Jump starting the economy and help the middle class: Return the interest deduction for credit cards and car loans.

My brother, Carl Schlegel, teaches at a high school in Lacey, Washington. Reprinted below are his comments following President Obama’s State of the Union speech on Jan. 28, 2010. I think you’ll enjoy what he has to say. –Rob Schlegel 

If our President truly understands how we, the middle class, are affected by the economy and how middle class America operates, he could do something that would benefit the majority of middle class Americans and help us recover some of that money from our taxes that bailed out the banks. 

The proposed idea would be reinstating the deduction we used to be able to take on our income taxes for the interest we pay on car loans and credit cards. I don’t know very many middle class Americans that can afford very many big purchases without using some credit. We still need and make those big purchases. 

Who benefits? Car manufacturers that we bailed out and the banks who loan us the money so we can buy cars and keep working to pay our debts. It would be easy to give us that deduction back. It was certainly easy for them to take it away! I am not in the habit of complaining unless I can offer thoughts towards a solution. 

I already sent this idea on to President Obama in an email, but for some reason it wasn’t mentioned in his State of the Union Speech last night. I kept waiting! I thought he was holding back as pleasant surprise to finish with! Must be planning to work it into the next budget… 

And I’ll say it before one of you do… Help! He’s started talking and he won’t shut up! OK, done with my diatribe. I’m off to a fun day teaching high school students, followed by a fun afternoon (really) at Ashley and Anthony’s firing off air powered rockets they made as part of a special Science and Math project I have been working on with Ashley’s class for the last month or so.