Obama's Plans Don't Add Up--But McCain is Worse

[Dr Ron]

Fiscal Irresponsibility and Voting Decisions

(The editorial quoted here could come in handy when we here the inevitable arguments that Obama's plans cost more than the tax increases he supports will bring in. Unfortunately this is a fact of life in politics--but McCain is even worse when you look at his proposed tax cuts)

From Liberal Values

http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=3185



April 25th, 2008 by Ron Chusid

We are bound to hear criticism of the Democratic candidate over the fact that the plans either advocates cannot be paid for with the limited tax increases they support. The criticism is valid. As I noted yesterday, even Congressional Democrats realize this.

What must be kept in mind is that John McCain’s proposed tax cuts present even greater problems. The Washington Post looks at the proposals from all the candidates and finds that they don’t add up–with John McCain being the worst offender. They conclude:

While both Democratic candidates would spend far more on new programs than Mr. McCain would, the Republican’s proposals for new tax cuts dwarf the Democrats’ plans. The Democrats are clearer than Mr. McCain — though that’s a relative term — about how they would foot the bill. Still, no one’s winning any awards this campaign season for fiscal responsibility.

This is one reason I vote largely based upon values issues as opposed to the fine print of each candidate’s economic proposals. We can never be certain as to what a candidate will do in office. We saw George Bush morph from a compassionate conservative who opposed nation building to a far right wing ideologue who has devoted his presidency to an attempt at nation building.

Despite the difficulties in predicting what a president will do, there is strong reason to believe that the values held by Barack Obama will lead to a president doing less that I object to than social conservatives such as Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Obama’s experience in Constitutional law and his stronger support for civil liberties should make a difference. There is also a far less chance that Obama would support a blunder like Iraq as both Clinton and McCain did. As for economic policy, it is very difficult to predict which proposals and which tax cuts will actually make it thorough Congress. I’m far less likely to vote based upon this great unknown.

C

[Dr Ron]

1. Related Story From The New York Times

http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=3193


McCain’s Plans Would Most Greatly Increase Deficit

April 26th, 2008 by Ron Chusid

Yesterday I noted an editorial from The Washington Post which showed that, while none of the three remaining candidates are particularly fiscally responsible, John McCain was the worst. The New York Times looks at the same issue today and reports the same result:

Mr. McCain’s plan would appear to result in the biggest jump in the deficit, independent analyses based on Congressional Budget Office figures suggest. A calculation done by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington found that his tax and budget plans, if enacted as proposed, would add at least $5.7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.

Fiscal monitors say it is harder to compute the effect of the Democratic candidates’ measures because they are more intricate. They estimate that, even taking into account that there are some differences between the proposals by Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, the impact of either on the deficit would be less than one-third that of the McCain plan.

The centerpiece of Mr. McCain’s economic plan is a series of tax cuts that would largely benefit corporations and the wealthy. He is calling for cutting corporate taxes by $100 billion a year. Eliminating the alternative minimum tax, which was created to apply to wealthy taxpayers but now also affects some in the middle class, would reduce revenues by $60 billion annually. He also would double the exemption that can be claimed for dependents, which would cost the government $65 billion.

“High tax rates are driving many businesses and jobs overseas — and, of course, our foreign competitors wouldn’t mind if we kept it that way,” Mr. McCain said, laying out his economic plan this month in Pittsburgh. “We’re going to get rid of that drag on growth and job creation.”

On the expenditure side, Mr. McCain has called not only for continuing an open-ended deployment of troops in Iraq, but also for spending $15 billion annually to expand the Army and the Marine Corps and to improve health care for veterans, among other programs.