Obama, McCain differ

Candidates' plans for economy highlight differences

By Michael Edwards
Contributing Writer
Columbus Post

Now, it's beginning to look like a traditional campaign and the kid gloves may be coming off.
With grim financial reports dominating the news, the presidential candidates are trading barbs over economic policy in appearances and are offering sharply contrasting remedies for the country's ailing economy.
Presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee Senator Barack Obama is emphasizing he would push an aggressive economic agenda as President that includes: cutting taxes for the middle class, eliminating income taxes for elderly people making less than $50,000 a year, raising taxes on the wealthy, pouring money into "green energy" and requiring employers to set up retirement saving plans for their workers. Obama also wants to offer a $4,000 annual college tuition credit for those who commit to community-service-oriented programs. The presumptive democratic presidential nominee said he could pay for his programs by eliminating the Bush administration's tax cuts for the wealthy, winding down the Iraq war and spending more on alternative energy programs that eventually will save money.
Republican Senator John McCain, the declared Republican nominee, argues that he would keep a steady hand on the economy by holding down taxes on individuals and corporations. McCain said reducing the corporate tax rate would help make American businesses more competitive and prevent jobs from moving overseas. He also stressed that it is not enough to tweak the current tax code around the edges, and instead proposed "a vastly less complicated system" that would include two tax rates with a standard deduction.
"The biggest difference between these two can be summed up in one word: judgment," said William Spriggs, Ph.D., one of Obama's economic policy advisors. "Obama brings a common sense approach to government that emphasizes re-growing the economic foundation from the bottom up versus' the trickle-down policies that reward corporations...McCain's insistence to stick with Bush's trickle-down policies, which clearly don't work, indicates a serious lack of sound judgment," said Spriggs.
An African American, Spriggs is chair of Howard University's Economics Department and a senior fellow with the Economic Policy Institute. During the Clinton Administration, he worked in various agencies, including Commerce and the Small Business Administration. He's also served as president of the National Economics Association, a caucus of Black economists that seek to increase the number of minorities within the profession.
Spriggs said Obama's plan brings "fairness to the tax code" and emphasizes that McCain, in wanting to "maintain the status quo," apparently doesn't see a problem with how the economy has been performing over the last seven years. "Since Bush took office seven years ago, unemployment has gone up 9.7 percent; homeownership is down and the economy has hemorrhaged at least 300,000 jobs annually - the African-American community and the nation can't afford four more years of the same."
Jason Furman, Obama's economic director, added: "Soaring fuel prices, falling housing prices, the credit crunch and the weakening job market...these are factors that are weakening America and the reality is that no one group is more severely impacted by the economic downturn than African Americans."
Spriggs pointed out that McCain's judgment seriously comes into question because of his insistence that the foreclosure crisis and current housing downturn is the result of individual's making poor choices. "A closer look reveals that many of the subprime loans that are in trouble are second and third mortgages - Americans being forced to use the equity in their homes (to generate cash when needed) because their wages have not kept pace with inflation. It takes sound judgment to look at the facts and see that the real issue here is a market downturn that requires government intervention, not mass individual homeowner failures."
McCain claimed that his words are being twisted. According to McCain, the Obama campaign left out his additional statement, "the fundamentals of America's economy are strong; however that's not [a] comfort to families now that are facing these tremendous economic challenges."
Obama has also criticized McCain for originally opposing Bush's first-term tax cuts but now supporting their continuation. Additionally, Obama said he would place a windfall profits tax on oil companies while McCain would reduce their taxes.
"At a time when we're fighting two wars, when millions of Americans can't afford their medical bills or their tuition bills, when we're paying more than $4 a gallon for gas, the man [McCain] who rails against government spending wants to spend $1.2 billion on a tax break for Exxon Mobil," Obama said. "That isn't just irresponsible. It's outrageous," added Obama.
Spriggs said that such ideology only demonstrates McCain's lack of sound judgement as well as McCain's proposal for a temporary halt in the federal gasoline tax. It would "actually do real harm," by reducing revenue for road and bridge construction while oil companies make record profits.
"We will get through this rough economic patch, my friends," McCain recently told supporters. As he further outlined his overall plan to cut the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent, saying it would expand the economy, creating jobs and opportunity. McCain maintains his plan is "pro-growth with fewer taxes, and less spending." He contrasted it with what he called the Democrats' "tired ideas of tax and spend."
Yes, as November draws closer, it is time for throwing punches between the candidates and the kid gloves are certainly off.

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