U.s. in Store for Trillion-dollar Deficits, Says President-elect Barack Obama

April 11th, 2010 admin Posted in obama health insurance Comments Off

Herbert/AP President-elect Barack Obama speaks to reporters after a meeting with his top economic advisers Tuesday.

WASHINGTON-President-elect Barack Obama forecast trillion-dollar deficits for “years to come” on Tuesday,arguing that the government has no choice but busting the federalbudget to rescue a precarious economy.

“We’re already looking at a trillion-dollar budget deficit or closeto a trillion-dollar budget deficit,” Obama told reporters at a meetingwith his economic team.

“Potentially we’ve got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come,even with the economic recovery that we are working on at this point,”he warned.

The federal deficit stood at $455 billion when the 2008 fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2008.

Obama wants to pump at least $775 billion into the economy through a two-year stimulus spending plan. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada this week predicted the plan could be in the ballpark of $1.2 trillion.

“Obama is sending a plan to Congress knowing it’s going to increase.The $775 billion is just a baseline. It could balloon to over atrillion dollars,” said a Senate leadership source.

Obama’s economic rescue package includes a $300 billion middle-classtax cut and comes on top of the $800 billion bailout plans for theailing finance and banking industries and the Big Three automakers.

“We’re going to be investing an extraordinary amount of money tojump-start our economy, save or create 3 million new jobs, mostly inthe private sector, and lay a solid foundation for future growth,”Obama said.

He wants to expand unemployment benefits, increase food stampallotments and boost construction jobs. He also is consideringsubsidizing up to 65% of health insurance costs for laid-off workers,sources confirmed to the Daily News.

Obama took a jab at President Bush, saying his administration will restore transparency and accountability to government.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is pushing to include an expanded college tuition tax credit somiddle-class families can write off $4,000 per child. Obama likes theidea, but isn’t sure it should be included in the stimulus legislationor a separate bill.

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky urged Congress to proceed slowly – ignoring climbing unemployment,slumping housing and retail sales, a gridlocked credit market andskyrocketing tuition costs.

“We should encourage, not discourage questions,” said McConnell, whowarned Democrats against a “reckless rush to meet an arbitrarydeadline.”

But as the measure is cobbled together, the President-elect againput Congress on notice he won’t tolerate a plan that includespork-barrel “earmarks” for projects like Alaska’s notorious bridge to nowhere.

“I’m saying there are no earmarks in the recovery package. That is the position that I am taking,” Obama said.

Congress has pledged to curtail the often politically motivatedearmarks – money appropriated in the middle of the night for petprojects.

A senior Senate source disclosed Obama is working most closely with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on the spending plan.

“The Senate is going to play follow the leader on this one. Obamahas decided Pelosi is the person to drive the stimulus package. We’rejust going along for the ride,” the Senate source said.

Jane
http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/us-in-store-for-trilliondollar-deficits-says-presidentelect-barack-obama-751067.html

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Affordable Family Insurance Give Families a “safety Net”

April 9th, 2010 admin Posted in obama health insurance Comments Off

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With the cost of living increasing at a rapid rate throughout the United States finding affordable health insurance is becoming increasingly and increasingly more difficult for families who are struggling to make ends meet. It is common for many of these parents to have recently been laid off or had hours reduced as many companies are beginning job cuts as well as cutting back hours in order to deal with the slowing economy. This type of behavior has been seen the most in Detroit, Michigan where Detroit’s “big three” automobile companies have began to deteriorate at a rapid rate causing thousands of jobs to be shut down, these three automakers have began to beg for government help when it comes to getting government loans in order to pay for the damage these companies have done to themselves. For many of the families who are feeling the repercussions of the economic downturn as a result of many of these plans cutting jobs, health insurance may be the last thing on their mind, but it shouldn’t be. Studies have shown that during difficult economic times people are more likely to engage in dangerous or risk-taking activities. It is during these times that it is most important for people to have affordable family insurance because not only will it help them save money at a time where people are desperate for every penny, but it will also give families some faith when it comes to someone being there to support them. Having affordable health insurance is almost a backbone to many families, it is the string that keeps them together because without it the risks that we take for granted in everyday life become much more of a threat. For people to know that they have the support of an insurance company backing them, and being there if something happens to your family.

What having affordable family insurance does for these people is give them almost a safety net of sorts, if you or someone in your family were to get sick or injured, having affordable family insurance will give people the opportunity to get healthy or get better by allowing families to be tested, vaccinated, screened, and taken care of by medical professionals who know what they are doing. This should not only give people peace of mind at such a trying economic time, but it should also give people the strength to get through this hard time. During primary voting done prior to the election it was a found and affordable family insurance is one of the biggest concerns of voters, with more than 46 million people being uninsured throughout the United States today. Some of these concerns have been alleviated since President-elect Barack Obama has been elected and has demanded mandatory health care for everyone in the United States in the next few years.

Ronnie Hamilton
http://www.articlesbase.com/insurance-articles/affordable-family-insurance-give-families-a-safety-net-716437.html

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