Obama and McCain square off over economy

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By Caren Bohan

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain clashed over how to boost the ailing U.S. economy on Monday, with Obama pushing for a new stimulus package to help homeowners and McCain pressing for low income taxes and incentives for small business.

With Americans returning to work after the Independence Day holiday weekend, both candidates turned to the No. 1 issue for voters -- the economy -- in a bid to win support from people wrestling with home foreclosures, job losses and the soaring cost of gasoline.

In a speech to reporters after mechanical trouble forced his plane to make an unscheduled stop in St. Louis, Obama called for a $50 billion stimulus package to fight foreclosures and offset high energy prices. He said he would tighten rules for credit card companies and relax bankruptcy laws to help those struggling with debt.

Obama, a Democrat, said Republican McCain, like unpopular President George W. Bush, would favor the wealthy over the middle class if he won the November election.

"He trusts that prosperity will trickle down from corporations and the wealthiest few to everyone else," the Illinois senator said in remarks originally scheduled for delivery in Charlotte, North Carolina. "I believe that it's the hard work of middle-class Americans that fuels this nation's prosperity."

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...edName=topNews

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"Not only is it overly ambitious," Obama said. "Every independent observer who has looked at John McCain's plan says that his plan would add $200- to $300-billion a year in deficit spending. He hasn't specified how he would bring it down. His own campaign has acknowledged that they don't have specifics."

Under Bush, the U.S. government's debt has nearly doubled to $10 trillion. Bush could leave his successor a record $500 billion budget deficit.

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McCain "I will balance the budget, but we don't have specifics on how to do it". Straight Talk Train

[jordanrules23]

we should just add tolls to every 5 miles of our highways like the liberals want it.....

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[flarendep1]

Relax bankruptcy laws for those struggling with debt?

Guess who altimately picks up the tab for that.


Bush and the republicans fucked up with spending like democrats but a lot of the debt was a direct and indirect result of 9/11 which killed the economy for some time before it recovered.