Obama "jobs" proposal mostly continues what we’re already doing

$170bn worth of the new "several hundred billion" jobs proposal is simply to continue the same unemployment benefits and payroll tax holiday that's already in place. And while it's been estimated that if we don't continue the benefits, and the payroll holiday, GDP could take a 1% point hit, those policies are already in place (and expiring), so it's not like the economy is going to improve any more than it has already if we extend these (though it will be hurt if we don't).

We need something new, and fairly massive. The President's proposal is to continue doing what's already being done - and while that helps, it's not exactly new, and it's not exactly "more."

Not to mention, the extension of the benefits and the tax holiday should have been separate from this new jobs proposal. It should have been a given that the GOP had better continue those two policies in order to not sock GDP to the tune of 1% point. But now that the President is lumping everything together, he's giving them impression that the benefits and the holiday are "new" and thus negotiable.

The two central measures in the Obama jobs package are expected to be a one-year extension of the payroll tax cut and an extension of expiring jobless benefits, according to the AP. Those two initiatives would total around $170 billion.

In his speech on Thursday night to a joint session of Congress, Obama will also consider a tax benefit to those businesses that hire the unemployed, with a price tag of around $30 billion. Public works projects will be included, but the AP reports that this will be less than $50 billion of the package.

The president also will continue for one year a tax break for business that allows them to deduct the full value of equipment.

To put it another way: Even if the President gets everything he's asking for, the proposal won't do much of anything new to help the economy. It simply guarantees that the economy won't take another 1% point GDP hit (which is important), but doesn't do much to improve things from where they are now. And things pretty much suck right now, so why is the President simply asking for the status quo?