The economic advisors for Republican presidential candidate John McCain and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama debated over their candidates' plans to solve the economic slowdown Friday in Grainger Hall.
Austan Goolsbee, senior economic advisor to Obama, said tax rebates and the recently passed financial bailout package are not enough to help mainstreet,"" and said McCain was involved in deregulation that contributed to the stock market crisis
According to Ike Brannon, senior policy advisor for McCain, McCain is not a deregulator and proposed to create new regulation in the financial sector.
Brannon said McCain's willingness to ""reach across the aisle"" will be helpful in fixing the economic crisis.
""If you look at John McCain's career, he has made a habit of putting principle over political expediency, and I think given the crisis situation we have right now, now more than ever we need a president who is willing to do just that,"" Brannon said.
Goolsbee said one of the causes of the financial crisis is the increased burden on the middle class in the last eight years.
He said McCain's tax policy is more geared toward the wealthy than President Bush's, and criticized the Republicans' ""trickle-down"" theory that increased wealth for the well-off will benefit the middle class.
""I suggest just go look at the data. That is a job killer, not a job creator,"" Goolsbee said.
Brannon said the way to increase tax revenue is not to raise taxes but to increase economic growth, and said McCain's first course of action will be to expand the economy.
He said McCain plans to increase funding for technical and community colleges to meet the demands of an ever-changing job market for technical careers.
Goolsbee said the United States has the highest college dropout rate in the world due to the difficulty of paying for higher education, and college students would benefit from Obama's plan for a $4000 per student per year tax credit.
