This Wednesday, President Obama will broadcast his message from the most visible area of the bully pulpit: the State of the Union address. The AP reports President Obama will unveil a new economic aid package including:

“[A] doubling of the child care tax credit for families earning under $85,000; a $1.6 billion increase in federal funding for child care programs and a program to cap student loan payments at 10 percent of income above “a basic living allowance.” The initiatives will be part of the president’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2011.

His initiatives also include expanding tax credits to match retirement savings and increasing aid for families taking care of elderly relatives. That program would also require many employers to provide the option of a workplace-based retirement savings plan.”

Are these new packages aimed at helping the struggling underemployed, or are they simply political bait to ward off a Republican surge in the upcoming midterm elections? Either way, these new programs represent a new wave of subsidies to continue propping up the economy in the short term.

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