Following the House’s rejection of the Wall Street bailout bill, Sen. John McCain described a series of steps the administration could take to aid the economy. These suggestions included increasing the insurance for bank deposits to regain lost confidence, allowing the Treasury Department to borrow money and purchase mortgage backed securities, and using the exchange stabilization funds to temporarily support financial institutions while Congress reconvenes.
“All of this is focused on making sure that in the near term our economy continues to do as well as possible, and thus not incur further damage in the credit crunch,” said the McCain campaign’s Senior Economic Policy Advisor Doug Holtz-Eaken during a telephone conference.
Holtz-Eaken contrasted the goal with Sen. Obama’s plan which the campaign claims will endanger the economy by raising taxes on the small businesses that have been a source of new jobs despite the economic downturn and increasing spending by $3 trillion over the next decade.
“I don’t know of an economic theory on the face of this earth that would suggest raising tax rates on business, raising tax rates on small business, raising tax rates on investment capital would be a good idea at a time of severe financial strain,” said former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp.
“We need a pro-growth stimulus to make sure we don’t go into the depth of a deep recession, the likes of which would be caused by raising tax rates on investment capital at exactly the wrong time,” said Kemp.

“I wish I was here to talk about economic growth,” said Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, as he began his speech at the National Press Club on solutions for solving the current economic crisis. Gingrich said he would have reluctantly voted for the $700 billion bailout plan proposed in the House yesterday. Despite his objections to a bailout of Wall Street CEOs, Gingrich said it was worse to do nothing.
Gingrich blamed the failure of the bill largely on the Democrats and Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson. Nancy Pelosi has a majority, said Gingrich, it is inappropriate and partisan if she can’t pass a bill in her own House. For Gingrich, the mortgage crisis is a product of policies pursued by the Clinton and Carter administrations, whose liberal agendas pushed for housing for everyone and led many people to take out sub-prime mortgages which they couldn’t pay back.
Gingrich offered his own advice for solving the current economic crisis. He was open to getting suggestions from experts and investors, and wanted to set up a website for people outside of Congress to post their ideas. He also wanted to suspend the Mark-to-Market Accounting system, and create an accounting system with more rules for “transparency, transaction and responsibility.” The average American needs fairness and reliability, said Gingrich, we shouldn’t have to pay for the problems on Wall Street.

Newt Gingrich says the basis for the current mortgage crisis is a result of policies pursued by the Carter and Clinton administrations which pushed to allow every American to own a home. (0:45)

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Former Vice Presidential Candidate Jack Kemp and Senior Economic Policy Advisor Doug Holtz-Eaken hold a telephone conference to discuss John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) economic approach following the rejection of the Wall Street bailout plan (24:20).

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“This was a joke,” said Co-Director of the Center of Economic Policy Research Dean Baker of the proposed bailout bill that failed to pass in Congress yesterday. Baker and other economic experts analyzed the economy at a discussion held by the Institution for Policy Studies (IPS). Baker said that the Bush administration was “trying to hold a gun to our head,” and that the general public was smart enough to oppose the bill. After the bill failed to pass in Congress, Baker said “I was out there celebrating yesterday.”
Baker said the central reason for the economic problems we’ve had is the drop in the housing market. He said that housing prices have gone down 20-30 percent since 2006, and said that eliminates up to $70,000 of every homeowner’s net worth.
Director of the Economic Policy Institute Living Standards Program Jared Bernstein asked why Treasury Secretary’s initial plan required $700 billion. Bernstein said the reason for the amount asked for in the bill was never made clear. He also asked why the government “would not intervene directly in the housing market.” He said that this proposed bailout will, for the taxpayers, be “a uniquely unrewarding recovery.”
IPS scholar and New York Times bestselling author Barbara Ehrenreich said that a big portion of the problem was the “polarization” of the economy in the United States. She cited the fact that the U.S. is the most economically polarized country of all industrialized nations. Ehrenreich also said that 25-30 percent of employed Americans are “failing to makes ends meet.” She said that the U.S. has used “easy credit as a substitute” for those that do not make enough money on their own. She said that this system must change, and that the wealthy “could never have imagined the problems” of the poor in the United States.

Newt Gringrich says House speaker Nancy Pelosi can’t be critical of House Republicans for voting against the $700 billion bailout plan when Democrats hold a majority in the House. (0:36)

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Elizabeth Edwards, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund called the McCain healthcare plan “truly radical” on a conference call today to discuss the danger of McCain’s healthcare plan and to inform the public about issues the healthcare plan will create for working families across the nation. According to Edwards, the financial aspect of health insurance is extremely complex and the solutions will be just as complex. “Senator McCain will leave more Americans on their own to find health insurance,” Edwards said.
According to SEIU Secretary-Treasurer and Chair of Change to Win Anna Burger, families of the middle class in America will be those suffering the most from the McCain healthcare plan. Burger highlighted that the healthcare plan will raise taxes which will leave middle class families losing several thousands dollars if accepting the healthcare plan McCain offers. “Whether we like it or not, the employee-based healthcare system is on its way out,” Burger said, “we need to find other solutions for working families fast.”
According to Burger, due to all the public and media attention on the Wall Street bailout, this is the time for voters to focus on Main Street problems. “We really need solutions for Main Street, not just bailouts for Wall Street,” Burger said.

SEIU Secretary-Treasurer and Chair of Change to Win, Anna Burger comments on Sen. John McCain’s health care plan saying it raises taxes and does not emphasis enough oversight and regulations. (0:38)

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SEIU Secretary-Treasurer and Chair of Change to Win, Anna Burger saying voters should focus on solutions for main-street, and expanding the focus on healthcare during the current economic crisis. (1:03)

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Elizabeth Edwards, Senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund comments on how the lack of health insurance affects working productivity due to people not insured and unable to work, never get treatment they need. (0:50)

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