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Obama unveils $33 billion tax credit to boost jobs. President Barrack Obama on Friday proposed $33 billion in tax credits to coax small businesses into hiring workers as he underscored his commitment to pushing job creation to the top of his agenda.

With public frustration over double-digit unemployment eroding his popularity, Obama has begun rolling out initiatives aimed at backing up his jobs pledge made in his economy-focused State of the Union Address earlier this week.

The latest proposal calls for a $5000 tax credit for every net new worker hired in 2010. The amount would be capped at $500,000 per firm to make sure that the bulk of the benefits go to small businesses.

"The economy is growing but job growth is lagging," Obama told workers at a custom-machine plant in Baltimore.

He spoke after the release of data showing U.S. gross domestic product expanded at a faster-than-expected 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter, a trend he hailed as a "stark improvement" compared to economic decline a year ago.

But he insisted that more work was needed to spur employment and urged the U.S. Senate to push ahead with jobs legislation. The House of Representatives approved a $155 billion jobs bill in December.

Obama said his tax credit proposal could help small businesses to hire workers while lowering their taxes. He estimated that more than 1 million small businesses could benefit.

"Now's the perfect time for this kind of incentive," he said. "The key thing is it's time to put America back to work."

Small businesses are the biggest source of job creation and hold the key to reducing unemployment, so funneling money their way is a smart approach. The problem is, even though the economy has resumed growing, confidence is in short supply, leaving these companies reluctant to hire, economists say.

The tax credit plan was previewed by Obama in his State of the Union speech, where he reframed his policy agenda to put the emphasis squarely on jobs and the economy, Americans' chief concerns in a midterm congressional election year.

A shocking win last week by a Republican in an election to the U.S. Senate in traditionally Democratic-dominated Massachusetts has jolted the White House into concentrating its message on Obama's strategy to boost jobs. (Reuters)

Healthcare Decision Coming Soon!

Democratic leaders are aiming to decide next week about their next move on health care, senior aides said Wednesday.

President Obama is expected to reiterate his call for a comprehensive overhaul in his State of the Union address Wednesday night. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) still lack a game plan for moving forward, following the Democrats' surprise loss last week of a Massachusetts Senate seat, costing the party its filibuster-proof supermajority.

One problem the leaders can't seem to overcome is how to pay for whatever bill they are able to produce. Senate Democratic sources said Pelosi continues to protest the excise tax on high value insurance plans that the Senate would adopt to offset the cost of expaning coverage to the uninsured. Pelosi has urged Reid to drop the tax, or at least radically scale it back, leaving the bill with a revenue hole as large as $300 billion over 10 years. Many House Democrats oppose the excise tax because of its potential impact on union households.

Two options are on the table: pushing the Senate bill through the House, along with a companion bill of fixes; and starting from scratch with a smaller bill that includes only the most popular provisions. Reid and Pelosi are in the process of canvassing their caucuses to determine the best approach.

The Democratic leaders still believe they may be able to salvage their original effort, if at least 218 House Democrats agree to approve the Senate version of the bill. But for the House to go along, the Senate would first have to approve a special budget reconciliation bill to makes the changes House Democrats are demanding. This option is theoretically the quickest and surest route to final passage because in the Senate, reconciliation bills are protected from filibusters, meaning they require only a simple majority to pass.

The process would give House Democrats rock-solid assurance that health legislation would not take effect without the fixes they are demanding. But Senate Democratic aides estimate that about seven Democratic senators could oppose reconciliation, for fear of a political backlash.

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) told reporters on Tuesday that voters simply do not believe that health care legislation would reduce the deficit and that pushing the package to final through reconciliation would be a fatal political error. "I think reconciliation would be very ill-advised," Bayh said.

Senate Budget Committee chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), warned that Democrats could be forced to delay this year's budget process in order to accommodate reconciliation for health care, since last year's reconciliation instructions expire when a new budget resolution is adopted. Reconciliation remains fraught with other problems in the health care context, Conrad said. For example, any bill would have to cut the deficit by $1 billion over five years, but the changes the House wants to see would cut revenues and increase subsidies.

"I think the role of reconciliation would be quite limited in a health care context," Conrad said.

Other potential problems: Senators can offer unlimited amendments to a reconciliation measure, a recipe for a protracted floor debate. Some of the main flashpoints between the House and Senate bills involve issues like abortion and the design of a new insurance marketplace that may not pass muster with the Senate parliamentarian, who acts as referee during the process. All provisions must have a budgetary impact, and they cannot create new government programs.

Given the uncertainty, some Democratic lawmakers would prefer to focus their efforts on a narrower bill, possibly one that would gain Republican support. Senior Democrats listed some of the provisions that could be included: incentives for small business to offer health coverage; pilot programs that tackle Medicare inefficiencies; and an array of insurance reforms that would prevent egregious abuses and allow young adults to remain on their parents' policies.

The legislation also could include an aggressive Medicaid enrollment campaign that would capture the millions of low income individuals who are eligible for coverage under current law, but haven't signed up for it. That pool alone could include 8 million people, Democrats said.

iBooks: Apple Answers the Kindle with a Digital Bookshelf Like No Other

There’s no doubt about it, Apple’s newly unveiled iPad is the ebook reader that will change the game, especially since it is directly attacking Amazon’s Kindle.

And Steve Jobs wasn’t being coy about it, saying this morning: “Amazon’s done a great job of pioneering this functionality with the Kindle. We’re going to stand on their shoulders and go a little further.”

Taking it further is a bit of an understatement. iBooks is Apple’s brand new native application that enables users to discover, browse and download ebooks right from the Apple iPad. iBooks is backed by big-time launch partners Penguin, Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillian and Hachette, all publishing powerhouses in their own rights (notice that McGraw-Hill is not on the list).

iBooks offers an impressively beautiful book reading experience. Readers have their own digital bookshelves, and while consuming digital books they’ll be able to tap right or left to change the page and/or drag the page to manually move forwards or backgrounds in the text. Readers can also browse a book’s table of contents, change the font (something you can’t do on the Kindle without hacking it) and adjust font sizes for digital content. Plus, you can’t overlook how color is integrated into the entire experience. Much like the App Store, the iBookstore will serve as the store front for book purchases and be integrated into the iTunes experience.

Here’s how Apple describes iBooks:

“The iBooks app is a great, new way to read and buy books. Just download the app for free from the App Store, and you’ll be able to buy everything from classics to bestsellers from the built-in iBookstore. Once you’ve bought a book, it’s displayed on your Bookshelf. To read it, all you have to do is tap on it and it opens up. The high-resolution, LED-backlit screen displays everything in sharp, rich, color, so it’s very easy to read, even in low light.”

Also of note is that iBooks is comprised of ebooks using ePub format, which is an open book format that distinguishes the Apple ebook platform from Amazon’s offering.

One thing we didn’t hear about is whether or not users will be able to highlight and annotate texts. But, given that iPad starts at $499 and iBooks offers such an impressive ebook experience, we have to wonder what Amazon could do at this point to stay competitive.

Apple’s Jobs unveils `intimate’ $499 iPad tablet

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Apple Inc. will sell the newly unveiled tablet-style iPad starting at $499, a price tag far below the $1,000 that some analysts were expecting.

The iPad, which is larger in size but similar in design to Apple's popular iPhone, was billed by CEO Steve Jobs on Wednesday as "so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smart phone."

Jobs, 54, a survivor of pancreatic cancer who got a liver transplant during a 5 1/2-month medical leave last year, looked thin as he introduced the highly anticipated gadget.

The iPad has a 9.7-inch touch screen, is a half-inch thick, weighs 1.5 pounds and comes with 16, 32 or 64 gigabytes of flash memory storage. The basic iPad models will cost $499, $599 and $699, depending on the storage size.

All models have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity built in. Jobs said the device has a battery that lasts 10 hours and can sit for a month on standby without needing a charge.

Apple will also sell a version with pay-as-you-go data plans from AT&T in the U.S. Two tiers of data plan will be available without contracts: $14.99 per month for 250 megabytes of data, or $29.99 for unlimited data usage.

Those 3G models will cost more -- $629, $729 and $829, depending on the amount of memory. The Wi-Fi only version will be available worldwide in March, and the 3G version in April. International cellular data details have not yet been announced.

Apple had kept its "latest creation" tightly under wraps until Wednesday's unveiling, though many analysts had correctly speculated that it would be a one-piece tablet computer with a big touch screen, larger than an iPhone but smaller than a laptop.

The CEO demonstrated how the iPad is used for surfing the Web with Apple's Safari browser. He typed an e-mail using an on-screen keyboard and flipped through photo albums by flicking his finger across the screen. And he showed off a new electronic book store, putting the iPad in competition with Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle and other e-book readers.

Jobs said the iPad will also be better for playing games and watching video than either a laptop or a smart phone. The iPad comes with software including a calendar, maps, a video player and iPod software for playing music. All seem to have been slightly redesigned to take advantage of the iPad's bigger screen.

Tablet computers have existed for a decade, with little success. Jobs acknowledged Apple will have to work to convince consumers who already have smart phones and laptops that they need this gadget.

"In order to really create a new category of devices, those devices are going to have to be far better at doing some key tasks," Jobs said. "We think we've got the goods. We think we've done it."

Applications designed for the iPhone can run on the iPad. Apple is also releasing updated tools for software developers to help them build iPhone and iPad programs.

"We think it's going to be a whole 'nother gold rush for developers as they build applications for the iPad," said Scott Forstall, an iPhone software executive.

A new newspaper reader program from The New York Times and a game from Electronic Arts Inc. were also demonstrated during the event. The audience, which included many journalists and bloggers, clapped and even gave Jobs a standing ovation.

Shares in Apple rose $1.84, or less than 1 percent, to $207.78 in afternoon trading Wednesday. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company's shares have more than doubled over the past year, partly on anticipation of the tablet computer. Shares in Amazon rose $1.51, or 1.3 percent, to $120.99.

It’s Official: Jobs Announces Apple’s iPad

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