Obama Declares Progress Toward Stronger Economy

Last Friday President Obama held a press conference in which he expressed satisfaction with several legislative items during the week. He has signed the Wall Street Reform Bill which is supposed to help stop mortgage lending and credit card abuses that helped to lead to the recession. They claim it will end taxpayer bailouts as well and give shareholders a say in executive compensation. Critics of the bill argue that it simply solidifies the “too big to fail” concept with a guaranteed bailout fund, which could likely be too small to prevent a large financial institution from failing which would lead to another round of government money being heaped onto the pile.

Obama also said a report that came out from Ken Feinberg, the TARP Czar, identified lenders who took TARP money who gave about $1.6 billion in executive compensation above the limits allowed. Since the compensation deals were made before TARP occurred and were contractually obligated to be paid, Feinberg has his hands tied in demanding payback of funds.

Obama also signed a bill this past week that will close some loopholes that have allowed federal money to go to erroneous payments to prison inmates, people who have died, or people who are otherwise ineligible to receive payments.

The unemployment benefits extension was also passed despite opposition which demanded the benefits be paid for with reduced spending elsewhere instead of adding it directly to the deficit.

Obama also has asked Congress to pass a small business jobs bill lending expansion and to cut taxes for small businesses. This bill is expected to come up to the floor of the Senate in the next few days. The bill will more than double the amount that can be lent to small businesses and eliminate capital gains taxes for certain types of investments for small business.

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