Jobs & The Economy: Putting America Back to Work

“The American Jobs Act answers the urgent need to create jobs right away. But we can’t stop there. We have to … start building an economy that lasts into the future — an economy that creates good, middle-class jobs that pay well and offer security… If we want [companies] to start here and stay here and hire here, we have to be able to out-build and out-educate and out-innovate every other country on Earth.”

— President Barack Obama, Sept 8, 2011

Jobs & The Economy: Putting America Back to Work

Security for the Middle Class

The Obama Administration is working together with policymakers and private industry to safely grow our economy, while creating jobs and helping small businesses thrive.

The President overcame furious lobbying by big banks to pass the most far reaching reform of Wall Street in history, which will prevent the excessive risk-taking that led to the financial crisis while providing common-sense protections to American families for their mortgages and credit cards. The law created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to prevent mortgage companies and pay-day lenders from exploiting consumers.
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For decades, rising health care costs have hurt American competitiveness, and forced too many individuals into bankruptcy to get their families the care they need. That’s why President Obama took on the insurance companies to pass comprehensive health insurance reform, giving Americans the security of knowing that insurance companies will be required to cover preventive care, can’t drop them if they get sick, and won’t be able to bill them into bankruptcy because of an illness or injury.
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To create true middle class security, we need to out-educate the competition. That’s why President Obama set the goal that by 2020, the United States will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world, and has fought to lower the cost of college for parents and students by passing a tax credit worth up to $10,000 and making Pell Grant awards larger and more widely available. And he reformed the student loan system, ending government subsidies for banks and using the savings to help more Americans afford their loan payments.
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The housing market suffered a dramatic collapse caused by irresponsible lenders who tricked buyers into signing subprime loans and in some cases irresponsible homeowners who took out loans they knew they could not afford. To address this crisis, President Obama and his Administration have taken a broad set of actions to stabilize the housing market and help responsible American homeowners.
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Five Things You Should Know
1.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will set and enforce clear, consistent rules to hold banks, credit cards, mortgage lenders, and others accountable and protect consumers from abuses and deceptive practices. Learn More ...

2.

President Obama signed into law tax relief to make college more affordable. As a result of the American Opportunity Tax Credit, families can receive up to $2,500 in tax relief each year for college expenses. A family of four earning $75,000 would receive an extra $4,400 in tax relief for college expenses over the President’s first term. Learn more ...

3.

President Obama negotiated a bipartisan agreement that led to a payroll tax cut for 160 million working Americans, giving them in effect a 2 percent raise through the end of 2012. A family earning $50,000 got a tax cut of around $1,000, or about $40 with every paycheck. Learn more ...

4.

The Affordable Care Act – President Obama’s landmark health reform law – is already making the health system more secure for American families. The law allowed children and young adults to stay on their parent’s insurance through age 26, and recent reports have indicated that as a result approximately one million additional young Americans now have insurance coverage. Learn more ...

5.

The Recovery Act that President Obama signed into law also invested in historic reforms to our K-12 education system, providing $4.35 billion for the Race to the Top Fund, a competitive grant program designed to encourage and reward states that are creating the conditions for education innovation and reform and achieving significant improvement in student outcomes. Learn more ...