All three Presidential candidates delivered major speeches on the housing crisis and economic slowdown this week - Sen. Clinton on Monday in Philadephia; Sen. McCain on Tuesday in S. California; Sen. Obama today in New York. As Travis mentioned in his post, the Washington Post included summaries from each candidate's economic advisor of the major points. What follows is a summary of summaries:
According to Gene Sperling, economic adviser to Sen. Clinton's campaign, Sen. Clinton proposes and/or supports:
-A plan to encourage the restructuring of viable mortgages through a voluntary agreement to freeze interest rates on subprime ARMs and a 90-day foreclosure moratorium.
-A second stimulus package, focused on helping at-risk homeowners and communities.
-Policies that help Americans achieve greater economic security and upward mobility: a direct health-care tax credit; a direct $1,000 matching tax cut; higher education tax cuts that go directly to paying college tuitions.
According to Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a senior policy adviser to Sen. McCain's campaign, Sen. McCain proposes and/or supports:
-A tax credit for R&D, investment incentives and a lower corporate tax rate to improve U.S. competitiveness
-"Comprehensive health-care reforms," tax credits, and health insurance market reforms
-Low taxes, controlled government spending and the honoring of international agreements to reassure investors, strengthen the dollar, and help to ease inflation and oil prices
-Modernizing unemployment insurance and training programs
With regard to the mortgage crisis:
-No taxpayer dollars should bail out real estate speculators or financial market participants who failed to do due diligence in assessing credit risks.
-Any financial assistance should be accompanied by reforms
-Where government assistance is merited, lenders and homeowners should make financial sacrifices to qualify.
According to Austan Goolsbee, senior economic adviser to Sen. Obama's campaign, Sen. Obama proposes and/or supports:
-Efforts to create a new FHA Housing Security Program to provide incentives and guarantees for lenders to buy out mortgages that exceed the value of homes and convert them to stable 30-yr fixed rate mortgages.
-Direct interest-rate subsidies for low- and middle-income borrowers; comprehensive credit counseling; aid for loan workouts and reform of bankruptcy code
-Extending unemployment benefits; providing money to hard-pressed states; permanent tax relief to seniors and working Americans
-A plan to fund investment in infrastructure; an alternative energy and green jobs development program; a job skills program
-Improving oversight of credit markets
-Enacting a long-term saving program
What's missing from these plans? Take a look at Jake's post yesterday on Mark Halperin's piece in Time.
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