http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080415/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_economy PITTSBURGH - John McCain called Tuesday for the federal government to free people from paying gasoline taxes this summer and ensure that college students can secure loans this fall, proposals aimed at stemming the public's pain now from the troubled economy. In the longer-term, the certain Republican presidential nominee said he would double the tax exemption for dependent children and offer people the option of choosing a simpler tax system. "We know from experience that no serious reform of the current tax code will come out of Congress, so now it is time to turn the decision over to the people," McCain said in a sweeping economic speech at Carnegie Mellon University a week before Pennsylvania's primaries. To help people weather the downturn immediately, McCain 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. 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. Combined, he said, the two proposals would reduce gas prices, which would have a trickle-down effect, and "help to spread relief across the American economy." Addressing the feared fallout of the ongoing credit crunch, McCain also said the Education Department should work with the country's governors to make sure that each state's guarantee agency — nonprofits that traditionally back student loans issued by banks — has both the means and the manpower to be the lender-of-last-resort for student loans. Lawmakers, students and financial experts are worried that the credit crisis might make it more difficult for students and their families to find loans. Nearly two dozen lenders have dropped out of the federally backed student loan program. Students, McCain said, "should not be denied an education because the recklessness of others has made credit too hard to obtain." Among other proposals, McCain said he would: _Require more affluent people — couples making more than $160,000 — enrolled in Medicare to pay a higher premium for their prescription drugs than less-wealthy people. _Raise the tax exemption for each dependent child from $3,500 to $7,000. _Offer people the option of choosing a simpler tax system with two tax rates and a standard deduction instead of sticking with the current system. _Suspend for one year all increases in discretionary spending for agencies other than those that cover the military and veterans while launching an expansive review of the effectiveness of federal programs. The four-term Arizona senator packaged the fresh proposals with long-standing positions in a wide-ranging economic speech on Tax Day in which he faulted not only Democrats but also fellow Republicans for failing to practice prudent spending and fix pricey entitlement programs. "In so many ways, we need to make a clean break from the worst excesses of both political parties," McCain said, adding "somewhere along the way, too many Republicans in Congress became indistinguishable from the big-spending Democrats they used to oppose." He also argued that Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton would impose the single largest tax increase since World War II by allowing tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 — and that McCain voted against but now wants to make permanent — to expire. "Both promise big 'change.' And a trillion dollars in new taxes over the next decade would certainly fit that description," McCain said. Playing on the title of an Obama book, McCain added: "All these tax increases are the fine print under the slogan of 'hope:' They're going to raise your taxes by thousands of dollars per year — and they have the audacity to hope you don't mind." The speech was part of McCain's ongoing effort to counter the notion — fueled by his own previous comments — that he's not as strong on the economy as he is on other issues. He also sought to fend off criticism from Democrats, including Obama and Clinton, that his small-government, free-market stances don't mesh with people feeling the pinch — particularly those hurting now. He made his remarks a day after he said he believes the country has already entered a recession, a label the Bush administration has resisted even as a credit crisis, a housing slump, soaring energy costs and rising layoffs combined to soften the economy. The speech also came the same morning the Labor Department reported another worrisome sign for the economy: Inflation at the wholesale level soared in March at nearly triple the rate that had been expected as the costs of energy and food both climbed rapidly. Oil prices hit a new high, rising over $112 a barrel for the first time.
lol - yes encouraging people to use more gas will certainly temper demand and be great for the environment....wonder if he will flip flop on this like he did on mortgages....
This is refreshing, considering Snob-ama's plan calls for nothing but big tax hikes -- regardless of how the libs characterize it. Obama's San Francisco values are not what this country needs right now. McCain is such a breath of fresh air compared to the two dogs that the libs are running.
Truly Can McCain even take in a breath of fresh air? McCain & Economics should not be used in the same sentence.
Since I do charity work with the elderly in my spare time, I can report with some accuracy that their breath is not fresh.
Nice to see you stooping to the level of insulting a man because of his age. Do you similarly insult the elderly that you work with? The Snob-ama supporters are sensing the need to 'go there' on McCain's age. That's what happens when their candidate's path to victory is getting gloomier by the day. Thank goodness Snob-ama opened up and shared his San Francisco values with that closed door group of liberal hippies...
Jorge whether you want to accept the fact or not is irrelevant. McCain’s age or rather his health (he’s had four cancer surgeries – why won’t he release his medical records?) will be a deciding factor in some people’s votes. Instead of talking about the economy, he should spend his time talking about something he knows about. Being old
disappointed there's no mention of the ATM, although i'm not sure if this is because he didn't address it, or the AP left it out of their report.
Grow the military cut taxes and keep all the other programs stable. I am all for lowering taxes, but he needs to cut military spending. We probaly have have weapons the rest of the world won't get for 20 years why do spend so much on the military industrial complex.
Basically, it sounds like he's given up on the "fiscal responsibility" concept - the one thing people really actually liked about him - and jumped on the Bush philosophies that work oh-so-well.
^ same plan as Bush II. Left unspoken is the multi-trillion dollar elephant in the room - the unending undefinable money sink in Iraq. Which he plans to pay for with tax cuts....lol.
More of the typical conservative rhetoric from McCain. Lower taxes is the key to everything. Starve the government of revenue. Pretend you can cut overall spending when you want more war. Basically do what Bush did and borrow more money. Pretend there is a free lunch. As Sam said, encourage people to burn more gasoline, so he manages to be anti-environment, too. The gas tax goes to repairing roads and bridges which are in bad shape. Restrict ourselves to building bridges and roads in Iraq. Nice touch. The only real break is for those with kids, but again the side effect is to reduce tax revenue so as to hamstring government. Hold down spending on any other government program that might help families. Try to turn Medicare into a welfare/ income based welfare program to decrease its popularity. Claim Democrats are tax and spend liberals because they want to start balancing the budget. Continue Bush policies at home and abroad.
Nice post glynch. That's a pretty accurate statement of my general disdain for all things republican at the moment.
An absolutely necessary change if we are to avoid the economic collapse of the system that is approaching in the next decade.
See, this is why you have no cred, glynch. No cred. When the government cut taxes under Bush, tax receipts actually INCREASED. If you did your homework, you'd know that.
I think it's a good move. Of course, it'd be better if we weren't bleeding money in Iraq... Keeping gas prices low during the summer is a move I like for several reasons: 1. One, it helps national morale. May seem silly, but gas rising above 4 bucks a gallon isn't going to motivate us to go out and spend money. 2. Many people who vacation during the summer drive there. Alot of people probably hesitate with gas prices soaring so hopefully it'll help there. 3. It helps alot of us in the lower income bracket (as well as families) who are already suffering trying to make ends meet, especially with the astronomical food prices right now. I have nothing to say about recent Republican economic policies where the rich get richer and our national debt soars, but keeping gas prices manageable would certainly help me and alot of people I know out. It's hard to look at the big picture when you're struggling to get by.
