Evening Briefing September 29, 2008 IN THIS BRIEFING: Clip of the day News of the day TPs and background: McCain s economic plan TPs and background: McCain s health care plan Clip of the day: McCain: it s not my style to simply phone it in after spending Saturday phoning it in: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/29/mccain-phone/ News of the Day: Bailout bill fails After the bailout bill failed by a vote of 205-228, the Dow dropped nearly 778 points its worst single-day points loss ever. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/29/stocksdrop-bailout/ Bloomberg reports that stocks lost $1.1 trillion in value. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/29/stocks-drop-bailout/ After Republicans announced that they turned against the bill after Pelosi gave a partisan speech, Barney Frank responded: because somebody hurt their feelings, they decide to punish the country. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/29/frankrepublican-feelings/ The big question: after taking credit for the bailout bill, is the McCain campaign willing to share responsibility for its failure? http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/29/bailoutmccain/ Speaking of the bailout bill, McCain told a crowd in Ohio today, it s not my style to simply phone it in. But after he rushed back to Washington following Friday night s debate, that s exactly what he did. Mark Salter explained that McCain can effectively do what he needs to do by phone. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/29/mccain-phone/ Economy Are you better off than you were eight years ago? Probably not, according to these key indicators. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/29/dow-drop-2008-v-2001/
In the debate on Friday, McCain unveiled his plan for fiscal responsibility: a spending freeze on everything. We took a look at what that would mean. http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/09/29/mccain-spending-freeze/ Also in the debate, McCain argued that we need to lower our corporate tax rate. He failed to address the fact that our corporate tax laws are so fool of loopholes, you could use them to drain spaghetti. http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/09/29/irish-tax/ Campaign 2008 Howard Kurtz reports that journalists are privately admitting to self-censoring their coverage of Sarah Palin for fear of retribution from the McCain campaign. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/29/media-censor-palin/ Danny Funderbunk, the mayor of Fort Mill, SC, said he forwarded a chain email suggesting that Obama is the antichrist because he was just curious if it was true. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/28/obama-antichrist-nc/ Social Security Privatizing Social Security was a bad idea when Bush proposed it in 2005, and it s still a bad idea now that McCain is proposing it in 2008. We outline the best arguments why. http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/09/29/ss-privatization-bad-idea/ Health care NPR examined the high cost of high-risk pools, which are a centerpiece of McCain s health care plan. We released a new map with detailed data on highrisk pools for each state. http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/09/29/cost-high-risk/ National security A new BBC poll of citizens in 23 countries shows that people do not have a high opinion of the United States efforts against bin Laden. http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/09/29/bbc-poll-us-war-on-terror-losing-hearts-andminds/ Corrupt establishment Attorney General Mukasey today appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the U.S. Attorney firings. In the past, McCain has hinted that he isn t interested in investigating the corruption of the Bush administration. Does he plan to follow
through on this investigation as president? http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/29/mukaseyattorneys-mccain/ Talking Points The McCain-Palin Economic Agenda 1. MCCAIN S TAX PLAN GIVES HUGE BREAKS TO CORPORATIONS AND THE VERY WEALTHY, NOTHING TO 100 MILLION MIDDLE-CLASS AMERICANS. McCain s tax plan provides no relief for 100 million middle-class Americans who either do not have children or are too poor to pay income taxes. Instead, McCain s tax cuts give away $175 billion a year in breaks to big corporations including: o $4 billion a year for the top 5 oil companies (including $1.2 billion for Exxon-Mobil) o $2 billion a year for the top 10 health insurance companies o $6 billion a year for financial services firms McCain s tax cuts deliver nearly half of their benefits to the top 1 percent of taxpayers, and the bottom 80 percent get less than 20 percent of the benefits. McCain s tax cuts provide virtually no benefit to the 36.5 million Americans living in poverty. 2. MCCAIN S TAX PLAN WILL BE A MASSIVE TAX INCREASE ON THE MIDDLE-CLASS The tax credit at the center of McCain s health care plan grows at the rate of inflation and not the faster-rising rate of health care costs his credit will quickly become a massive tax increase for millions of middle-class families. A family making $60,000 a year will see their taxes go up by $1,100 by 2013 under McCain s plan, if it imposes payroll taxes on health benefits as some McCain advisors suggest. 3. MCCAIN SUPPORTS BUSH S PLAN TO PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY McCain told the Wall Street Journal, As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it along the lines that President Bush proposed. Privatizing Social Security would subject American s retirement security to the risks of the market.
McCain thinks the way Social Security works is an absolute disgrace. These are the words he used to describe the present setup, under which workers pay for the benefits of today s retirees (just like workers will pay for their benefits when they retire.) But Social Security is not in crisis the Social Security and Medicare trustees say that Social Security will continue to pay full benefits for more than 30 years. 4. FISCALLY RECKLESS Despite the war, the bailout and the deficit, John McCain wants to double George Bush s tax cuts. He is proposing an additional $300 billion a year in tax cuts on top of keeping Bush s tax cuts permanent. McCain s claims that he can pay for the cuts are a sham. The Washington Post Fact Checker called his claims fantasy and voodoo economics. A former Regan administration tax official told the Wall Street Journal that McCain s claim that one of his corporate tax cuts has no cost is so intellectually dishonest it s outrageous. In reality, paying for McCain s tax cuts would mean massive reductions from 20 to 40 percent in programs like Head Start, Pell Grants, Title I school funding, and nutrition aid for mothers and children. McCain s budget would create the largest federal deficits in 25 years, and plunge the U.S. into the deepest debt since World War II. Background In 2001 and 2003, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) opposed the Bush tax cuts, arguing that they came at the expense of lower- and middle-income Americans and were too costly in a time of war. As a presidential candidate, however, McCain not only embraces the Bush tax cuts but also proposes massive additional tax cuts that are even more tilted against the middle class. McCain s tax plan will require huge spending cuts, shift the tax burden away from capital and onto labor, and come at the expense of lower- and middleincome Americans. http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/pdf/tax_agenda.pdf Talking Points The McCain-Palin Health Care Plan 1. DEREGULATES HEALTH CARE, LIKE BANKING
McCain would deregulate the health care industry - as he pushed to deregulate the banking industry - and give insurers even more leverage over patients than they have today. His plan was written to benefit the health insurance companies and will put the 158 million Americans who currently get health care through their jobs at risk of losing it and being forced into the private market, where insurers can refuse to cover pre-existing conditions or deny coverage outright. http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/04-29-2008-mccain-analysis.pdf 2. IS A HUGE TAX INCREASE ON THE MIDDLE CLASS Because McCain s tax credit grows at the rate of inflation and not the fasterrising rate of health care costs his credit will quickly become a massive tax increase for millions of middle-class families. A family making $60,000 a year will see their taxes go up by $1,100 by 2013 under McCain s plan, if it imposes payroll taxes on health benefits as some McCain advisors suggest. http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/health_taxes21.pdf 3. DOES NOT COVER PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS McCain's deregulatory plan does not guarantee coverage for the 56 million people with pre-existing conditions a category that includes everything from cancer to hay fever. * http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/04-29-2008-mccain-analysis.pdf 4. HITS WOMEN HARD More than 59 million women who receive their health insurance through their job, or their spouse s job, are at risk of losing their coverage. More than 30 million women who suffer from a pre-existing condition could lose their coverage. McCain s plan would get rid of state-level rules that require insurers cover the cost of things such as mammograms, pre-natal care, contraception and cervical cancer screenings. http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/09/10/women-health/
5. GIVES $2 BILLION IN NEW TAX BREAKS TO HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES McCain s corporate tax cut plan would give nearly $2 billion in new tax cuts to the 10 biggest health insurance companies in America. http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/health_tax.pdf BACKGROUND ON MCCAIN S PLAN McCain wants to eliminate the tax breaks for the 158 million workers receiving employer-based coverage, wiping out the main incentive employers have to provide health coverage to their employees and likely causing millions of workers to lose coverage (a recent study estimated 20 million would lose coverage). He would also allow insurers to choose states with weak insurance industry regulations as their base for national operations - just like credit cards pick states (like South Dakota) with weak financial regulations today. This is a particular problem for women since many states require that insurers cover the cost of mammograms and cervical cancer screenings. http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/04-29-2008-mccain-analysis.pdf [IF PUSHED ON PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS: McCain has said he would create high-risk pools to cover patients with pre-existing conditions as many states have done. But the experiences of states show that high-risk pools have high costs and provide little benefits. Alaska has high-risk pools and they cost the state an average of $12,500 per patient. If you applied the Alaska plan nationally to cover the 56 million people with preexisting conditions, it would cost $700 billion a year. http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/09/12/alaska-high-risk/