Obama's spending proposals can succeed

The proposed $447 billion (Dh1.64 trillion) job creation programme by President Barack Obama should boost the US economy and undermine his Republican opposition; wrote a UAE newspaper in its editorial today. Creating jobs is a priority for the US as it is the only way to achieve a sustainable economic recovery in the country. Until many more Americans have jobs and feel secure in their employment, they are unlikely to invest and spend in an economy that remains dangerously weak. Consumer spending accounts for as much as 70 per cent of the US economy, by some reports, noted Gulf News. Obama's proposed tax cuts will put additional spending power into the pockets of US consumers and will make it cheaper for companies to employ people. Republicans, who have been rabidly opposed to any social or economic programmes put forward by Obama, have also been in favour of tax cuts, so far. If they prove to be unnecessarily obstructionist about these proposals, they will be revealed as ideologically and politically ill-equipped to deal with the harsh economic realities facing the US and that may cost them in the coming presidential election, added the paper. Much of the spending proposals are aimed at programmes that will benefit the US economy in the long run."It is important that the US revitalises its human resources if it is to remain the leading economy in the world", opined the paper. Importantly, Obama will try to fund the programme out of future savings and increased revenue in coming years. For now, this will have to be taken at face value. Obama's proposals are a calculated risk at a time when high levels of debt is making spending cuts a more popular choice among governments, it added "But they can succeed, if there is no unnecessary political interference", the paper stressed.