Obama Scrambles for Jobs Plan

But problem may be too big to fix
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 30, 2011 7:41 AM CDT
Updated Aug 30, 2011 7:59 AM CDT
Obama Scrambles for Jobs Plan
President Barack Obama introduces Alan B. Krueger in the Rose Garden of the White House August 29, 2011 in Washington, DC.   (Getty Images)

As he announced the appointment of Alan Krueger yesterday, President Obama promised a speech outlining his new jobs agenda next week—but behind the scenes, Obama and company haven’t actually agreed on that agenda yet, the Washington Post reports. The president is considering a number of options, including a tax credit for companies hiring new workers, an infrastructure bank, clean-energy tax cuts, and revamping the unemployment system so that it pays companies to hire out-of-work people.

Obama will also try to extend existing programs like the payroll tax cut. But no matter what he advocates, he'll be hard pressed to put a huge dent in unemployment, Bloomberg frets, both because private-sector demand is so low and because he'll face opposition from Republicans. “The broad honest answer is that there’s a limited amount that he can do that I know of,” said a Clinton-era chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. “We’ve kind of done a lot of the things we know how to do.” (More Barack Obama stories.)

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