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Obama and McCain square off over economy
Mon Jul 7, 2008 1:43pm EDT

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama on Monday called for a second stimulus package to boost the ailing U.S. economy, while Republican John McCain tried to paint his presidential rival as a tax-and-spend liberal in a battle over who can best handle voters' No. 1 concern.
With Americans returning to work after the Independence Day holiday weekend, both candidates turned to the economy in a bid to win over voters wrestling with home foreclosures, job losses and the soaring cost of gasoline.
Obama called for a $50 billion stimulus package to fight foreclosures and offset high energy prices. He said he would tighten rules for credit card companies and relax bankruptcy laws to help those struggling with debt.
Obama said McCain, like unpopular President George W. Bush, would favor the wealthy over the middle class if he won the November election.
"He trusts that prosperity will trickle down from corporations and the wealthiest few to everyone else," the Illinois senator said in prepared remarks originally scheduled for delivery in Charlotte, North Carolina. "I believe that it's the hard work of middle-class Americans that fuels this nation's prosperity."
Obama changed his plans and decided to give his speech in St. Louis after mechanical issues forced his plane to land there.
ECONOMISTS' SUPPORT
McCain, who has been haunted by his earlier remark that he is not an economic expert, released a statement of support by 300 economists, many of them former Republican government officials.
McCain was expected later to outline in detail how he would balance the federal budget by 2013 and argue that low taxes will give the economy a needed shot in the arm.
"Sen. Obama's tax increases will hurt the economy even more and destroy jobs across this country," McCain will say in Denver, according to prepared remarks. "At a time of increasing gas and food prices, American families need tax relief and I, not my opponent, will deliver it."
Income taxes are a key difference between the two candidates.
McCain wants to keep in place Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of 2010, and he would double a $3,500 deduction for parents.
Obama would let the Bush tax cuts expire for those making more than $250,000 per year. He proposes a $500 per person tax credit and would eliminate taxes for elderly people making less than $50,000 per year.
Under Bush, the U.S. government's debt has nearly doubled to $10 trillion. Bush could leave his successor a record $500 billion budget deficit.
The candidates disagree in other areas connected to the economy, including trade and health care reform. Both propose spurring job growth through programs to increase U.S. use of solar, wind and other renewable energy sources.
McCain had help getting his message out.
The Republican party released a TV ad portraying Obama as obstructionist on energy reform, while publishing heir Steve Forbes, a former Republican presidential candidate, criticized Obama for voting for a Senate budget plan that would roll back the Bush tax cuts for those who make as little as $32,000 per year.
Separately, former eBay Inc. CEO Meg Whitman, a McCain supporter, praised his economic plan.
"We will have lower taxes that will accelerate growth in the economy and we will get government spending under control," Whitman said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
(Writing by Andy Sullivan; additional reporting by Jeff Mason and Andy Sullivan, editing by David Wiessler)

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