jobless claims per week. martha: in recent speeches the president tried to make the argument there was evidence we were starting to come out of this deep, dark hole the economy has been in. he goes into this speech with a number that will not support that argument. reporter: that is correct. the economic news on all fronts has been negative. it has shown a weakening economy, a worsening jobs position and a worsening housing situation. that is the backdrop to tonight s speech. worsening economy. martha: of the idea we are hearing so far. obviously infrastructure spending has been on the table for a long time. the payroll tax relief that has also been there for a long time. do you think he will pull a rabbit out of the hat and give republicans something they have been supportive of all along? reporter: i would be surprised if he goes before a joint session of congress and
trouping. give him something that you have to choke on. you have got to even if he proposes small things, they re not going to vote for it. they re going to say no. why not be big, be bold, be imaginative and hang it around the republicans necks. my big question. why wouldn t the president tell us what he would do if he didn t have opposition? let him know what he stands for and then let them vote again him? what do you think? i think he s being realistic. look at the economy proposals on the table now that are sitting, languishing in congress while thei =rur g, they are respectfully to get the economy back moving again through the extension of the payroll tax relief, the extension of jobless benefits for those who are unemployed. he s talked about a massive we have a the 9.1% unemployment rate, effectively almost 20% underemployment. you re talking a pretty small boar, for a does that. he s challenged the private sector to hiring returning
and this would dramatically reduce their benefits to make work pay tax credits and president obama enacted into this payroll tax deduction. like i said, i read all these economic studies. every single unbiases economic study says the best thing you can do, if you re going to take the tax cut path to grow the economy, give payroll taxes. i just got back from a trip to asia with my foundation. hong kong super free market place had a stimulus. well, i guess we re not supposed to use that word any here. you know what they did? they gave almost 10% of the people low-income working people two month free rent and public housing. they gave some money to the seniors. most important thing they did was payroll tax relief for a year. this is all the people who studied this belief it is the
reduce their incentive to extend unemployment benefits, to support the tax credit that president obama enacted into this payroll tax deduction which i read all the economic studies every single unbiased economic study says the best thing you can do if you going to take a tax cut path to grow the economy is payroll tax relief. i god back from asia with my foundation, and hong kong, super free marketplace, had a stimulus and i guess we are not supposed to use that word. they gave almost 10 percent of the people low income working people two months free rent in public housing, they gave money to the seniors, the most important thing they did was payroll tax relief for a year. this is all the people would study this believe it is number one thing. so, i don t believe they could get a better deal by waiting and
and this would dramatically reduce their incentive to reduce unemployment benefits, to support the conversion of the make work pay tax credit that president obama enacted into this payroll tax deduction, which i said, i read these economic studies. every single unbiased economic study says the best thing you can do if you re going to take a tax cut path to grow the economy, to give payroll tax. i just got back from a trip to asia with my foundation. hong kong, super free marketplace, had a stimulus. well, i guess we re not supposed to use that word. you know what they did? they gave almost 10% of the people, low income working people, two months free rent and public housing. they gave some money to the seniors. most important they did was payroll tax relief for a year. all the people who study this believe it s the number one