|
|
|
|
Economy: Where do McCain/Obama stand, what have they done & what will they do· McCain proposes: o Fire the SEC commissioner (note that it has been said the president can't do this, but he apparently can) § The commissioner said he is quitting when Bush leaves office anyway (per CNN 9/20/08, Tom Forman's "Truth Squad" piece). (could not find any web references for this CNN piece) § He will need to find a better person for the job (per CNN 9/20/08). (could not find any web references for this CNN piece) o Wants to set up a "Mortgage and Financial Institutions Trust" & suggests that this would be a pool of money to help prevent financial companies from reaching this point of meltdown where they need a big ticket bailout. The money would also, importantly, help consumers restructure loans so that they don't loose their homes. What's missing in all this is the price tag. (per CNN 9/20/08) (could not find any web references for this CNN piece) o Wants to empanel a top level commission to figure out how to streamline and strengthen the federal agencies that are supposed to protect the economy. (per CNN 9/20/08) (could not find any web references for this CNN piece) · Obama proposes: o Enact a homeowner and financial support act. This appears to be very similar to the trust fund that McCain is talking about; money to prevent catastrophic failures in the financial industry, stabilize things a bit, and to keep people in their homes. Same question [as with McCain proposal] what does this really going to cost, who's going to pay for it, and can we afford it. (per CNN 9/20/08) (could not find any web references for this CNN piece) o $50 billion emergency economic stimulus plan. He's talking about money for 1 million jobs for rebuilding infrastructure, schools, and helping local governments avoid budget cuts. This would obviously be targeted spending as opposed to the scatter shot of this summer's economic stimulus plan, but that plan was also three times as big as what Obama is proposing here, so you can draw your own conclusions about the bang he might get for these bucks. (per CNN 9/20/08) (could not find any web references for this CNN piece) o Change the bankruptcy laws to make it easier for people who go bankrupt to at least keep their homes. [It will be] interesting to see how this would fair politically. In 2005, a few years ago, bankruptcy laws were rewritten to make it tougher, not easier, for people to hold onto their assets after they go broke. (per CNN 9/20/08) (could not find any web references for this CNN piece) · McCain called for reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in May 2006. Per http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd?id=109-s20060525-16&bill=s109-190 · Obama said he was pushing for reform for years. (need to check this) · Obama stated "In January, I outlined a plan to help revive our faltering economy, which formed the basis for a bipartisan stimulus package that passed the Congress." (Tues., Sept. 16th, 2008 in Golden, Colo.) o Politifact.com rated this as "barely true". Per http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/726/ · Obama stated on Saturday, July 12th, 2008 in a conversation with reporters "I have little doubt that we've moved into recession at this point." o Politifact.com rated this as "barely true". Per http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/590/ · Obama stated on Monday, June 16th, 2008 "These steps (a middle-class tax cut, national health care plan, foreclosure prevention fund, Social Security fix and more) are all paid for." o Politifact.com rated this as "barely true". Per http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/533/ · Obama on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 "The average American family" saw income rise $7,500 under Bill Clinton and decline $2,000 under George Bush. o Politifact.com rated this as "half true". Per http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/670/ · Obama's economic policy per a PolitiFact.com article "Fact Sheet: Economic policy" on Jan. 30th, 2008: (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/jan/30/fact-sheet-economic-policy/) o Obama has criticized the Bush stimulus package for not extending benefits for the unemployed and for not giving aid to workers with low incomes who don't pay taxes. He has not committed to voting for or against the stimulus package. Obama’s own short-term plan calls for an immediate $75-billion tax rebate, which would be a $250 tax cut for workers and a $250 bonus to seniors in their Social Security checks. He allows for the possibility of repeating these cuts if the economy does not respond. He also wants to create a fund to prevent foreclosure for at-risk homeowners. He wants to extend and expand unemployment insurance. o As part of his overall economic package, Obama supports a $500 tax credit that would reimburse workers for payroll taxes. He also supports expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit and a mortgage interest deduction for nonitemizing taxpayers. He wants to eliminate taxes on seniors making less than $50,000. He supports tax credits for college tuition and child care targeted to low- and middle-income families. He seeks to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. o For business, he wants to make permanent the research and development tax credit for corporations. He wants to eliminate capital gains taxes for start-up businesses. · McCain's economic policy per a PolitiFact.com article "Fact Sheet: Economic policy" on Jan. 30th, 2008: (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/jan/30/fact-sheet-economic-policy/) o McCain has said he intends to vote for the Bush economic stimulus package. His longstanding positions on the economy include eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax and making the Bush tax cuts permanent. He wants to maintain current rates on dividends and capital gains. For businesses, McCain wants to permanently reduce the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent; to allow first-year expensing of equipment and technology investments; and to make permanent the research and development tax credit for corporations. o Among other issues, he seeks to lower Medicare premiums and ban Internet and cell phone taxes. He emphasizes reducing spending by curtailing earmarks, subsidies and “pork-barrel” spending. · McCain called for a gas tax holiday as relief from high gas prices, and to provide an immediate economic stimulus, . o This would indeed provide an immediate stimulus to the economy and help consumers a bit with expenses, however, it would not help the oil consumption problem. (Per my opinion) o Note that Obama opposed the idea. However, when Obama was in the Illinois Senate, he voted for a bill which reduced the state's sales tax on gasoline from 6.25 percent to 1.25 percent for six months. Per http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/454/ · McCain stated on Friday, September 19th, 2008: Barack Obama got more campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "than any other member of Congress, except for the Democratic chairmen of the committee that oversees them." o Politifact.com rated this as "mostly true". Per http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/727/ · McCain said on Thursday, September 4th, 2008: "I will keep taxes low and cut them where I can. My opponent will raise them." o Politifact.com rated this as "barely true". Per http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/697/ · McCain, on Tues., April. 15, 2008, urged Congress to institute a "gas-tax holiday" by suspending the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. By some estimates, the government would lose about $10 billion in revenue. He also renewed his call for the United States to stop adding to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and thus lessen to some extent the worldwide demand for oil. Per http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24120727/ · Obama on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008: A gas tax holiday is a gimmick that "every economist says will just go into the pockets of the oil companies." o Politifact.com rated this as "half true". Per http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/493/ · McCain's statement that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" is unfairly taken out of context. The full quote was "You know that there’s been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall Street. And it is – it’s – people are frightened by these events. Our economy, I think, still, the fundamentals are – of our economy are strong, but these are very, very difficult times. And I promise you, we will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street. We will reform government." Per http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/stretching_with_biden.html o New York mayor Mike Bloomberg said about the McCain comment: "I do agree that fundamentally America has an economy that is strong," he said. "America’s great strength is its diversity, its hard work, its good financial statements, its broad capital markets,its enormous natural resources" and its work ethic, he said at an afternoon press conference devoted to reassuring New Yorkers that the city's finances and its economy are intact. Per http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0908/Bloomberg_agrees_with_McCain_Economy_fundamentallystrong.html
|
|
Send mail to
Editor@FactCheckDigest.com with questions or comments about this web site.
|