Change We Can Believe In - Barack Obama,

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that we must create bottom-up growth that empowers hardworking families to climb the ladder of success and raise their children with security, opportunity, and hope for a better future. These hopes are at the heart of the American Dream. Yet, despite the resilience, optimism, and hard work of the American people, their dreams too often have been frustrated over the last eight years by economic policies that protect special interests and the privileged few and ignore the working families that are America’s backbone and the engine of our economic growth.

      No one reading this book needs to be told that our economy is hurting. The price of filling up the gas tank or filling up a shopping cart has skyrocketed over the past several months. American families are working harder and making less. Jobs are disappearing—463,000 in the first seven months of this year, and over three million manufacturing jobs have been lost since George W. Bush took office. Foreclosures have hit their highest level since the Great Depression, and housing values have fallen dramatically. Nest eggs are cracking as the stock market struggles. The costs of health care and college tuition have gone through the roof. Too many families are one major incident—a sudden illness, a pink slip, or a car accident—away from falling off the ladder of economic opportunity and out of the middle class.

      Just as the revolutions in technology and communications have opened new avenues of opportunity for American workers and businesses, they also have made it possible for companies to send jobs wherever there is an Internet connection. Countries like India and China that once were laggards have leapt ahead to provide goods and services to companies and consumers all over the world. Our workers and our businesses in almost every sector are now facing competition from all over the globe.

      Fortunately, Americans are the most creative, industrious people in the world. Our inventions have changed people’s lives across the globe. Our hard work has built whole new industries and given generations the promise of lives better than those their parents had. Our companies and our workers can outthink and outperform anyone anywhere if we set fair rules and let them succeed.

      Yet in the face of rising competition, Washington has stood still—and in some cases, even moved backward. In the last eight years, the Administration has abandoned the principle of broad-based growth that has been the historic foundation of our success. Instead this Administration has fully embraced the discredited philosophy of trickle-down economics that believes that big tax breaks for the wealthiest will eventually work their way to all. They have given massive tax breaks to big corporations and billionaires while allowing high-priced lobbyists to rig the game for their well-heeled clients.

      As we have seen, that approach has failed. The sad truth is that we did not arrive at the current economic emergency by some accident of history. This was not an inevitable part of the business cycle that was beyond our power to avoid. It was the unavoidable conclusion of a tired and misguided philosophy that has dominated Washington for far too long.

      By sacrificing critical investments in health care, education, energy, and technology to pay for trillions of dollars in tax breaks for the wealthy and well-connected; by abandoning all pretense of fiscal responsibility and forcing our country to borrow its money from foreign countries like China and Saudi Arabia while leaving our children to foot the bill; by ignoring the squeeze on ordinary Americans and making it harder for them to get ahead, this Administration has walked away from the broad-based growth that has made this country great.

      Barack Obama has a very different vision—one that will move our economy forward and keep us at the cutting edge in the global economy. He will put the needs of working-and middle-class Americans first, rather than those of special interests and corporate lobbyists. He has a real plan to get the economy moving again, create jobs, and drive up wages and incomes. Barack Obama knows that our economy is strongest when all Americans prosper; when the middle class is growing and succeeds, all of us succeed. He believes that we must move decisively to revive our sputtering economy. At the same time, we must invest in America’s fu ture prosperity—with a bold, new energy strategy; revamped schools; affordable, high-quality health care; and a twenty-first-century infrastructure.

      Barack Obama’s emergency economic plan to immediately jump-start our economy will give a $1,000 rebate that middle-class families could use to pay for the soaring price of gasoline, the rising price of food, or help with other necessities.

      Barack Obama also has a plan to expand opportunity and ensure growth over the long run through smart investments in America and Americans. To make sure our kids and our country can compete globally, Barack Obama believes our schools must meet higher standards. He has a plan to require greater accountability to create world-class schools and to recruit a generation of new teachers. As President, Barack Obama will help employers by bringing down the cost of health care, so they can invest and grow. And an Obama Administration will invest $150 billion over ten years in renewable energy industries, creating millions of new jobs.

      With our economy struggling, Barack Obama’s plan makes the investments we need to grow our economy so that every American has a chance to succeed.

      We are facing one of the worst economic crises in a generation, in part because of policy choices made by this Administration. With families struggling, Barack Obama recognizes that we cannot wait until January 2009 to change our economic course. We can neither stand by idly as millions of families are struggling and our future prosperity is at risk nor assume that more of the same tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy will get us out of this problem. That is why Barack Obama believes that we need an emergency economic plan to jump-start the economy, help families offset some of the costs of filling up the gas tank and surging food prices, prevent the layoff of one million workers, and get our economy back on track. His emergency economic plan will:

      Send Rebate Checks of $1,000 to American Families.

      It’s just wrong that while millions of American families are struggling to pay their utility bills, fill up their gas tanks, and cover escalating day-to-day costs, big oil companies are posting record profits. Under the Obama stimulus plan, a portion of big oil companies’ windfall profits will be used to fund direct relief worth $500 for an individual and $1,000 for a married couple. The relief would be delivered as quickly as possible, and would be a down payment on the middle-class tax cut Barack Obama will implement as President. This sizable relief would be fully paid for with five years of a windfall profits tax on record oil company profits.

      Save One Million Jobs.

      Rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges and renovating our schools is not just smart long-term economic policy; it also will provide a short-term boost to our economy. Barack Obama believes that we should establish a $25 billion Jobs and Growth Fund to replenish the Highway Trust Fund; prevent cutbacks in road and bridge maintenance; and fund new, fast-tracked projects to repair schools. Taken together, this would save one million jobs that would be in danger of disappearing if this funding was not available.

      Help Local Communities Through Tough Times.

      “Instead of handing out giveaways to corporations that don’t need them and didn’t ask for them, it’s time we started giving a hand up to families who are trying to pay their medical bills and send their children to college.”

      —BARACK OBAMA, June 9, 2008, Raleigh, North Carolina

      Because of the housing crisis and the weakening economy, property values are plummeting, and many state and local governments are suddenly facing significant revenue shortfalls. Barack Obama believes that in the areas hardest hit by the housing crisis, we should provide immediate, temporary funding of $25 billion to state and local governments. This money would help ensure that vital services—such as police, fire, education, and health care—are not the victims of this downturn. States and localities also could use a portion of the money to pursue innovative approaches to reducing the impact that foreclosures have on communities.

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