs should be created wherever possible and, to use them to modernize the country as well is ideal.
My favorite part of the act is titled “Pathways back to work for Americans looking for jobs.” The simplified meaning of this piece is that the American Jobs Act will create ways to teach people the necessary skills needed to acquire a job. Some people get very upset when unemployed people live off government welfare instead of getting a job. However, a lot of them do not possess essential skills to hold a job. It is a great idea to put them in “work-based training” to give them these skills.
Obama put a lot of emphasis on putting “more money in the pockets of every American worker and family.” He plans to do this by cutting payroll taxes. That sounds pretty good to me. That’s more money in our pockets for us to spend which, in turn, stimulates the economy.
If Obama is making all these tax cuts, then he does need to pay for everything for which this act calls. “To ensure that the American Jobs Act is fully paid for, the President will call on the Joint Committee to come up with additional deficit reduction necessary to pay for the Act and still meet its deficit target.” In order for this to be paid for, Congress must cooperate. We, as the American public, must ask that they support our President, support the act and support our country.
I do not care if you’re a Republican. I do not care what party you affiliate with. Our country needs to forget about its party identifications. We need to stop thinking in terms of Democrat versus Republican, liberal versus conservative, them versus us. We need to start thinking in terms of a united group, a United States. Support the American Jobs; Support America.
