2 Minutes to Save the Economy

Barack Obama recently released a two minute ad where he talks about America's economic problems. In the video he lays out his plan to fix the economy by focusing on 5 important issues: taxes, Wall Street, energy, lobbyists, and Iraq.



For a while, both campaigns were doing more mudslinging then focusing on the issues. It was visible that Obama and his campaign were a little thrown by the announcement of Sarah Palin as VP nominee and the media frenzy that ensued. I am glad to see that he is back to talking about what is important instead of constantly being on the defense.

Obama has laid out a clear, different plan to deal with the economic downturn we are currently facing. McCain speaks of change, but most of his economic plans are either the same as we have seen for the last eight years, or a turn from his traditional standings in order to convince people that he is capable of changing things. How are we supposed to trust someone who has shown such bad judgment, and subscribed to the failed policies that have lead us to where we are today?

Obama's video left me wondering how the two candidates compare on the 5 important economic issues he spoke about. What is Obama's plan of action, and how does McCain propose we deal with these issues?

Taxes
As in every election, taxes are one of the major issues. Obama says he will:

"Reform our tax system to give a $1,000 tax break to the middle class instead of showering more on oil companies and corporations that outsource our jobs."

Obama wants to give tax breaks to those who are in need of that relief, and only raise taxes on those in the top 1.1% income bracket. His plan is to tax the oil companies that have been making ridiculous amount of profits off of the ever increasing gas prices and give that money to the working people. He will also eliminate income taxes for senior citizens making less then $50,000 per year.

The Washington Post put together a chart that compares Obama and McCain's tax plans

Obama's tax plan really only raises taxes on those making over $600,000 per year. The majority of people, over 80% of people, and over 95% of families, will see a much needed tax break.

McCain's plan, on the other hand, seems to be completely backwards. He gives the greatest tax cuts for those who need it the least, and he gives the smallest tax cuts to those who are struggling the most. Plus, he is only supplying tax reliefs and doesn't increase any taxes at all. We already have a gigantic deficit, so how is he going to give so much tax relief, continue a multi-billion dollar-a-month war, and reduce America's debt? The "trickle-down effect" of giving tax cuts to the wealthiest and hoping that everyone will eventually benefit does not work. This isn't change, this is the failed policy that has lead to the economic crisis we are facing today.

Wall Street
The last few days have shown us that there is a real problem on Wall Street. Obama wants to

"End the 'anything goes' culture on Wall Street with real regulation that protects your investments and pensions."

John McCain now says that that he also supports regulation on Wall Street. On Tuesday when speaking in Tampa he said:

"In my administration, we're going to hold people on Wall Street responsible. And we're going to enact and enforce reforms to make sure that these outrages never happen in the first place."

But this is much different then what he has said in the past. McCain has made it clear that he was a supporter of deregulation and less government involvement. An article in The Washington Post gave an example of his history:

"In 2002, McCain introduced a bill to deregulate the broadband Internet market, warning that "the potential for government interference with market forces is not limited to federal regulation." Three years earlier, McCain had joined with other Republicans to push through landmark legislation sponsored by then-Sen. Phil Gramm (Tex.), who is now an economic adviser to his campaign. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act aimed to make the country's financial institutions competitive by removing the Depression-era walls between banking, investment and insurance companies.

That bill allowed AIG to participate in the gold rush of a rapidly expanding global banking and investment market. But the legislation also helped pave the way for companies such as AIG and Lehman Brothers to become behemoths laden with bad loans and investments."

McCain's flip-flop, and history of fighting for deregulation do not instill confidence in his judgment and his ability to create an effective economic plan.

Energy
Energy and the environment are huge issues that need attention. Now that it is effecting people financially, both candidates are taking stands on the issues - but only one is presenting the change we need. Obama wants to:

"Fast track a plan for energy 'made-in-America' that will free us from our dependence on mid-east oil in 10 years and put millions of Americans to work."

He wants to free us from our dependence on foreign oil by focusing on the development of clean and renewable energy. His plan will really have three tiers of benefits: breaking our dependence on forign oil, creating new jobs, and helping to protect the environment. Obama and Biden lay out their plan on their website:

"Obama and Biden will invest $150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial scale renewable energy, invest in low emissions coal plants, and begin transition to a new digital electricity grid. The plan will also invest in America's highly-skilled manufacturing workforce and manufacturing centers to ensure that American workers have the skills and tools they need to pioneer the first wave of green technologies that will be in high demand throughout the world."

So what is McCain's plan? He wants to "drill, baby, drill". In the briefing paper of his economic plan (found on his website) he lists offshore drilling first. Renewable energy falls further down on this list and doesn't include many specifics:

"To develop these and other sources of renewable energy will require that we rationalize the current patchwork of temporary tax credits that provide commercial feasibility. John McCain believes in an even-handed system of tax credits that will remain in place until renewable energy has progressed to the point that it is competitive with conventional energy sources."

Where is the sense of urgency? He is making it sound like he will keep things as they are and hope for the best. Without making it a main focus, and creating a specific plan to support its development, renewable energy sources will never become competitive with conventional energy sources.

Drilling is not the answer, and by no means is it sustainable. If we start drilling now, we will not see a drop of oil for five to eight years, and the oil that is there would only last us another 10 years at the rate we use it. If we put all the focus on drilling for new oil, we won't make any progress with renewable energy. We are already waiting until the last minute to make the necessary changes, and the financial and environmental implications will become irreversible if we wait much longer.

Lobbyists
If you ask me, one of the benefits of electing Barack Obama as the next President is that he doesn't have the history in Washington that other politicians have. He is able to keep a fresh viewpoint and not be swayed by lobbyists. His running mate, Joe Biden, has been in congress much longer - but considering that he is the second poorest in the Senate after all his time in Washington shows that he too has been able to avoid corruption. In his video, Obama said that he wants to:

"Crack down on lobbyists – once and for all -- so their back-room deal-making no longer drowns out the voices of the middle class and undermines our common interests as Americans."

As Obama has mentioned in multiple speeches, many of McCain's closest advisers are lobbyists. McCain's rebuttal to this is that they are not "currently" lobbyists. The truth is that they were lobbyists before the campaign, and most likely will be lobbyists after the campaign is over (unless McCain wins and appoints them otherwise). He just made it a rule that they couldn't lobby during the campaign. The corruption is still there, whether or not they have taken a short break from it.

Iraq
And finally, there's the issue of Iraq. We are spending BILLIONS of dollars EACH MONTH on a pointless war. This money needed much more elsewhere - helping the American people with the everyday hardships they face like healthcare costs and unemployment. Obama says he wants to:

"Bring a responsible end to this war in Iraq so we stop spending billions each month rebuilding their country when we should be rebuilding ours."

Obama outlines a clear plan on his website for the removal of troops from Iraq:

"Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. Immediately upon taking office, Obama will give his Secretary of Defense and military commanders a new mission in Iraq: ending the war. The removal of our troops will be responsible and phased, directed by military commanders on the ground and done in consultation with the Iraqi government. Military experts believe we can safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 – more than 7 years after the war began."

Now, I could post the section of the quote from McCain saying that he wants us to spend 100 years in Iraq, but I won't - because I don't want to take things out of context. Instead I will take information directly from his website. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound much better:

"It would be a grave mistake to leave before Al Qaeda in Iraq is defeated and before a competent, trained, and capable Iraqi security force is in place and operating effectively. We must help the Government of Iraq battle those who provoke sectarian tensions and promote a civil war that could destabilize the Middle East. Iraq must not become a failed state, a haven for terrorists, or a pawn of Iran. These likely consequences of America's failure in Iraq almost certainly would either require us to return or draw us into a wider and far costlier war."

Al Qaeda wasn't even in Iraq before we started the war. So what does McCain want us to do? Stay in Iraq and hunt for Al Qaeda when are troops would be better off back at home or at least somewhere else, like Afghanistan, with the focus on fighting terrorists - not Iraq. A plan with such vague goals, and an indefinable definition of victory, really could leave us in Iraq for 100 years. "America's failure" would not be ending the war Iraq. Failure would be staying in Iraq for pointless reasons.

I am all for clear and productive messages like the one Obama sent in his ad. It is refreshing to hear two minutes of actual straight talk about the issues. Lets hope this is a trend that continues.

47 days until the election...