Spotlight on the economic platforms
Will Minor
Issue date: 10/21/08 Section: Up Hill, Down Hill
John McCain and Barack Obama have significantly different platforms for helping the US economy.
John McCain
Senator McCain has three economic focuses: 1) making America as competitive as possible in the global landscape, 2) lowering taxes for Americans and 3) energy independence through utilizing US natural resources.
McCain will cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent to make it a more attractive place for large companies who pay a lot of taxes (France, the UK, Germany and Japan all have tax rates currently around 30 percent).
McCain will lower taxes for Americans by extending the Bush tax-cuts as well as repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), which was meant for wealthy families but has been costing middle-class families up to $60 billion a year.
With less tax revenue, McCain has promised to cut wasteful government spending by $18 billion to fill the gap.
McCain has proposed the “Lexington Project” to capitalize on U.S. resources. It will fund 43 new nuclear power plants and off-shore drilling initiatives.
He estimates it will create 700,000 jobs for Americans as well as keep energy costs low to keep business production and everyday American energy costs low.
Barack Obama
Senator Obama’s economic focus is expanding government spending to help the middle class, and he has a number of initiatives.
He wants to create a windfall profit tax to oil companies and redistribute it to middle-class Americans ($1,000/year); eliminate income taxes for 10 million paying Americans by the “Making Work Pay” tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 (this proposal will eliminate income taxes for 7 million seniors); and eliminate all capital gains taxes on start-up and small businesses.
The Senator has proposed the creation of a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to invest $60 billion over 10 years to help US infrastructure.
Senator Obama supports the Ensure Freedom to Unionize Act to make it easier for U.S. workers to unionize which will ban the permanent replacement of striking workers.
Lastly, he wants to raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation.
On the bailout to help stabilize the US banking system…
Senator McCain has proposed the creation of the Mortgage and Financial Institutions Trust to buy the toxic assets that have crippled banks.
This is very similar to the vehicle proposed by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and has been termed a short-term solution to the problem.
Barack Obama has no specific initiative to solve the financial crisis and supports Secretary Paulson's $700 billion bailout fund.
Both candidates have advocated increasing banking regulation substantially to avert future financial disasters.
John McCain
Senator McCain has three economic focuses: 1) making America as competitive as possible in the global landscape, 2) lowering taxes for Americans and 3) energy independence through utilizing US natural resources.
McCain will cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent to make it a more attractive place for large companies who pay a lot of taxes (France, the UK, Germany and Japan all have tax rates currently around 30 percent).
McCain will lower taxes for Americans by extending the Bush tax-cuts as well as repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), which was meant for wealthy families but has been costing middle-class families up to $60 billion a year.
With less tax revenue, McCain has promised to cut wasteful government spending by $18 billion to fill the gap.
McCain has proposed the “Lexington Project” to capitalize on U.S. resources. It will fund 43 new nuclear power plants and off-shore drilling initiatives.
He estimates it will create 700,000 jobs for Americans as well as keep energy costs low to keep business production and everyday American energy costs low.
Barack Obama
Senator Obama’s economic focus is expanding government spending to help the middle class, and he has a number of initiatives.
He wants to create a windfall profit tax to oil companies and redistribute it to middle-class Americans ($1,000/year); eliminate income taxes for 10 million paying Americans by the “Making Work Pay” tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 (this proposal will eliminate income taxes for 7 million seniors); and eliminate all capital gains taxes on start-up and small businesses.
The Senator has proposed the creation of a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to invest $60 billion over 10 years to help US infrastructure.
Senator Obama supports the Ensure Freedom to Unionize Act to make it easier for U.S. workers to unionize which will ban the permanent replacement of striking workers.
Lastly, he wants to raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation.
On the bailout to help stabilize the US banking system…
Senator McCain has proposed the creation of the Mortgage and Financial Institutions Trust to buy the toxic assets that have crippled banks.
This is very similar to the vehicle proposed by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and has been termed a short-term solution to the problem.
Barack Obama has no specific initiative to solve the financial crisis and supports Secretary Paulson's $700 billion bailout fund.
Both candidates have advocated increasing banking regulation substantially to avert future financial disasters.
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