Candidate Profile.
Published on Wednesday March 5 2008
Barack Obama Democratic Candidate for the Democratic Nomination for President of the United States
Senators Durbin, Obama, & Brown and Representative Schakowsky Introduce Legislation to Reward "Patriot Employers" Thursday, August 2, 2007Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) Barack Obama (D-IL) Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL))today introduced legislation to reward companies that invest in American jobs, pay decent wages, provide good benefits, and support their employees when they are called to active duty. The Patriot Employer Act of 2007 would provide a tax credit to companies that make a commitment to American workers.
"When companies make headlines today it is often for all the wrong reasons: fraud, tax avoidance and profiteering,"Durbin said. "Americans have had enough with a corporate culture that rewards bad behavior and ignores the well being of workers. It is time for Patriot Employers to be recognized for doing right by their workers even while they do well for their customers and shareholders."
"Instead of providing incentives for employers to outsource and move their headquarters overseas, we should encourage corporations to be patriot employers that create good jobs with good benefits for American workers, "said Senator Obama. "Patriot employers help maintain American competitiveness in the global marketplace, while keeping our workforce and our middle class strong."
"For far too long, our government has betrayed the middle class while giving tax breaks to billionaires and multinational corporations that ship jobs overseas, "Senator Brown said. "Instead we should reward patriot companies that are loyal to workers and advance jobs."
"The Patriot Corporation Act would reward companies that invest in our nation and its workers," said Congresswoman Schakowsky. "Americans have had enough of businesses offshoring jobs and skirting the law to increase their bottom line. We must stop rewarding outsourcers and tax dodgers, and make corporations earn their tax incentives by investing in America and American workers. Our bill will create a new patriotic corporate ethic in America that unites workers and their employers in the mutual goal of building a stronger, more prosperous democratic business sector to compete in the twenty-first century global economy."
The Patriot Employers legislation would provide a tax credit equal to 1% of taxable income to employers that:
* Invest in American jobs, by maintaining or increasing the number of full-time workers in America relative to the number of full-time workers outside of America AND by maintaining corporate headquarters in America if the company has ever been headquartered in America.
* Pay decent wages, by paying each worker an hourly wage that would ensure that a full-time worker would earn enough to keep a family of three out of poverty (at least $ 7.80 per hour).
* Prepare workers for retirement, by providing either a defined benefit plan OR a defined contribution plan that fully matches at least 5% of worker contributions for every employee.
* Provide health insurance, by paying at least 60% of each worker's health care premiums.
* Support the troops, by paying the difference between regular salary and military salary for all National Guard and Reserve employees who are called for active duty AND by continuing their health insurance coverage for the Guard member and his or her family. February 22, 2008, 10:55 am
Is Obama the Wall Street Candidate?
Wall Street Journal Posted by Heidi Moore
Hillary Clinton can rail against Wall Street all she likes; Barack Obama knows you can win more financial-institutions support with honey than with vinegar. That's true even if the honeyed words are of the most noncommital kind, as in Obama's case.
Yesterday Deal Journal wrote about how Barack Obama has managed to score more donations from private equity-linked backers while still supporting rabidly anti-PE groups like the Service Employees International Union. The buyout guys join some other deep-pocketed finance types in the Obama Camp: Robert Wolf, CEO of UBS Americas; George Soros; former Federal Reserve Paul Volcker; top Credit Suisse banker Steve Koch, and the Oracle of Omaha himself, Warren Buffett. Wolf alone has raised $1 million for Obama. Obama even employs former consultants from McKinsey and Andersen. See this article for more.
But Wall Street - especially those doing deals - shouldn't get too romanced by Obama. Consider one recent remark in which he , criticized the Bush Administration for "the weakest record of antitrust enforcement of any administration in the last half century." So bear that in mind, Delta, Northwest, Continental and United, and you too, XM and Sirius, CME and NYMEX. Of course, Obama has a talent for finessing both sides. Democratic consultant (and holder of the current award for campaign losing streaks) Bob Shrum has the understatement of the week: "His whole style of governing is less confrontational, "Shrum says of Obama. Another consultant tells BusinessWeek: "He's been pretty clear that business would have a seat at the table, but business wouldn't be able to buy all the chairs."
But in a deal making year like this - fraught with recession worries, a drop in deal volumes, and skittish credit markets - those guys in finance want to know what they're getting when they vote. Are they prepared for an Obama administration that would make deals even harder to do?
Barack Obama's Greatest Hits
Taxes: Obama has said he would like to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the top 1% of wage earners. In the Audacity of Hope, he wrote, "At a time when ordinary families are feeling hit from all sides, the impulse to keep their taxes as low as possible is honorable. What is less honorable is the willingness of the rich to ride this anti-tax sentiment for their own purposes."
Free Trade: Obama's stance is pro-U.S.-worker. He says he's not anti-globalization, but has also said this: "And so not only do we have to deal with our trade agreements, not only do we have to eliminate tax breaks for companies that are moving overseas, not only do we have to work on our education system, but we also have to have an intentional strategy on the part of the federal government to make sure that we are reinvesting in those communities that are being burdened by globalization and not benefiting from it."
He also wants to get more enforcement officials looking over trade with China and would stop Chinese-made toys from being shipped to the U.S. "And we've got to all move forward as Democrats to make sure that we've got trade deals that work for working people and not just for corporate profits,"he has said, and “the burden of globalization is carried on the back of the American worker."
Airline Deregulation: The airlines got into trouble after deregulation, he said. He seems to want government to get involved again: "We've got to place, potentially, restrictions on some flights & encourage airlines to deal with the problems of remote areas having difficulty in terms of making connections."
Shareholder rights: Obama sponsored a bill that would give shareholders a proxy vote on executive pay.