This is
the VOA Special English Economics Report.
This
week, the two major presidential candidates gave new details of their plans to
help Americans deal with the economic crisis.
On Monday, Democrat Barack Obama offered
proposals totaling sixty billion dollars over two years. The next day,
Republican John McCain announced proposals totaling about fifty-three billion
dollars.
Both plans call for new tax breaks.
![Barack Obama in Toledo, Ohio, where he announced his economic proposals Barack Obama in Toledo, Ohio, where he announced his economic proposals](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090118120321im_/http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/images/obama_ap_210_se_16oct08.jpg) |
Barack Obama in Toledo, Ohio, where he announced his economic proposals |
Senator
Obama proposes to suspend the capital gains tax on small businesses. He also
wants to give businesses a three thousand dollar tax credit for each new
employee they hire in the United States over the next two years.Senator McCain proposes to cut the
fifteen percent tax on long-term capital gains in half for two years. And he
would let investors reduce their taxable income by up to fifteen thousand
dollars for stock losses, five times the current limit.
Both
candidates want to temporarily suspend taxes on unemployment aid. Senator Obama
would also extend the payments.
To deal
with the housing crisis, he proposes a ninety-day ban on some home
repossessions by banks. And he says he would provide twenty-five billion
dollars in aid to states, along with assistance in restructuring troubled
mortgages.
![John McCain in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, where he announced his new proposals John McCain in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, where he announced his new proposals](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090118120321im_/http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/images/AP_US_McCain_finance_14oct08_1.jpg) |
John McCain in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, where he made his new proposals
|
Senator
McCain recently proposed to have the federal government buy troubled mortgages.
These would be replaced with government-guaranteed loans at a lower cost. The
plan would cost three hundred billion dollars. The money would come from the
rescue measure passed by Congress to bail out the financial services industry.To help older Americans, both candidates
want to temporarily suspend withdrawal requirements for retirement savings
accounts. That would give investments more time to recover lost value. Senator
McCain also wants to reduce taxes to the lowest rate, ten percent, for two
years on withdrawals up to fifty thousand dollars.
With the
Obama plan, workers could withdraw up to ten thousand dollars in retirement
savings without an early withdrawal charge. That policy would also be in effect
for two years.
In other news this week, the Treasury
Department said it will inject up to two hundred fifty billion dollars in
banks. The government will gain partial ownership in return but not have voting
rights. America's nine largest banks agreed to the plan under pressure from
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. He warned them not to hold on to this new
capital "but to deploy it."
And that's the VOA Special English
Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.