标题:McCain pins his hopes on job creation By Krishna Guha in St Paul Published: September 4 2008 21:33 | Last updated: September 4 2008 21:33 John McCain is hoping that a focus on job creation will trump Barack Obama’s promise of a $1,000 tax credit for middle-class Americans in the battle for blue-collar voters. He argues that workers will ultimately be the main beneficiaries of his plan to cut the cor- porate tax rate from 35 to 25 per cent, promote free trade and make the Bush tax cuts permanent. At the same time, Mr McCain will seek to rebut claims that his plan would increase the bud- get deficit by emphasising his toughness on spending. Senior advisers say he is prepared to take an axe to wasteful big-ticket defence programmes as part of a drive to generate savings. Do- ug Holtz-Eakin, senior policy adviser to the McCain campaign, told the Financial Times on Thursday: “Everything we are doing, from trade to health to energy to taxes, is about creating jobs in the US. You do not get a sustainable, prosperous fut- ure with a $1,000 payroll tax credit. You have to have a job.” The Obama campaign claims the McCain plan amounts to “failed trickle-down economics” and thinks that the McCain campaign blundered in promising a big tax cut for corporations rather than bigger tax cuts for individuals. Even Mr Holtz-Eakin ad- mits a tax cut for companies is easy to attack politically as corporate welfare. But he casts the decision as part of a larger narrative in which Mr McCain is willing to stand up for what he thinks is right rather than do what is politically expedient. Mr Holtz-Eakin says other countries have stolen a march on the US by cutting corporate rates already. “The Europeans have done it. The Asia-Pacific countries have done it.” On trade, Mr McCain will aim to draw a sharp contrast with Mr Obama, who has expressed scepticism about the benefits of recent trade deals. The McCain campaign thinks the politics of trade is swinging in its direction following the surge in US exports that has propped up US growth over the past year. “The near-term experience has been very beneficial to McCain,” Mr Holtz-Eakin says. “People can see that manufacturers in the US are selling things all around the world – and that these jobs are not going away.” Mr McCain will argue that the Obama plan would harm small businesses, a key engine of job creation. One source of vulnerability for the McCain campaign is the charge – made by some independent experts as well as the Obama campaign – that its fiscal framework, which promises tax cuts and a move to a balanced budget without specifying where the savings would come from, is not credible. Mr Holtz-Eakin says the goal is achievable with sufficient spending discipline. He says it is up to Congress to allocate exactly where money should be spent, but says Mr McCain will insist on a tough overall spending envelope and use the target of a balanced budget to frame the budget debate and justify the use of vetoes. He hints that the defence budget is ripe for savings, highlighting expensive projects such as the Littoral Combat Ship and the Future Combat System. “The Department of Defence does not get a pass from John McCain,” he says. “You can get about $60bn from Medicare” he adds. “Ethanol subsidies are gone, agricultural subsidies are endangered.” Democrats charge that the McCain economic agenda offers “more of the same” from the Bush years. The McCain campaign is at pains to refute this charge, highlighting its “comprehensive” energy plan and stressing that the Bush administration had “never touched” the politically difficult issue of corporate tax rates. “The difference between John McCain, and Bush and the Democratic Congress is his willingness to do what is right on the economy even when it is not popular,” says Mr Holtz-Eakin. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/78222e8c-7aba-11dd-adbe-000077b07658.html Presidential rivals clash over economy By Andrew Ward in St Paul Published: September 5 2008 19:54 | Last updated: September 5 2008 19:54 John McCain and Barack Obama returned to the presidential campaign trail on Friday after their party conventions and immediately clashed over the struggling US economy as unemployment hit its highest monthly rate for nearly five years. “Americans are hurting and we must act to create jobs,” Mr McCain said in a statement, echoing a pledge in his acceptance speech on Thursday to offer more help to workers struggling to adapt to the globalised - economy. The Republican presidential nominee accused his opponent of plotting sweeping tax increases that would only worsen the economy and increase unemployment. “ The American people cannot afford a Barack Obama presidency,” he said. Mr Obama, who proposes tax cuts for lower and middle-income workers but increases for the wealthy, said August’s unemployment figures demonstrated the need for a change of economic approach. “Today’s jobs report is a reminder of what’s at stake in this election,” he said in a statement, the morning after Mr McCain accepted the Republican nomination in St Paul, Minnesota. “John McCain showed last night that he is intent on continuing the economic policies that just this year have caused the American economy to lose 605,000 jobs.” The US jobless rate shot up to 6.1 per cent in August – a bigger increase than expected – deepening public concern about an economy that opinion polls show is already the top concern for US voters. Mr Obama is anxious to refocus the campaign on economic issues after a week dominated by “values” and security issues at the Republican convention. The Illinois senator has struggled to build on the momentum from the successful Democratic convention in Denver last week as the media has shifted its attention to Sarah Palin, Mr McCain’s surprise choice of running mate. In his speech on Thursday, Mr McCain sought to distance himself from the current economic difficulties by portraying himself as an agent of change who would shake up Washington. ”I don’t work for a party. I don’t work for a special interest. I don’t work for myself. I work for you,” he said, promising to tackle corruption and wasteful spending wherever he found it. The Obama campaign said Mr McCain’s change rhetoric was phony. “You can say ‘change’ 10 times in a speech, 15 times in speech. You can say ‘reform’. The truth is, there’s not an economic policy that was pointed to last night or at all in this convention that’s one iota different from George Bush,” said Robert Gibbs, an Obama spokesman, on MSNBC. Some opinion polls this week showed Mr Obama extending his lead over Mr McCain coming out of the Democratic convention, while others suggested it remained a dead heat. Mr McCain remains broadly committed to the low-tax, pro-free trade agenda pursued by the Bush administration and has promised a sharp reduction in corporate tax rates, which he says would boost job - creation. But in his speech on Thursday, he said pro-market policies must be combined with increased retraining and support for the casualties of globalisation. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/39335894-7b79-11dd-b839-000077b07658.html 新闻来源: (需有正确连结) -- --

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