Rondaben
April 18th, 2008, 02:41 PM
I wanted to do a closer look at the McCain platform and those of Obama and Clinton. This will be a series if you all are interested in them and it would take several posts to cover.
Hope this is helpful to you.
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McCain Economic Plan (From his website)
Helping Americans Confront Higher Living Costs:
John McCain Will Help Americans Hurting From High Gasoline And Food Costs. Americans need relief right now from high gas prices. John McCain will act immediately to reduce the pain of high gas prices.
· John McCain Believes We Should Institute A Summer Gas Tax Holiday. Hard-working American families are suffering from higher gasoline prices. John McCain calls on Congress to suspend the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
· John McCain Will Stop Filling The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) To Reduce Demand. International demand for oil is bolstered by federal purchases for the SPR. There is no reason to fill it when oil is so expensive, the overall SPR is of adequate size, and when it places further upward pressure on prices.
· John McCain Will End Policies That Contribute To Higher Transportation And Food Costs. Ethanol subsidies, tariff barriers and sugar quotas drive up food prices and hurt Americans. However, we cannot take the wrong direction and cut off trade for American goods.
Analysis:
The current Federal Gas Tax is used to fund the construction and maintenance of the interstate highway system. Arguments for this are that it would provide consumers a needed break from high fuel costs. Arguments against are that it would take money necessary for the development and maintenance of key infrastructure. A family that consumes 30 gallons of gasoline per week would save a total of $22.08 per month.
The strategic oil reserve is a rotating stock system. Barrels are rotated out in on a FIFO system. Oil will be purchased at current market prices to replace the released oil reserves to maintain a steady level of reserves. Restricting acquisition that increases the reserve to current levels would help, but would be insignificant. Current purchases have averaged around 1.5 million barrels/month (http://www.spr.doe.gov/dir/dir.html). Worldwide oil consumption is approximately 82 million barrels/day. Enacting this would result in taking away 0.06% of worldwide demand and will have little if any impact on global oil price.
The cost of food is directly related not to the policies concerning ethanol and tariffs, but rather to a dramatically weaker dollar and monetary inflation. Inflation is not limited to foodstuffs but is rather present across the board. Costs for food are also influenced by the high cost of fuel needed to grow, harvest, process, and transport food. That said, mandating alternative energy fuels in light of such a high commodity price is unfortunate. McCain’s policy would have marginal impact on the price of food in the short term but would likely be overcome by the increasing pace of inflation. Monetary policy is source of the oil cost increases as well as the inflation in food and consumer goods.
John McCain Is Proposing A New "HOME Plan" To Provide Robust, Timely And Targeted Help To Those Hurt By The Housing Crisis. Under his HOME Plan, every deserving American family or homeowner will be afforded the opportunity to trade a burdensome mortgage for a manageable loan that reflects their home's market value.
· Eligibility: Holders of a non-conventional mortgage taken after 2005 who live in their home (primary residence only); can prove creditworthiness at the time of the original loan; are either delinquent, in arrears on payments, facing a reset or otherwise demonstrate that they will be unable to continue to meet their mortgage obligations; and can meet the terms of a new 30 year fixed-rate mortgage on the existing home.
· How It Works: Individuals pick up a form at any Post Office and applies for a HOME loan. The FHA HOME Office certifies that the individual is qualified and contacts the individual’s mortgage servicer. The mortgage servicer writes down and retires the existing loan, which is replaced by an FHA guaranteed HOME loan from a lender.
Analysis:
The HOME program is a unique solution to the problem of declining home values. It is apparent that the focus of the program is not to protect citizens with mortgage woes but rather to provide an additional way for the US Government to monetize the housing crash. Mortgages that are in some state of foreclosure would be eligible. To summarize:
1. If eligible, the FHA assumes the loan from the original loanbearer—effectively taking the non-porforming asset of the balance sheet of the lender and replacing it with cash.
2. The FHA converts the loan to a new 30 year fixed rate mortgage and “strips” the negative equity in the home off of the principle. The net loss between what is paid by FHA to the original lender and what is stripped off will be absorbed by the Federal Government and paid for by tax revenue.
3. Provisions not discussed on this web site are more troubling. Homeowners participating in this program will not be able to walk away from the existing loan and allow the Federal Government to foreclose. Homeowners will be responsible for any deficiency between final sale price and current market home value—enforceable under the same provisions as is afforded to the IRS to secure back taxes.
4. The program represents not just the monetization, but rather the Nationalization of the US housing market.
Keeping The Credit Crunch From Hurting College Students:
John McCain Is Proposing A Student Loan Continuity Plan. Students face the possibility that the credit crunch will disrupt loans for the fall semester. John McCain calls on the federal government and the 50 governors to anticipate loan problems and expand the lender-of-last resort capabilities for each state's guarantee agency.
This provision calls for the Government to provide whatever capital is necessary to assure that student loans are funded. This includes lending from the Federal checkbook and State balance sheets.
Hope this is helpful to you.
-----------------------------------------------------------
McCain Economic Plan (From his website)
Helping Americans Confront Higher Living Costs:
John McCain Will Help Americans Hurting From High Gasoline And Food Costs. Americans need relief right now from high gas prices. John McCain will act immediately to reduce the pain of high gas prices.
· John McCain Believes We Should Institute A Summer Gas Tax Holiday. Hard-working American families are suffering from higher gasoline prices. John McCain calls on Congress to suspend the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
· John McCain Will Stop Filling The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) To Reduce Demand. International demand for oil is bolstered by federal purchases for the SPR. There is no reason to fill it when oil is so expensive, the overall SPR is of adequate size, and when it places further upward pressure on prices.
· John McCain Will End Policies That Contribute To Higher Transportation And Food Costs. Ethanol subsidies, tariff barriers and sugar quotas drive up food prices and hurt Americans. However, we cannot take the wrong direction and cut off trade for American goods.
Analysis:
The current Federal Gas Tax is used to fund the construction and maintenance of the interstate highway system. Arguments for this are that it would provide consumers a needed break from high fuel costs. Arguments against are that it would take money necessary for the development and maintenance of key infrastructure. A family that consumes 30 gallons of gasoline per week would save a total of $22.08 per month.
The strategic oil reserve is a rotating stock system. Barrels are rotated out in on a FIFO system. Oil will be purchased at current market prices to replace the released oil reserves to maintain a steady level of reserves. Restricting acquisition that increases the reserve to current levels would help, but would be insignificant. Current purchases have averaged around 1.5 million barrels/month (http://www.spr.doe.gov/dir/dir.html). Worldwide oil consumption is approximately 82 million barrels/day. Enacting this would result in taking away 0.06% of worldwide demand and will have little if any impact on global oil price.
The cost of food is directly related not to the policies concerning ethanol and tariffs, but rather to a dramatically weaker dollar and monetary inflation. Inflation is not limited to foodstuffs but is rather present across the board. Costs for food are also influenced by the high cost of fuel needed to grow, harvest, process, and transport food. That said, mandating alternative energy fuels in light of such a high commodity price is unfortunate. McCain’s policy would have marginal impact on the price of food in the short term but would likely be overcome by the increasing pace of inflation. Monetary policy is source of the oil cost increases as well as the inflation in food and consumer goods.
John McCain Is Proposing A New "HOME Plan" To Provide Robust, Timely And Targeted Help To Those Hurt By The Housing Crisis. Under his HOME Plan, every deserving American family or homeowner will be afforded the opportunity to trade a burdensome mortgage for a manageable loan that reflects their home's market value.
· Eligibility: Holders of a non-conventional mortgage taken after 2005 who live in their home (primary residence only); can prove creditworthiness at the time of the original loan; are either delinquent, in arrears on payments, facing a reset or otherwise demonstrate that they will be unable to continue to meet their mortgage obligations; and can meet the terms of a new 30 year fixed-rate mortgage on the existing home.
· How It Works: Individuals pick up a form at any Post Office and applies for a HOME loan. The FHA HOME Office certifies that the individual is qualified and contacts the individual’s mortgage servicer. The mortgage servicer writes down and retires the existing loan, which is replaced by an FHA guaranteed HOME loan from a lender.
Analysis:
The HOME program is a unique solution to the problem of declining home values. It is apparent that the focus of the program is not to protect citizens with mortgage woes but rather to provide an additional way for the US Government to monetize the housing crash. Mortgages that are in some state of foreclosure would be eligible. To summarize:
1. If eligible, the FHA assumes the loan from the original loanbearer—effectively taking the non-porforming asset of the balance sheet of the lender and replacing it with cash.
2. The FHA converts the loan to a new 30 year fixed rate mortgage and “strips” the negative equity in the home off of the principle. The net loss between what is paid by FHA to the original lender and what is stripped off will be absorbed by the Federal Government and paid for by tax revenue.
3. Provisions not discussed on this web site are more troubling. Homeowners participating in this program will not be able to walk away from the existing loan and allow the Federal Government to foreclose. Homeowners will be responsible for any deficiency between final sale price and current market home value—enforceable under the same provisions as is afforded to the IRS to secure back taxes.
4. The program represents not just the monetization, but rather the Nationalization of the US housing market.
Keeping The Credit Crunch From Hurting College Students:
John McCain Is Proposing A Student Loan Continuity Plan. Students face the possibility that the credit crunch will disrupt loans for the fall semester. John McCain calls on the federal government and the 50 governors to anticipate loan problems and expand the lender-of-last resort capabilities for each state's guarantee agency.
This provision calls for the Government to provide whatever capital is necessary to assure that student loans are funded. This includes lending from the Federal checkbook and State balance sheets.