Originally Posted By: BASAMS The Plumber
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/27/AR2008102702374.html

 Quote:
WASHINGTON -- Democrat Barack Obama's "closing argument" speech Monday included a sweeping accusation against GOP rival John McCain: "Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he'd do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy."

But the charge is debatable _ McCain has several ideas that are different than Bush's policy, which he touched on as recently as a Sunday interview on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"Do I respect President Bush? Of course I respect him," McCain said. "But I pointed out we were on the wrong track in a whole lot of ways, including a $10 trillion deficit, including saying we got to rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and propose legislation to try to fix it before that triggered the housing collapse, including today when I'm saying they should be going out and buying up these mortgages and giving people mortgages that they can afford rather than bailing out the banks."

The Obama campaign says the key word of Obama's statement is "major," and the differences that McCain points to are minor details. Here are some of what McCain's campaign sees as his biggest disagreements with Bush on economic policy:

_ McCain wants to use half of the $700 billion financial rescue package that Bush signed into law to buy up troubled mortgages at full face value and then negotiate easier loan terms.

_ McCain has called for the resignation of Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox because he has "betrayed the public's trust." Bush appointed Cox in 2005 and has stood by him.

_ On taxes, McCain is calling for a 10 percent cut in the corporate tax rate and doubling of the child exemption beyond the tax cuts that Bush has already passed.

_ McCain has proposed sweeping changes to the health care system, replacing existing income tax breaks for worker's health coverage with refundable tax credits of up to $5,000. Bush had proposed replacing income tax breaks with a standard deduction for health insurance, but it was not as large a proposal as McCain's and it died in Congress.

_ McCain differs with Bush in several ways over energy policy, points that his campaign argues would have a big impact on the economy. Among them: McCain supports a mandatory cap-and-trade approach to cutting greenhouse gases, which allows industries to either reduce their pollution or to purchase credits from companies exceeding pollution targets.

_ McCain wants to eliminate taxes on unemployment benefits.


Damn liberal media!