The following are the major points from Barack Obama's platform. Full text is available here.

Jumpstart the Economy

• Provide Additional Tax Rebates to American Workers
• Establish a $10 billion Foreclosure Prevention Fund
• Provide $10 billion in Relief for State and Local Governments Hardest-Hit by the Housing Crisis to Prevent Cuts in Vital Services
• Extend and Expand Unemployment Insurance

Provide Middle Class Americans Tax Relief

Obama will cut income taxes by $1,000 for working families to offset the payroll tax they pay.

• Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families
• Eliminate Income Taxes for Seniors Making Less than $50,000
• Simplify Tax Filings for Middle Class Americans

Trade

Obama believes that trade with foreign nations should strengthen the American economy and create more American jobs. He will stand firm against agreements that undermine our economic security.

• Fight for Fair Trade
• Amend the North American Free Trade Agreement
• Improve Transition Assistance

Invest in the Manufacturing Sector and Create 5 Million New Green Jobs

• Invest in our Next Generation Innovators and Job Creators
• Double Funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership
• Invest In A Clean Energy Economy And Create 5 Million New Green Jobs
• Create New Job Training Programs for Clean Technologies
• Boost the Renewable Energy Sector and Create New Jobs

New Jobs Through National Infrastructure Investment

Barack Obama believes that it is critically important for the United States to rebuild its national transportation infrastructure - its highways, bridges, roads, ports, air, and train systems - to strengthen user safety, bolster our long-term competitiveness and ensure our economy continues to grow.

• Create a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank

Technology, Innovation and Creating Jobs

Barack Obama will increase federal support for research, technology and innovation for companies and universities so that American families can lead the world in creating new advanced jobs and products.

• Invest in the Sciences
• Make the Research and Development Tax Credit Permanent
• Deploy Next-Generation Broadband

Support Small Business

• Provide Tax Relief for Small Businesses and Start Up Companies
• Create a National Network of Public-Private Business Incubators

Labor

Obama will strengthen the ability of workers to organize unions. He will fight for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Obama will ensure that his labor appointees support workers' rights and will work to ban the permanent replacement of striking workers. Obama will also increase the minimum wage and index it to inflation to ensure it rises every year.

• Ensure Freedom to Unionize
• Fight Attacks on Workers' Right to Organize
• Protect Striking Workers
• Raise the Minimum Wage

Protect Homeownership and Crack Down on Mortgage Fraud

Obama will crack down on fraudulent brokers and lenders. He will also make sure homebuyers have honest and complete information about their mortgage options, and he will give a tax credit to all middle-class homeowners.

• Create a New FHA Housing Security Program
• Create a Universal Mortgage Credit
• Ensure More Accountability in the Subprime Mortgage Industry
• Mandate Accurate Loan Disclosure
• Create Fund to Help Homeowners Avoid Foreclosures
• Close Bankruptcy Loophole for Mortgage Companies

Address Predatory Credit Card Practices

Obama will establish a five-star rating system so that every consumer knows the risk involved in every credit card. He also will establish a Credit Card Bill of Rights to stop credit card companies from exploiting consumers with unfair practices.

• Create a Credit Card Rating System to Improve Disclosure
• Establish a Credit Card Bill of Rights to Protect Consumers
• Ban Unilateral Changes
• Apply Interest Rate Increases Only to Future Debt
• Prohibit Interest on Fees
• Prohibit "Universal Defaults"
• Require Prompt and Fair Crediting of Cardholder Payments

Reform Bankruptcy Laws

Obama will reform our bankruptcy laws to protect working people, ban executive bonuses for bankrupt companies, and require disclosure of all pension investments.

• Cap Outlandish Interest Rates on Payday Loans and Improve Disclosure
• Encourage Responsible Lending Institutions to Make Small Consumer Loans
• Reform Bankruptcy Laws to Protect Families Facing a Medical Crisis

Work/Family Balance

Obama will double funding for after-school programs, expand the Family Medical Leave Act, provide low-income families with a refundable tax credit to help with their child-care expenses, and encourage flexible work schedules.

• Expand the Family and Medical Leave Act
• Encourage States to Adopt Paid Leave
• Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities
• Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit
• Protect Against Caregiver Discrimination
• Expand Flexible Work Arrangements

Source: www.barackobama.com

Economy Issues

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The following are the major points from John McCain's platform. Full text is available here.

Gas and Food Prices

John McCain will help Americans hurting from high gasoline and food costs.

• John McCain believes we should institute a summer gas tax holiday.
• John McCain will repeal the 54 cents per gallon tax on imported sugar-based ethanol
• John McCain will roll back corn-based ethanol mandates, which are contributing to the rising cost of food.

John McCain has proposed a new "HOME Plan" to provide robust, timely and targeted help to those hurt by the housing crisis.

• Eligibility: Holders of a sub-prime mortgage taken after 2005 who live in their home (primary residence only); can prove creditworthiness at the time of the original loan; are either delinquent, in arrears on payments, facing a reset or otherwise demonstrate that they will be unable to continue to meet their mortgage obligations; and can meet the terms of a new 30 year fixed-rate mortgage on the existing home.
• How It Works: Individuals pick up a form at any Post Office or download the form over the Internet and apply for a HOME loan. The FHA HOME Office certifies that the individual is qualified, and contacts the individual's mortgage servicer. The mortgage servicer writes down and retires the existing loan, which is replaced by an FHA guaranteed HOME loan from a lender.

Keeping The Credit Crunch From Hurting College Students

John McCain is proposing a student loan continuity plan. Students face the possibility that the credit crunch will disrupt loans for the fall semester. John McCain calls on the federal government and the 50 governors to anticipate loan problems and expand the lender-of-last resort capabilities for each state's guarantee agency.

Bring The Budget To Balance By 2013

John McCain will balance the budget by the end of his first term. The near-term path to balance is built on three principles:

• Reasonable economic growth
• Comprehensive spending controls
• Bi-partisanship in budget efforts

In the long-term, the only way to keep the budget balanced is successful reform of the large spending pressures in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

McCain Policies Will Support Reasonable Economic Growth: Small business is the key to job growth. Small business will benefit from:

• Low individual tax rates - sole-proprietorships, partnerships, landlords and others are taxed under the individual income tax
• Access to capital from low tax rates on dividends and capital gains
• Minimizing expensive mandates - such as those for health insurance and pro-union initiatives like card check
• Enhancing international competitiveness to keep jobs here; not abroad
• A lower corporate tax rate.
• Improved investment and research incentives to ensure that workers have the most modern technology
• Bringing the budget to balance, reducing federal borrowing, and controlling spending to reduce the burden on the economy

Comprehensive Spending Controls:

• The McCain administration would reserve all savings from victory in the Iraq and Afghanistan operations in the fight against Islamic extremists for reducing the deficit.
• A one-year spending pause. Freeze non-defense, non-veterans discretionary spending for a year and use those savings for deficit reduction. A one-year pause in the growth of discretionary spending will be imposed to allow for a comprehensive review of all spending programs. After the completion of a comprehensive review of all programs, projects and activities of the federal government, we will propose a plan to modernize, streamline, consolidate, reprioritize and, where needed, terminate individual programs
• Take back earmark funds. The McCain Administration will reclaim billions of add-on spending from earmarks and add-ons in FY 2007 and 2008

Stop Earmarks, Pork-Barrel Spending, And Waste

John McCain will veto every pork-laden spending bill and make their authors famous. As President, he will seek the line-item veto to reduce waste and eliminate earmarks that have led to corruption. Earmarks restrict America's ability to address genuine national priorities and interfere with fair, competitive markets.

Reforming Entitlement Programs For The 21st Century

• Reform Social Security
• Control Medicare Growth

Taxes: Simpler, Fair, Pro-Growth, And Competitive

• Keep Tax Rates Low
• Cut The Corporate Tax Rate From 35 To 25 Percent
• Allow First-Year Deduction, Or "Expensing", Of Equipment And Technology Investments
• Establish Permanent Tax Credit Equal To 10 Percent Of Wages Spent On R&D
• Allow Families To Keep Their Businesses
• Ban Internet Taxes
• Ban New Cell Phone Taxes

Lower Barriers to Trade

• The U.S. should engage in multilateral, regional and bilateral efforts to reduce barriers to trade, level the global playing field and build effective enforcement of global trading rules

Competitive American Workers

• The unemployment insurance system created in the 1950s needs to be modernized to meet the goals of helping displaced workers make ends meet between jobs and moving people quickly on to the next opportunity

Source: www.johnmccain.com