Obama Opts for Tax Cuts to Combat Unemployment

Published in La Razon
(Spain) on 10 December 2009
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Adam Zimmerman. Edited by Jessica Boesl.
For a country like the United States, accustomed to nearly full employment, a 10 percent unemployment rate makes reduction the top political priority. Unemployment is the Obama administration’s true Achilles' heel.

In order to stop the bleeding, the president of the United States has launched an employment plan with money saved from the bank rescue operation initiated one year ago. His proposal revolves around tax reductions so that small businesses will hire and invest, as well as a new infrastructure program that will include the construction and renovation of highways, railroads and airports, and assistance to renovate homes following sustainability criteria, which also serves to reduce energy bills.

Obviously, this policy has some things, like a commitment to job-creating public investment, in common with the Spanish government’s Economic Sustainability Law. However, there is one substantial difference between the proposals of Obama and Zapatero. While the latter opts for a big tax hike, the American president made the opposite decision. He plans to reduce the tax burden on small- and medium-sized businesses because they are “the real job creators,” in the president’s words. That is to say, he acted like Merkel, Sarkozy, or Berlusconi.


Para un país como Estados Unidos, acostumbrado a rozar el pleno empleo, que la tasa de paro sea del 10% sitúa su reducción como la máxima prioridad política. El paro es el auténtico talón de Aquiles de la Administración Obama. Para frenar esa sangría social, el presidente de Estados Unidos ha lanzado un plan de empleo con el dinero ahorrado en la operación de rescate bancario de hace un año. Su propuesta gira en torno a las rebajas fiscales para que las pequeñas empresas contraten e inviertan, un nuevo programa de infraestructuras, que incluye la construcción y reconstrucción de autopistas, ferrocarriles y aeropuertos, y las ayudas para reformar viviendas con criterios sostenibles, que buscarán además aliviar la factura energética. Como puede observarse, hay algunos puntos que son coincidentes con la Ley de Economía Sostenible del Gobierno español, como apostar por la inversión pública que cree empleo. Pero hay una diferencia sustancial entre las propuestas de Obama y las de Zapatero: mientras el segundo opta por una fuerte subida de impuestos, el presidente norteamericano toma la decisión contraria, la de rebajar la presión fiscal a la pequeña y mediana empresa porque son «los auténticos creadores de empleo», en palabras textuales. Es decir, en la línea de lo que hacen Merkel, Sarkozy o Berlusconi.
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