According to their website, each candidate submitted their answers to the same questions in writing. But, on the first question it looks like Obama's answer is from a speech (because it uses the personal pronoun throughout and says "jobs right here in Indiana") and the McCain answer includes the words "As President, John McCain will send..." which tells me the campaign wrote the answers.
In any event, I'm going to assume this is an honest effort to put the candidates views side by side.
I'm summarizing what the answers are. When in doubt, I'm assuming the best instead of the worst.
1) What specific legislative proposal will you support to ensure that jobs that pay
a living wage are available domestically for America’s younger generation?
Barack Obama
- Trade Agreements - NAFTA put special interests over worker's interests. All trade agreements will have protections for our environment and American workers.
- Patriot Employer Act - tax breaks for companies that create good jobs with decent wages in America (and end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas).
- Rebuild American infrastructure - roads and bridges; will create new jobs for construction work. Create the National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to invest 60 billion over 10 years to support the infrastructure projects.
- An energy plan that will put 150 billion over 10 years into establishing a green energy sector, which will create new jobs.
- Lower taxes and remove regulation - will unleash the private sector to grow.
- Cut taxes on American businesses from a rate of 35 to 25 percent
2) What sectors do you perceive as being “high growth” areas for job creation
for young adults?
John McCain
- Green technologies and alternative energies
- Advancing technology is the key to US competitiveness
- Supports economic policies that encourage innovation markets to thrive; low taxes and sound incentives for entrepreneurs, less regulation, supports risk-taking and rewards innovators, adequate support for basic research, and labor market policies that lead to a highly skilled workforce.
- Federal investment in research, development, and deployment of advanced technologies.
- Federal workforce training programs so eorkers learn advanced manufacturing and weatherization training.
- Create an energy-focused youth jobs program to invest in disconnected and disadvantaged youth.
- Make broadband internet access available everywhere, which is another area of new jobs.
3) With many young adults believing Social Security will not be available once they retire, what is being done now so that members of the next generation will be able to meet their financial obligations when they retire?
Barack Obama
- I believe that benefits should not be cut, the retirement age should not be raised, but instead the wealthiest should pay a little bit more through a raise in the payroll tax ceiling
John McCain
- Believes that we may meet our obligations to the retirees of today and the future without raising taxes. John McCain supports supplementing the current Social Security system with personal accounts -- but not as a substitute for addressing benefit promises that cannot be kept.
- He’ll submit a plan to save Social Security and Medicare, and ask Congress to do the same.
4) Because young adults have expressed concern that federal, state and local taxes are too high, what tax reforms would you offer to address this concern?
John McCain
- Maintain the current income and investment tax rates and fight the Democrats' plans for a crippling tax increase in 2011.
- Permanently repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax(AMT), an onerous tax that threatens 25 million middle class families who were never intended to pay it.
- He proposes to raise the personal exemption for each dependent from $3,500 to $7,000.
- ban Internet taxes, and new cell phone taxes.
- John McCain will also propose an alternative new and simpler tax system that is simpler, flatter, and fair.
- requiring a three-fifths majority in Congress to raise taxes.
Barack Obama
- I will end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to pay for my health care plan.
- New “Making Work Pay” tax cut will provide up to $500 per worker, or $1,000 per working family, and I will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans.
- We should make half of the tax credit, $250 per worker, available immediately in order to quickly get money into the pockets of Americans. This will help maintain consumer spending, strengthen the economy and ease the squeeze so many Americans are currently experiencing.
- If there is a three-month cumulative decline in employment, I believe we should immediately provide the remaining portion of that tax credit, an additional $250 per worker
- simplify tax filings
- closing the corporate loopholes and cracking down on international tax havens
- increasing the highest bracket for capital gains and dividends
- closing the carried interest loophole.
5) What policies and legislation will you promote to help 18-30 year olds achieve greater financial planning and security, and to help those who are living paycheck to paycheck get out of that cycle?
Barack Obama
- Save More for Retirement Act. The bill provides incentives for automatic enrollment in 401Ks.
- expand savings by establishing automatic enrollment in IRAs for employees who are not covered by 401K plans
- expanding and improving the Saver’s Tax Credit to help more low and moderate income households save
John McCain
- Low taxes on dividends and capital gains promote saving
- keep the current rates on dividends and capital gains and fight anti-growth efforts by
Democrats to raise them.
My thoughts: These answers make it clear that Republicans believe the business class drives the economy, and Democrats believe the middle class drives the economy. There are more nuances than that - but essentially that's the idea. McCain assumes a business that's growing will automatically create new jobs and put money into the economy. Obama assumes that when the middle class has money they will create demand in the marketplace and businesses will be created to fulfill the demand. Sounds like Econ 101 to me. I disagree with John McCain's assumption because I think we've seen that when Corporations have money, they keep it to themselves. The economy is a tough issue because it involves our ideas about who we are as Americans and what a Democracy means and how the Free Market works in a Democracy. Part of the American mythology is that we're all independent individualists who like to do our own thing. We can be counted on to be surprising and innovative and daring. That certainly can be part of who we are. But, the reality is, we're also kind of normal. I think I'm treading into an area that requires more thought and effort than I have right now. So, I'll stop for now. Except to say that I do like Obama's idea of strengthening the middle class (vs McCain's idea to strengthen the business class) to maintain our economy. Both economic choices have a danger zone - too much strengthening of the middle class can encourage laziness and too much strengthening of the business class can lead to a widening income gap between the wealthy and the middle class, which isn't good for any economy. I'm for fiscal responsibility in either case.
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