Obama's New Economic Plan

There's been a lot of criticism in the punditry of Obama's economic plan as being too vague. Today, in Toledo, OH, a key battleground state, he provided more details.

Essentially the plan targets incentives for small businesses to create jobs with a $3,000 per created job tax credit for the next two years, a 90-moratorium on foreclosures, penalty-free withdrawals from 401k (up to 15% or a maximum of $10,000), and additional funds available for municipalities to spur local economic development, among other details.

All told, the estimates for this plan will cost the US between $60B and $100B. Compared to McCain's $300 tax incentive for big business, this looks cheap. It also looks generally doable. I do have doubts that a 90 day moratorium is enough, unless the TARP plan gets its act in gear right now. Nonetheless, it's still better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, and it might well save taxpayers around $200B.

McCain is slated to present new economic plans today tomorrow. Unfortunately for McCain, this is too little, too late. He's been shaky from the start on the Wall Street crisis, and Obama's new plan only will give the impression of, "me too! I got a plan!"