Obama's Presents Economic Plan

Contrary to complaints, we actually have a decent bit of detail here.

• Payment for program by elimination of upper class tax breaks and ending Iraq war.
• My comment: I still think that you need more, at least a thorough review of the Byzantine system of tax credits and deductions to get enough money.
• A National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank, spending about $60 billion over the next decade repairing infrastructure.
• My comment: Good, but we probably need to spend more. Unsure of the amount that states would have to match. Also, should include a similar amount for mass transit and/or freight rail, both of which save energy, etc..
• Ending tax breaks for moving jobs overseas.
• My comment: This one has almost become a cliche, but there are also programs that subsidize this in the US that need to be addressed (Ex/Im bank comes to mind).

Generally it's pretty good. Generally, it's also pretty similar to Hillary Clinton's too.

However, there is something else that I found both interesting and laudable, which accompanies his speech (H/T to the other Matthew for the catch), specifically a credit card bill of rights:

• Ban Unilateral Changes: Currently, credit card companies can unilaterally change the terms of a credit card agreement at any time for any reason with only a 15-day notice to the consumer. Barack Obama will ban these unilateral changes in credit card agreements unless companies have obtained written consent from consumers and have followed the rules and terms of the agreement.
• Apply Interest Rate Increases Only to Future Debt: Credit card companies often apply increased interest rates to both new debt incurred by the cardholder, as well as previously incurred debt. Barack Obama will require increased interest rates to apply only to future credit card debt, and not to debt incurred prior to the increase.
• Prohibit Interest on Fees: Credit card companies often charge interest on transaction fees, such as late fees or paying a bill by telephone. Barack Obama will prohibit credit card issuers from charging interest on transaction fees.
• Prohibit “Universal Defaults”: “Universal defaults” are a practice in which a credit card company raises an individual’s interest rate based on failure to pay a different creditor on time. Barack Obama will prohibit this practice.
• Require Prompt and Fair Crediting of Cardholder Payments: Barack Obama will require credit card issuers to apply payments first to the credit card balance with the highest rate of interest and to minimize finance charges.

This is interesting for a number of reasons:

1. It's very good policy.
2. This is a proposal where there is actually a loser, the credit card issuers, which is a change from his typical proposals where the policy is not a zero sum game.
   
3. This is actually a fairly specific refution of the Washington DC/DLC/Milton Friedman orthodoxy that financial services need to be completely deregulated in order to provide maximum benefit. This may be more important than the first two in revealing his attitude on such matters. Much of the credit crunch today is due to the repeal of Glass-Steagel, which was driven by this ideology.

All in all, a solid B+ to my mind.