Holtz-Eakin on McCain: CBS 10/26/08

Douglas Holtz-Eakin on John McCain
"Face the Nation" 10:37am
Commentary

TOPIC: economy, recession, jobs, taxes

TRANSCRIPT:
DOUGLAS HOLTZ-EAKIN: I think the top priority, the one that Senator McCain has endorsed is to take the 25 billion dollars that the Congress has already put out there for loans to build facilities for next generation automobiles, the kinds of autos that will not only keep Detroit running but which will keep us from having to import so much oil, expose us to the dangers of international oil markets.
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BOB SCHIEFFER: Where would McCain come down on [a second stimulus package of around 150 billion dollars]?
HOLTZ-EAKIN: I think if you step back the real big difference in this crisis situation is where do you place your faith. Do you place it in the institutions that have failed us in Washington and Wall Street or do you put the money in places where we know we can get effective results. And John McCain has not advocated sticking the money in Wall Street banks and the like, lets put the money into the housing market and lets take care of the small businesses. A remarkable fact is that, in this bad economy small businesses have created 331,000 jobs this year. Dont raise taxes on them, dont make their lives harder.
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Obviously Senator McCain would never take off the table anything that would be helpful but the idea that somehow tough economic times are a license to spend money on anything you can think of is something you want to look at very carefully theres no greater stimulus than keeping American households spending. Focusing on them, keeping them in jobs, creating new jobs, thats the greatest stimulus of all.
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SCHIEFFER: Do you think [10% unemployment] is likely?
HOLTZ-EAKIN: Theres no question well see unemployment go higher were seeing real contraction out there and well see a lot more tough times so the question will be who can most quickly generate jobs in this economy to keep the unemployment rate from spiking so high. At the heart of that is having comprehensive policies, not just a tax policy that promises great things, but actual policies that dont spend a trillion dollars, weve seen the mistake in the Bush administration, that dont burden businesses with health mandates, that dont cut off trade one in five jobs in this economy are trade related - and that have a real energy policy that allow us to grow. I mean Senator Obama has promised that day one he would enforce the clean air act treating carbon dioxide as a pollutant. That runs the economy from the Environmental Protection Agency, thats a draconian regulatory approach, thats not a recipe for jobs
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We cannot simply open up the taxpayer to be the lender of last resort to every company in America thats seeing tough times.
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This [recession] is going to take months and months, hopefully by this time next year effective public policies will hell [the recovery] happen quickly but those polices have to be focused on whats really good for America in the long run, the families and the small businesses that are the source of the jobs.

LABEL: DHE JM CBS 10-26-08 10.37 (MS#53) GHI

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• economy
• recession
• jobs
• taxes
• McCain