Welcome to your Tuesday open thread. I’m sure you’re all rested from your Labor Day weekend and are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at work today. Today marks one week until the primary in Delaware.
More stimulus proposals from Obama:
President Barack Obama, in one of his most dramatic gestures to business, will propose that companies be allowed to more quickly write off 100% of their new investment in plants and equipment through 2011.
The proposal, to be laid out Wednesday in a speech in Cleveland, tops a raft of announcements, from a proposed expansion of the research and experimentation tax credit to $50 billion in additional spending on roads, railways and runways.
Companies can now deduct new investment expenses, but over a longer period of time—three to 20 years. The proposed change, which would let companies keep more cash now, is meant to give companies who may be hesitant to invest an incentive to expand, acting as a spur to the overall economy.
Personally, I think this is a great idea. The economy needs more investment and this is a good way to speed things up.
Hmmmm…I wonder what this is about?
And now that the race has turned to the general election, Jindal has an opportunity to side with his far-right ally in the Republican Party — but he hasn’t.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has finally answered a questioned asked of him for months: Will he endorse embattled Republican Sen. David Vitter’s reelection bid?
The answer is no.
“Voters can make up their own minds,” the Louisiana governor and fellow Republican told local television station WDSU.
Jindal added he doesn’t like to get involved in federal races, though the station reports he has backed federal-office seekers in the past.
What’s especially interesting about this is that Jindal’s support for Vitter was assumed. Had the governor not said a word, the default position was a Jindal endorsement. But eight weeks before the election, the governor apparently isn’t quite ready to be associated with his scandal-plagued ally, who’ll face Rep. Charlie Melancon (D) in November.
Hey, I don’t blame him if he doesn’t want to be associated with Vitter but Vitter is the likely winner of the November election. Won’t this make their relationship difficult?