Democrats kept the jobs problem on the back burner as they strived to cook up health care reform. But with unemployment over 10%, the issue is boiling over and commanding the attention of the top chef.

Yet when President Obama hosts a Thursday summit with economists, business and union leaders, he may find the menu of options for sparking job creation too rich.

Among those is a new plan from the liberal Economic Policy Institute (EPI) with a first-year cost of $400 billion that could be paid for over time with a new 0.5% tax on transactions involving stocks and other financial products.

Other more modest ideas may be to his liking, such as a Cash for Caulkers program that gives tax credits for weatherizing homes.

In an interview with Fox News while in China last month, Obama warned that "adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery," could undermine confidence in the U.S. and trigger an economic relapse.

Obama discussed the tricky job of making sure "the recovery is supported ... (and) setting up a pathway for long-term deficit reduction," adding that any jobs bill would have "to fit into that broader framework."

Trading Tax, TARP Funds

Although the EPI plan has a financing source and could theoretically fit, both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have expressed some wariness about the transaction tax idea.

What's more, trying to pass a tax on stock trades could bog down efforts to pass an emergency jobs bill, said Daniel Clifton, head of policy research at Strategas Research Partners.

Such a tax "is way too complicated to get something done on a quick basis," Clifton said.

So what other potential revenue sources are available? Some Democrats have talked about tapping the roughly $200 billion left in Troubled Asset Relief Program funds, but that would raise the deficit.

As Clifton notes, TARP is accounted for like an investment vehicle, meaning that deficits only come when the government recognizes losses.

Likely To Boost Deficit

Greg Valliere, chief policy strategist at Soleil Securities, expects that whatever measures emerge will be mostly unpaid for, which will limit the scope of any jobs bill.

If so, Valliere thinks that centrist Democrats may insist that new legislation be linked, at least loosely, to the establishment of a bipartisan commission to address future deficits related to Social Security and Medicare.

Among the most likely stimulus measures is an extension of more generous unemployment benefits and subsidies for the unemployed to retain their employer-provided health insurance. These measures, both in the original stimulus package, would have a one-year cost of about $100 billion.

These safety-net extensions are part of EPI's plan. It also includes $150 billion in relief for state and local government budgets; $30 billion for modernizing schools; $40 billion a year for three years to create community public service jobs; and a job creation tax credit with a cost of up to $80 billion in the first year and $67 billion in the second.

EPI estimates the package "would create or preserve at least 4.6 million jobs."

Obama initially proposed a $3,000 hiring tax credit in January, but it was quickly cast aside by Congress. The idea has skeptics across the political spectrum, with some arguing that it is inefficient and others noting that it might easily be gamed.

EPI's credit would come via a 15% rebate on a firm's net increase in Social Security wages above a baseline level. The rebate would fall to 10% in the second year.

The business community has warned that uncertainty regarding tax levels and the costs of health care reform and cap-and-trade are deterring hiring.

Clifton said the Cash for Caulkers idea is "clearly on the agenda" of the White House.

Venture capitalist John Doerr has proposed spending $23 billion over two years, primarily on incentives for weatherizing homes. That would produce energy savings for households, while curbing emissions and creating jobs. Skeptics say the proposal could be ripe for fraud.