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Home > BizTimes Daily > Archives > February 13, 2008
Obama unveils economic plan at GM plant in Janesville
Published February 13, 2008 - BizTimes Daily
On the heels of a raucous rally and a capacity crowd in Madison Tuesday night, Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama today toured the General Motors Corp. plant in Janesville, where he unveiled some major economic policy initiatives.
The assembly plant complex is Janesville's largest employer and is the largest GM plant under one roof in the United States. GM announced plans Tuesday to reduce its American workforce by offering buyouts to 74,000 members of the United Auto Workers, including 2,500 in Janesville.
Obama proposed the creation of a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank that will invest $60 billion of 10 years. He also proposed the Patriot Employer Act that would end tax breaks for American companies that ship our jobs overseas and provide tax breaks for companies that create jobs in the United States.
"We are not standing on the brink of recession due to forces beyond our control. The fallout from the housing crisis that's cost jobs and wiped out savings was not an inevitable part of the business cycle. It was a failure of leadership and imagination in Washington - the culmination of decades of decisions that were made or put off without regard to the realities of a global economy and the growing inequality it's produced," Obama said.
Obama's Democratic opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton, today criticized Obama for declining to debate her in Wisconsin.
Republican frontrunner Sen. John McCain is scheduled to be in Wisconsin Friday night at Serb Hall on Milwaukee's south side.
Republican challenger Mike Huckabee planned to kick off a series of stops in Wisconsin tonight at the Country Springs Hotel in Pewaukee.
For complete coverage of the Wisconsin primary, which will take place Tuesday, Feb. 19, visit WisPolitics.com, a media partner of Small Business Times.
