Wednesday-Night

U.S. Presidential Campaign: Candidates & Issues ; The evolving bailout plan ; The world after the (bailout) vote
The economy: what went wrong and what’s next?II John McCain: Economic Stimulus Plan     Barack Obama: The Economy

Demise of Reaganomics poses grave intellectual challenge to Republicans
The big, existential problem for Republicans – one which will consume it even if McCain manages a surprise victory on Tuesday – is that the Reagan era ended with a bang on September 15. Even before that day, there had been a few whimpers, most notably George W. Bush’s devastatingly effective refutation of the idea that the party was competent at running anything – think Katrina, Iraq, or a balanced budget – apart from political campaigns. But all of these could be framed as failures of execution: you still could argue that the ideology of the right was fundamentally sound.
Since mid-September, when the credit crunch metastasised into a full-blown international economic crisis, that has been impossible. It is partly because no matter what your specific culprit of choice may be – derivatives, global financial imbalances, lax mortgage-lending standards: take your pick – it is hard to deny that something pretty serious has gone wrong with global capitalism.
Even more importantly, whatever your diagnosis of the cause of our ills, emergency efforts to cure them have already transformed the US economy. America’s Republican-ruled state has intervened massively in the financial sector and is now set to own huge swathes of it. Moreover, as the US, whose GDP shrunk in the third quarter, tips into recession, Keynesian policies are beginning to look irresistible. No matter who wins on Tuesday, US government spending will – and should – increase over the next year. The strength of the US dollar and the international allure of US Treasury bills will make that counter-cyclical government splurge possible.
October 2008
Top 10 Global Economic Challenges Facing America’s 44th President
The 2008/2009 Top 10 Global Economic Challenges report focuses on the most critical issues facing America’s 44th president. From restoring financial stability to establishing a U.S. policy on climate change and engaging the emerging economic powers, the report contains timely analysis and recommendations by Brookings [Institution] leading global economic experts.
31 October
Dems sketch Obama staff, Cabinet
… Obama would also likely make a rapid announcement on an economic team in an effort to show command of the most pressing issue that would face him on moving into the Oval Office on Jan. 20.
Larry Summers, who was Clinton’s last Treasury secretary before becoming president of Harvard, is considered a favorite for Treasury secretary.
28 October
(FP Morning Brief) With just a week to go before American voters head to the polls, Barack Obama and John McCain are sparring vigorously over which candidate can best address the United States’ economic woes.
27 October
Campaigns Hit Economic Themes in Key State of Ohio
Senators John McCain and Barack Obama began to make their final arguments for the presidency on Monday in dueling speeches across the battleground state of Ohio. In Cleveland, Mr. McCain said that he, and not Democrats, would restore America’s flagging economy, while Mr. Obama, speaking in Canton, promised a new direction in policies and politics.
A Panel of Economic Advisers, Minus Two
CLEVELAND­ — On questions of economic policy, Senator John McCain tends to rely on a limited group of people with whom he feels comfortable, as perhaps should be expected of someone who acknowledges that the subject has never been his strong suit. So when Mr. McCain convened an “economic roundtable” here on Monday, it was interesting to see who was present — and who was not. Notable for their absence at John McCain’s economic address were two people who were close advisers in the early phases of his campaign: former Senator Phil Gramm and Carly Fiorina.
21 October
Candidates Face Off Over Economic Plans
LAKE WORTH, Fla. — Senator Barack Obama convened an economic meeting here on Tuesday, inviting Democratic governors and supportive business leaders to amplify his plan to pass an economic stimulus package to help create jobs across America.
17 October
Let’s Get Fiscal
Paul Krugman
… there’s not much Ben Bernanke can do for the economy. He can and should cut interest rates even more — but nobody expects this to do more than provide a slight economic boost.
On the other hand, there’s a lot the federal government can do for the economy. It can provide extended benefits to the unemployed, which will both help distressed families cope and put money in the hands of people likely to spend it. It can provide emergency aid to state and local governments, so that they aren’t forced into steep spending cuts that both degrade public services and destroy jobs. It can buy up mortgages (but not at face value, as John McCain has proposed) and restructure the terms to help families stay in their homes.
And this is also a good time to engage in some serious infrastructure spending, which the country badly needs in any case.
15 October
Economy Trumps Race in Ohio
PORTSMOUTH, Ohio—From the Southern California suburbs to Ohio’s Appalachia, places that have not been especially friendly to African-American candidates, Sen. Barack Obama seems to be convincing a substantial number of whites that their votes should be determined by their economic troubles rather than race.
14 October
McCain Unveils New Economic Proposals
BLUE BELL, Pa.–Senator John McCain unveiled $52.5 billion in new economic proposals on Tuesday aimed at easing financial distress on the nation’s elderly, workers and the unemployed.In a plan in which most of the benefits would go to older voters, Mr. McCain proposed that people 59 and up who withdraw money from IRAs or 401(k) retirement plans in 2008 and 2009 pay a tax rate of 10 percent on the money rather than their higher normal rates. That part of the plan would cost $36 billion, based on the McCain campaign’s internal estimates.
That (below) was then and this (above) is now
13 October
No New Economic Proposal Expected From McCain
WASHINGTON — Despite signals that Senator John McCain would have new prescriptions for the economic crisis after a weekend of meetings, his campaign said Sunday that Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, would not have any more proposals this week unless developments call for some.
The signs of internal confusion came as the campaign was under pressure from state party leaders to sharpen his message on the economy and at least blunt the advantage that Democrats traditionally have on the issue in hard times.
Mr. McCain continued to draw criticism for his announcement last week that, as president, he would have the Treasury buy troubled mortgages at face value and give qualified homeowners instead government-guaranteed, low-interest mortgages based on their residences’ reduced value. After first saying lenders would pay the difference, the next day the McCain campaign said taxpayers would.
Obama Expands Economic Plans
TOLEDO — Senator Barack Obama on Monday expanded his economic platform, including proposals to spur new jobs, to give Americans penalty-free access to retirement savings to help them through the downturn, to urge a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures and to lend money to strapped local and state governments.
Mr. Obama also is calling on Congress to double $25 billion the government loan guarantees for automakers and to temporarily eliminate taxes on unemployment benefits.
Campaign advisers said those steps and several others could be taken before January through current laws or by the Democratic-controlled Congress acting in a lame-duck session.
9 October
The economy and the election: It’s an ill wind
(The Economist) Bad news is good news when you are the challenger, and the news has been awful of late. Stockmarkets are tumbling, taking a big chunk of voters’ pensions with them. No one knows if the latest interest-rate cut or the $700 billion rescue package Congress approved recently will stop the panic. Unemployment is still only 6.1%, but everyone expects it to rise. The American economy is probably already in recession, and voters feel it is. House prices are slumping, and homeowners are losing their homes. A 90-year-old woman about to be evicted in Ohio shot herself last week. (She survived, and the mortgage firm forgave her debt.)
Few voters understand why the economy is ailing, but many blame President George Bush. Mr Obama, as the candidate whose party does not control the White House, is the default choice of the disgruntled. This gives him a hefty advantage in the polls, which show him leading Mr McCain by five points nationwide and by significant margins in most swing states. He has more money to press his message home, too. A cash-strapped Mr McCain gave up running ads in Michigan the day Mr Obama spoke there last week. Barring a sudden, unlikely, uplift in the national mood, Mr Obama’s prospects look peachy.
4 October
Conrad Black: McCain fumbles his chance to make bailout a victory
(National Post) U.S. President George W. Bush and his administration managed the financial crisis in a way that would have enabled John McCain to turn it to great political account — but the Republican presidential candidate failed to do so and has come perilously close to losing the election.
The U.S. political process has been tarred in absurdity, following the severe humbling of its financial system. This is certainly not the end of America as the world’s most important country, but it is little wonder that the people are clamouring for change, or that Barack Obama now looks more apt to deliver it than McCain
2 October
In our special report on the election we analyse the two candidates’ economic plans. Here, we ask professional economists to give us their views
AS THE financial crisis pushes the economy back to the top of voters’ concerns, Barack Obama is starting to open up a clear lead over John McCain in the opinion polls. But among those who study economics for a living, Mr Obama’s lead is much more commanding. A survey of academic economists by The Economist finds the majority—at times by overwhelming margins—believe Mr Obama has the superior economic plan, a firmer grasp of economics and will appoint better economic advisers.
29 September
McCain takes credit for bill before it loses
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his top aides took credit for building a winning bailout coalition – hours before the vote failed and stocks tanked. Shortly before the vote, McCain had bragged about his involvement and mocked Sen. Barack Obama for staying on the sidelines.
McCain blames Obama for bailout defeat
Obama Statement
This is a moment of national crisis, and today’s inaction in Congress as well as the angry and hyper-partisan statement released by the McCain campaign are exactly why the American people are disgusted with Washington. Now is the time for Democrats and Republicans to join together and act in a way that prevents an economic catastrophe. Every American should be outraged that an era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and Washington has led us to this point, but now that we are here, the stability of our entire economy depends on us taking immediate action to ease this crisis.
28 September
The 3 A.M. Call
Paul Krugman
It’s 3 a.m., a few months into 2009, and the phone in the White House rings. Several big hedge funds are about to fail, says the voice on the line, and there’s likely to be chaos when the market opens. Whom do you trust to take that call?
Who will the next bailout czar be?
The identity of key appointees — in particular, the secretary of the Treasury — is enormously important. Congress appears to be on the verge of granting stunningly broad powers to the Treasury secretary, authority that his predecessors never dreamed of. News outlets are already speculating about who the next Treasury secretary will be, but why should we have to rely on speculation?
The candidates should tell us now whom they plan to pick as secretary of Treasury. While they’re at it, identifying their prospective leader of the Council of Economic Advisers would also help.
If we had those names, then we might be able to obtain some valuable information. Maybe Barack Obama would announce, for example, that he would choose to bring Robert Rubin and Larry Summers (President Clinton’s team) back to Washington. If he told us that, we could look to see how Rubin-Summers dealt with the Asian crisis of the late 1990s, which involved decisions about bailouts and systemic risk too. And we are willing to wager that Rubin and Summers would give us more concrete and intelligible answers to questions about how they would handle the current financial crisis.
In John McCain’s case, what if he told us that he planned to tap John Taylor, the former undersecretary of Treasury who dealt with the effects of the Argentine crisis about eight years ago? Again, bailouts were contemplated then and so were policies to deal with the risk of financial contagion. Or maybe McCain would pick Carly Fiorina, who dealt with difficulties of a different sort at Hewlett-Packard?
The point is if we have concrete names, we can make informed decisions about which of these candidates would do a better job with the economy.
Obama and McCain walk the tightrope - and back $700 billion bail-out
Barack Obama and John McCain reluctantly backed the $700 billion rescue plan today, as they were forced into a political balancing act between supporting a deal they both realise is critical to the US economy but deeply unpopular with voters.
26 September
Why Obama looks better in this crisis
(FT Clive Crook blog) Unlike Mr McCain, Mr Obama offers no instant bold responses needing to be qualified or withdrawn or forgotten soon after. As ever, he looks calm, methodical and unruffled - and has his picture taken in conference with Paul Volcker, Bob Rubin and Larry Summers, who command wide respect. His response may be thin, so far, on content, but it is an altogether more reassuring posture than his rival’s tendency to hasty and exaggerated certainty.
This difference of intellectual temperament has often been seen as one of Obama’s biggest drawbacks, including by many of his own supporters. But the complexities of the crisis are putting those traits in a much better light.
U.S. bailout stalls, political tensions flare
Democrats blame McCain for lack of progress
By Sheldon Alberts, Washington Correspondent, Canwest News Service
(Montreal Gazette) [The] unprecedented White House meeting that included President George W. Bush, Republican presidential candidate John McCain, Democratic candidate Barack Obama and leaders of Congress from both parties … ended with Democrats complaining it had been a waste of time and seemed aimed more at bolstering McCain - who had urged Bush to convene the gathering - than making progress on a deal.
( Krugman, NYT Opinion) … one non-rank-and-file Republican, Senator John McCain, is apparently playing spoiler. Earlier this week, while refusing to say whether he supported the Paulson plan, he claimed not to have had a chance to read it; the plan is all of three pages long. Then he inserted himself into the delicate negotiations over the Congressional plan, insisting on a White House meeting at which he reportedly said little — but during which consensus collapsed.
Conservatives Viewed Bailout Plan as Last Straw
As the week progressed, it became abundantly clear that one thing conservative Republicans were most certainly not for was the Treasury plan, prompting them to begin searching for an alternative to avoid the perception of strictly being naysayers.
By the end of Friday, at least a portion of their alternative seemed likely to be included in the broader proposal as a sweetener for Republicans, although closed-door negotiations continued into the evening on Friday, and the contours of the final package remained in limbo.
25 September
Crash
By Timothy Egan
(NYT Opinion) “I’m a dirt farmer,” said Senator Jon Tester, the Montana Democrat who still lives on his family homestead. “Why do we have one week to determine that $700 billion has to be appropriated or this country’s financial system goes down the pipes?”
Good question, one that Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have yet to adequately answer. If they seemed flummoxed, perhaps it’s because they still can’t explain what will be accomplished by nearly nationalizing the banking system and giving the treasury secretary more power than a king.
(Foreign Policy Brief) In a surprise move, John McCain “suspended” his campaign yesterday in order to return to Wall Street to work on a resolution to the financial crisis. He suggested that Friday’s debate be postponed, a suggestion that was promptly rejected by Barack Obama’s campaign. Reaction to the move is split along party lines, and Senate majority leader Harry Reid suggested that McCain really wouldn’t be all that much help. The status of the debate remains unclear.
Election battle in US thrown into chaos as economy fears grow
(The Independent) McCain suspends campaign as economy fears grow, Obama says debate should go on
23 September
Americans Oppose Bailouts, Favor Obama to Handle Market Crisis
(Bloomberg) Six weeks before the presidential election, almost 80 percent of Americans say the U.S. is going in the wrong direction, the biggest percentage since the poll began asking that question in 1991.
McCain loses his head
By George Will
Channeling his inner Queen of Hearts, John McCain furiously, and apparently without even looking around at facts, said Chris Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, should be decapitated. This childish reflex provoked the Wall Street Journal to editorialize that “McCain untethered” — disconnected from knowledge and principle — had made a “false and deeply unfair” attack on Cox that was “unpresidential” and demonstrated that McCain “doesn’t understand what’s happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does.” (see also  A McCain Sampler)
22 September
2 Candidates Urge Greater Oversight in Bailout Plan
PHILADELPHIA — Senators John McCain and Barack Obama warned Sunday that there should be more oversight built into the government’s $700 billion plan to stabilize the financial markets but said the potentially enormous expenditure would not force them to scale back their ambitious governing agendas.
21 September
In Crisis, Paulson’s Power Is Magnified
All of this has ignited speculation about whom Senator Barack Obama or Mr. McCain might name as Treasury secretary if elected president. The consensus in both parties is now that the next secretary must — like Mr. Paulson, formerly chief executive of Goldman Sachs, one of only two surviving investment banks — be well versed in financial markets.
A choice of Tweedledum or Tweedledumber
The US economy is in crisis but neither presidential candidate has a credible solution
(Times Online) McCain sold his soul a long time ago; in the past few weeks he has been auctioning it on eBay. He deserves to lose. On the economy, though, Obama is not exactly demonstrating that he deserves to win either.
Truthiness Stages a Comeback
Frank Rich
(NYT) Whatever blanks are yet to be filled in on Obama, we at least know his economic plans and the known quantities who are shaping them (Lawrence Summers, Robert Rubin, Paul Volcker). McCain has reversed himself on every single economic issue this year, often within a 24-hour period, whether he’s judging the strength of the economy’s fundamentals or the wisdom of the government bailout of A.I.G. He once promised that he’d run every decision past Alan Greenspan — and even have him write a new tax code — but Greenspan has jumped ship rather than support McCain’s biggest flip-flop, his expansion of the Bush tax cuts. McCain’s official chief economic adviser is now Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who last week declared that McCain had “helped create” the BlackBerry.But Holtz-Eakin’s most telling statement was about McCain’s economic plans — namely, that the details are irrelevant. “I don’t think it’s imperative at this moment to write down what the plan should be,” he said. “The real issue here is a leadership issue.” This, too, is a Rove-Bush replay. We want a tough guy who will “fix” things with his own two hands — let’s take out the S.E.C. chairman! — instead of wimpy Frenchified Democrats who just “talk.” The fine print of policy is superfluous if there’s a quick-draw decider in the White House.
18 September
Economic crisis refocuses presidential race
(FT) Both candidates have offered similar responses to the crisis, each blaming lax regulation for the meltdown and promising to toughen government oversight of Wall Street. With so little difference between them, much will depend on whose promise of change proves more convincing and which of the pair establishes greater credibility on the economy.
McCain Seen as Less Likely to Bring Change, Poll Finds
… The poll was taken during a period of extraordinary turmoil on Wall Street. By overwhelming numbers, Americans said the economy was the top issue affecting their vote decision, and they continued to express deep pessimism about the nation’s economic future. They continued to express greater confidence in Mr. Obama’s ability to manage the economy, even as Mr. McCain has aggressively sought to raise doubts about it.
McCain’s economic adviser out of limelight after gaffe
(The Independent) The public face of John McCain’s campaign on the economy disappeared from public view yesterday after she queried whether he and his running-mate, Sarah Palin, were capable of leading a large US corporation. Carly Fiorina ….
17 September
(Foreign Policy Brief) The financial crisis probably helps Barack Obama by shifting the focus to economic issues. The latest Reuters poll has him up by 2 percentage points.


Obama Turns to Rubin, McCain Taps Feldstein for Crisis Response
Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) — As Wall Street’s financial crisis deepens, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are looking to some of the nation’s top economists for advice.
Obama yesterday held a phone call with one-time Treasury secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers, who won praise a decade ago for helping avert other potential meltdowns, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, credited with halting the raging inflation of the late-1970s and early-’80s.
McCain on Saturday talked with Harvard economics Professor Martin Feldstein, a onetime adviser to President Ronald Reagan, Stanford University economist John Taylor and former Hewlett- Packard Co. Chief Executive Carly Fiorina.
These advisers are helping shape the messages of Democrat Obama and Republican McCain, as the latest upheaval in the financial markets and the credit crisis begins to crowd out other issues on the campaign trail.
“You won’t be able to get the economy moving again, create jobs, without fixing the mess in our financial system,” said Obama economic adviser Jason Furman.

Obama Scoffs at McCain Economic Panel
Senator Barack Obama scoffed at a proposal offered Tuesday by Senator John McCain to create a commission to study the turmoil in the nation’s financial markets. Mr. Obama called for more aggressive regulation of Wall Street and a renewed emphasis on innovation.
He called on increasing government oversight and supervision on all regulated financial institutions and strengthening capital requirements –- particularly for mortgage securities and other derivatives -– at the center of the financial crisis. He also proposed streamlining regulatory agencies as well as cracking down on trading activity that manipulates markets.
“We need to regulate institutions for what they do, not what they are,” Mr. Obama said. “Over the last few years, commercial banks and thrift institutions were subject to guidelines on subprime mortgages that did not apply to mortgage brokers and companies.”
Pelosi orders wide Wall Street probe
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has ordered a broad, swift investigation of Wall Street and will demand testimony from Bush administration officials and captains of finance, congressional officials said.
House Democrats plan to aggressively look at the administration’s role in the meltdown over the weekend and to explore further regulation and government structures that would be taken up under the new president.
Republican aides accused Democrats of trying to shift blame with a series of “show trials,” but acknowledged that key officials will wind up cooperating.
15 September
Candidates on Wall Street Turmoil
PUEBLO, Colo. – Hours after Senator John McCain said “the fundamentals of our economy are strong,” Senator Barack Obama seized upon the remark on Monday and offered a blistering critique of the Republican Party’s stewardship of the economy.
10 September
WASHINGTON — Senators Barack Obama and John McCain each cite the mess at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as a consequence of the corrosive coziness of lobbyists and politicians that they promise to end. But each man and his party also have ties to the fallen giants that will complicate the next president’s job of reshaping the mortgage finance companies that have been essential to the economy. More
9 September
Palin Makes Her First Gaffe
Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs, the Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had “gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers.” The companies, as McClatchy reported, “aren’t taxpayer funded but operate as private companies. The takeover may result in a taxpayer bailout during reorganization.”
Economists and analysts pounced on the misstatement, which came before the government had spent funds bailing the two entities out, saying it demonstrated a lack of understanding about one of the key economic issues likely to face the next administration.
6 September
Candidates briefed on seizure of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
McCain’s campaign on Saturday called for the eventual elimination of Fannie and Freddie, complaining they have become so large and poorly managed that they pose a risk to the broader financial markets.
4 September
From pork to petrodollars
Sarah Palin’s home state is awash with money
(The Economist) JOHN MCCAIN’S decision to anoint Sarah Palin as his running-mate looks eccentric for many reasons. Not the least is economic principle. Thanks in part to Mrs Palin, Alaska’s economy is built on two things that Mr McCain has spent the last few years railing against.
31 August
Is History Siding With Obama’s Economic Plan?
Alan S. Blinder
(NYT) CLEARLY, there are major differences between the economic policies of Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. Mr. McCain wants more tax cuts for the rich; Mr. Obama wants tax cuts for the poor and middle class. The two men also disagree on health care, energy and many other topics.
The author ( a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve) argues “if history is a guide, an Obama victory in November would lead to faster economic growth with less inequality, while a McCain victory would lead to slower economic growth with more inequality”.
August 21
Obama Shifts Message to Everyday Concerns
LYNCHBURG, Va. — Senator Barack Obama has sharpened his stump speech, delivering a more populist message that further highlights his differences with Senator John McCain, particularly on the economy.
August 20
How Obama Reconciles Dueling Views on Economy
(NYT Magazine) Barack Obama is both more left-wing and more right-wing than many people realize. A 15-year debate among economics experts in the Democratic Party helps explain why.
As Barack Obama prepares to accept the Democratic nomination this week, it is clear that the economic policies of the next president are going to be hugely important. Ever since Wall Street bankers were called back from their vacations last summer to deal with the convulsions in the mortgage market, the economy has been lurching from one crisis to the next. The International Monetary Fund has described the situation as “the largest financial shock since the Great Depression.” The details are too technical for most of us to understand. (They’re too technical for many bankers to understand, which is part of the problem.) But the root cause is simple enough. In some fundamental ways, the American economy has stopped working.
August 8
Playing the Economic Card
Bill Boyarsky on the Campaign Trail
(Truthdig) The national polls show the election remains close. …  But other surveys point to a victory path for Obama if he can focus unrelentingly on the tanking economy, on gasoline and on increasingly expensive and unavailable medical care.
June 13
Obama Moves To The Center
Obama’s most provocative move in terms of economic policy has been to hire Jason Furman, who runs the relatively centrist Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution as his staff director for economic policy.
Furman brings with him, as an unpaid adviser, his mentor and the founder of the Hamilton Project, former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, as well as former Treasury Secretary and Harvard President Lawrence Summers. Both men have advocated pro-business policies and balanced budgets, and have been criticized by liberals who seek more government spending.
At the same time that the economy flourished during Rubin’s and Summers’ tenure (1995-2000) — per capita income rose from $22,153 to $25,469 in inflation-adjusted dollars; median family income rose from $53,349 to $59,398; and unemployment fell from 5.6 to 4.0 percent — both Treasury secretaries were accused of acceding to Wall Street pressure to eliminate deficit spending at the expense of the poor and unemployed.
June 12
The battle of the pockets is joined
The candidates’ tax and spending plans are examined
(The Economist) THE most recent unemployment figures have hit Washington like a brick: the unemployment rate jumped to 5.5% in May, a hefty half-point hike from April. Much of the rise came from young Americans unsuccessfully seeking work for the first time, but the capital is again buzzing with recession worries. What better time, therefore, for the two presumptive nominees to battle over their economic plans?
And battle they have. On June 9th Barack Obama began a two-week tour to battlefield states, his first as his party’s anointed leader, with a big speech on economic policy. He accused John McCain of favouring George Bush-like profligacy by proposing tax cuts he can’t pay for. Mr McCain shot back with a speech of his own next day, saying that Mr Obama will raise taxes and unwisely renegotiate trade agreements. Strangely, both of them may have a point.
The figures are debatable, but there is one clear difference. Mr Obama’s plan would redistribute cash to lower- and middle-income Americans, while Mr McCain’s would skew benefits towards the wealthy.
June 11
A Challenge Obama Should Accept
By Joe Conason
(TruthDig)   … what Obama ought to emphasize, consistent with his positive and uplifting appeal, is the excellent economic record of his Democratic forebears during the past century or so. As stewards of the economy, they have consistently bested the Republicans on every important measure, from stock market performance to gross domestic product to job creation to disposable income.
Democrats have always been better at reducing poverty and increasing wages, which may not surprise anyone. But they have also proved superior at keeping inflation low, reducing budget deficits and restraining federal spending. After the scandalous budgeting of the Republican Congress and the Bush administration, perhaps nobody will find those statistics surprising, either.

Jason and the Obamanauts
Paul Krugman points out that Jason Furman has been appointed economic policy director not chief advisor and concludes it is a good choice.