MidWestMom. Here are the specifics you requested:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/economyplan

After running the country to the ground, McCain and republicans want another four years and it ceases to amaze me how some people are still supporting him.

Wake up America. Republics have shown that they have no idea how to run our economy. The Chinese and Russians are catching up.

Very strange that some American seriously consider John McCain a very suitable candidate for the role of POTUS. I am no fan of Romney, but he would have been a very qualified candidate. McCain's choice of Palin was his first really said a lot about a man who didi not ssem to appreciate the stakes. Senator Kay would have been an excellent choice.

And his inability to comprehend the precarious nature of the global economy is shocking!!!

JH

In jumping all over the news to present a wrong plan when he didnt even know the facts, there is absolutely no doubt that McCain acted in a reckless. No doubt he had to come out the next day to reverse his position.

Obama considers the facts and makes a firm decision but McCain will always rush and then make a u-turn. He has no judgment to lead.

Ron Paul saw this financial mess coming

It's not like there wasn't anybody who saw the economic woes of the week on the horizon.

On Sept. 10, 2003, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, testified before House Financial Services Committee, which was holding hearings regarding special privileges extended to government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). Think Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In his testimony. Paul criticized such privileges in general and warned of the potential for disaster posed by government involvement with Fannie and Freddie specifically.

Paul noted that according to the Congressional Budget Office, housing related GSEs received $13.6 billion in indirect federal subsidies in fiscal 2000 and had a line of credit with the United States Treasury exceeding $2 billion. That line of credit Paul said was an explicit promise by the Treasury to bail out GSE's in times of economic difficulty. (Sound familiar?)

"[The line of credit] helps the GSEs attract investors who are willing to settle for lower yields than they would demand in the absence of the subsidy," Paul testified. "Thus, the line of credit distorts the allocation of capital. More importantly, the line of credit is a promise on behalf of the government to engage in a huge unconstitutional and immoral income transfer from working Americans to holders of GSE debt."

As Paul saw the situation some five years ago, the government backing isolated GSE management from market discipline. If Fannie and Freddie were not underwritten by the federal government, he told the committee, investors would demand the institutions held to higher management and accounting practices.

"Ironically, by transferring the risk of a widespread mortgage default, the government increases the likelihood of a painful crash in the housing market," Paul predicted. "This is because the special privileges granted to Fannie and Freddie have distorted the housing market by allowing them to attract capital they could not attract under pure market conditions. As a result, capital is diverted from its most productive use into housing. This reduces the efficacy of the entire market and thus reduces the standard of living of all Americans.

"Despite the long-term damage to the economy inflicted by the government's interference in the housing market, the government's policy of diverting capital to other uses creates a short-term boom in housing," Paul went on. "Like all artificially created bubbles, the boom in housing prices cannot last forever. When housing prices fall, homeowners will experience difficulty as their equity is wiped out. Furthermore, the holders of the mortgage debt will also have a loss. These losses will be greater than they would have otherwise been had government policy not actively encouraged over-investment in housing.

"I hope today's hearing sheds light on how special privileges granted to GSEs distort the housing market and endanger American taxpayers," Paul concluded. "Congress should act to remove taxpayer support from the housing GSEs before the bubble bursts and taxpayers are once again forced to bail out investors who were misled by foolish government interference in the market."

On the same day, Paul introduced the "Free Housing Market Enhancement Act." The legislation would have removed government subsidies from the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and the National Home Loan Bank Board. The bill had no cosponsors; it stalled in the committee process.

A plan at ready
The past few days, major party presidential candidates have scrambled to come up with a solution to the financial crisis on Wall Street and members of Congress and the media have been searching through the thesaurus to find synonyms for "greed." Writing in "Forbes" back in March in an op-ed entitled "the Rapidly Approaching Economic Meltdown," Paul proposed a four-part plan calling for lower taxes, less spending, a sound monetary policy and regulatory reform. His plan would:

• Make the Bush tax cuts permanent, repeal the estate tax, end taxes on Social Security benefits, end taxes on income from tips, end taxes on forgiven mortgage debt, and end the income tax and abolish the IRS;

• Reform spending by first cutting back on "our trillion-dollar overseas budget" and shore up the "programs Washington has forced so many citizens to depend on," while enabling young people to opt out of these programs and save for their own retirements and health care needs." Veto any unbalanced budget.

Paul argued that lower taxes and less government spending put more money in working people's pocket — pretty standard Republican line. But he also opined for bolder out-of-the-box actions calling for a sound monetary policy to increase the value of money and drive down the cost of living and a regulatory approach that is the inverse of what we're hearing from presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. Paul proposed:

• Requiring more transparency at the Federal Reserve Board and legalizing competing currencies. He cited the historical evidence of the inevitable failure of paper money systems. However, "I believe that for our economy to be secure in the long term," he wrote, "Congress must reassert its authority and end the unconstitutional Federal Reserve."

• Undertake regulatory reform and revisit the myriad federal regulations that "have stymied the innovative spirit of the American people." At the top of the list Paul put Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) — regulation imposed after the spate of corporate scandals earlier in the decade.

In his Forbes article, Paul noted three studies. A survey by Financial Executives International put the average cost of compliance with SOX at $4.4 million. The American Economics Association estimated SOX could cost American Companies as much as $35 billion in aggregate. Wharton Business School found that the number of American companies delisting from public stock exchanges nearly tripled the year after SOX became law (198 firms "went dark" compared to 67 the year before).

"One of the best things Congress could do for the American economy is to repeal this damaging legislation," Paul wrote.

Economic lifeblood
In short, Paul's message is that money is the lifeblood of any economy, and control over a nation's currency means control over its economic well-being. Fed bankers quite literally determine the value of our money by controlling the supply of dollars and establishing interest rates. Their actions can make us richer or poorer overnight, in terms of the value of our savings and the buying power of our paychecks. How's that been working out for you lately?

Paul concludes his piece with a call to return to principle that is, perhaps, even more fitting today than earlier in the year.

"Unless we embrace fundamental reforms, we will be caught in a financial storm that will humble this great country as no foreign enemy ever could," he wrote. "We can find safe harbor in our ideals. Reclaiming our historic legacy of principled commitment to liberty will, once again, unleash the innovative spirit that propelled our nation to the heights of prosperity."

Or, we could keep putting lipstick on a pig.

If Congress bails out Wall Street and it turns out to be another scam by the Bush administration it will be the Democrats who will be held responsible. I am a Democrat and will vote a straight Democrat ticket Nov. 4. But I don't trust Bush, Paulson or Bernanke. You had better be right about this or the hell with party affiliation. I think it is best to take your time and do it right if you do it at all. I am tired of Washington and its failures and although I could never vote Republican I can not and will not vote at all if you are wrong in bailing Wall Street out, no matter if it includes independent oversight, protections for homeowners and constraints on excessive executive compensation. Be right on this or the country will never trust any of you.

Nothing new here, where is this idea xeroxed from??

It's like student's thesis outline in school project, not deep.

JH......prsidents ar not supposed to decisions off the cuff....you consult and then you decide...againyou do not have to like Barack's candidacy....but to splash such comments on this blog display a level of ignorance not found in most places around the world.

Plese be considered in your comments

Go Obama! Hardball 'em all the way. If they want our money, they'd better give it up OR be prepared for the whole system to crumble. This ain't no charity for the wealthy! This is business! Paulson's got a week to decide.

Obama/Biden 08!

Don't you people see he was TOLD what to say by those on the call list?

They worked night and day to make it a political hit against Bush. Of course it's his fault!

If your Obama wins it will take GENERATIONS to get this country back on track again. Jimmy Carter was bad enough. How many of you remember 14% home loans and gas lines?

Well get ready, this time it will be much worse. The people mentioned above including Obama are some of the biggest crook in Washington and most incompetent as well.

You have been warned!

JH,

Just like Paulson stole the plan of the now bankrupt Lehman, Obama wasn't about to let McCain/Bush steal his economic plan. McCain has attempted to steal the "change" message, the "environmentalist" message and many, many more ideas from Obama.

=========

Paulson wants 700B without any details or explanation other than fear!

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson is a Republican. He was also the CEO of Goldman Sachs, the company that forced Lehman out of business with short-sales and rumor-mongering. Lehman is the only company the Bush regime forced into bankruptcy while all the other Wall Street gang gets a bail-out.

Paulson has worked for Republicans his entire life -- as far back as the Nixon administration.

The Republican SEC Chairman, Christopher Cox was not asleep at the wheel. He deliberately left Lehman, Fannie and Freddie to fight off the rest of the Wall Street gang by NOT enforcing current laws on short-selling. When forced, he put in place some new rules that should have been made permanent. Instead, he let the rules expire. During the expired month which left the market unregulated, Lehman, Fannie and Freddie all failed. Immediately following these beat-downs of these companies, Cox made permanent the rules that would have saved them.

This is no coincidence. This is the Republican machine and cronism working as intended.

Just like in physical war, when it comes to financial battles, the Republican machine is as vindictive as ever. They have no shame. You're either with them or they will crush you in the name of protecting the tax payer.

Lord help us if the Republicans "deregulate" any other major industry and bail them out when the bubbles burst at taxpayer expense.

At some point, the American taxpayers are going to call for an investigation of these Republican crooks. We're just waiting to see which one of Bush's friends buys up all these assets at reduced prices.

Obama/Biden 08!

I too am stunned that there are still some people willing to reward a Party that has unleashed such devastation on America. A disastrous war in Iraq and an economy driven by unchecked corporate greed. Average Americans are paying for these colossal blunders and will pay for some time to come. Yet still some want to reward McCain and the GOP with yet another four years! If McCain is elected and the GOP is given a thumbs-up for the hellstorm they've brought down on America, as bad as it is, we ain't seen nothing yet!

Just because mc-more-war was a pow does not mean he should be president. The guy used to have a spine but now is nothing but a flip-flopper and a panderer. He's also an OLD fart. The real straight-talker, John Murtha said that the Presidency is no place for an OLD man. There's a reason they make pilots retire at age 60. mc-more-war needs to retire with his millionaire wife. (The one he had an affair with after his first wife waited for him to come back from the war.) Obama 2008!!!

pt----One thing that I can't stand are people who are stupid and yet spout off opinions.

Worse than that---those people VOTE! Scarey!

Bush has nothing left. The driver of this deal is Obama and the election isn't for another few weeks.

SORRY, BUT NO PRE-EMPTIVE BAILOUT

PAULSON'S IDEOLOGY IS TO PRIVATIZE EVERYTHING. DON'T BUY THIS LAST STAB BY THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO HAMSTRING THE ECONOMY.
2006 ARTICLE ON PAULSON PHILOSPHY. READ IT AND WEEP.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept06/Petras05.htm

Where are you midwestmom?

Hiding in your room with your buddy, "W"?

And now we are just waiting for John Insane to come out with another brilliant idea, after consulting with his hero Phil 'Whiners' Gramm.

MCaina showed typical impetuosity "kill-the-messenger" approach to problemsolving when he said the SEC Chairman should resign. The man's temper is legendary and it has NOT mellowed. He is DANGEROUS.

and Sarah Palin? a whack job!

These are principles, something you might not recognize as Republicans. They're points from a speech, you geniuses, not Obama's detailed plan. Another Carter?! Are you kidding me! Your "Reagan Revolution" was one of the causes of this crap-tastic situation we're all in now. Go back to your cave.