Barack Obama
Democratic Incumbent
Upon taking office at the peak of the global financial crisis Obama extended the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program -- also known as the bank bailout--that President George W. Bush enacted in October 2008. In February 2009, Obama signed into law a $787 billion economic stimulus package to create new jobs, extend unemployment benefits, and cut taxes. In March 2010, Congress passed Obama's signature healthcare law -- the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- that will expand coverage to an estimated 32 million U.S. citizens. The legislation will cost $940 billion over ten years (CBS), and the Congressional Budget Office estimates it will reduce the deficit by $143 billion during that period. (However, the law's constitutionality is being challenged in the Supreme Court (NYT), with a decision is expected by June 2012.) In July 2010, Obama pushed a financial reform bill through Congress known as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (PDF). The law gives the Federal government new powers to regulate Wall Street, and creates a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
In September 2011, Obama introduced a $447 billion stimulus bill--The American Jobs Act--to tackle the country's then 9.1 percent unemployment rate. The proposed legislation includes an extension and expansion of the payroll tax, along with investments in infrastructure and education. The president also signed off on formerly stalled free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama, which Congress ratified in October.
During his 2012 State of the Union address, Obama cited the need to bring manufacturing back to the United States, proposing tax incentives for companies that keep jobs in the country. He also cited education as key to ensuring a skilled workforce, and proposed that every state require all students to stay in high school until they graduate or turn eighteen.
President Obama sent Congress a legislative plan (WashPost) in January 2012 aimed at boosting small business growth and removing roadblocks for start-ups. He also announced a mortgage housing plan (LAT) to give 3.5 million homeowners with good credit, who owe more than their house is worth, the opportunity to refinance.
In February, the Obama administration released the president's proposals for overhauling corporate tax codes (PDF). At the centerpiece of his proposal is a reduction of the top corporate tax rate to 28 percent (NYT), down from 35 percent, with dozens of loopholes and subsidies eliminated in exchange. It also would establish a minimum tax on multinational corporations' foreign earnings to discourage relocation of production overseas or shifting of profits abroad.
After a week of analysts discussing his foreign policy record, President Barack Obama attempted switched focus back to the economy on the campaign trail, presenting a five-item checklist for Congress outlining his economic agenda.
In May, Obama presented a checklist at the White House Web site that asks Congress to pass measures to allow homeowners to refinance at lower interest rates; provide a tax cut for businesses that bring manufacturing jobs back from overseas and a tax credit for companies that hire workers and increase wages; create a job corps for veterans; and invest in clean-energy manufacturing.
In an Albany speech, Obama called on Congress, particularly congressional Republicans, to support his economic agenda.
"The truth is, the only way we can accelerate the job creation that takes place on a scale that is needed is bold action from Congress," Obama said. "Because of the Recovery Act, because of all the work we've done, we've created over 4 million jobs over the last two years. We've created hundreds of thousands of jobs each month over the last several months. So we're making progress, but everybody knows we need to do more."
Ron Paul
Republican Candidate
Rep. Paul (R-TX), a self-proclaimed libertarian, has repeatedly called for limited government, low taxes, free markets, and a monetary policy based on a commodity-backed currency. In October 2011, Paul outlined an economic plan (ABC) that focuses primarily on cutting the federal budget and reducing the size of the federal government. His strategy includes cutting $1 trillion from the federal budget in his first term, in part by eliminating the Energy, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, and Interior -- a move that he says would cut around $179 billion from the budget. At a January 8 GOP debate, Paul said cuts would also come from "attacking overseas spending."
Paul would also cut funding to remaining federal departments, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Defense. Paul has said his plan would produce a budget surplus by 2015. In terms of taxes, Paul supports an amendment to the constitution that will abolish the income and death taxes; he has said he will "turn off the lights" at the Internal Revenue Service. Paul's tax proposals also call for cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, while eliminating the estate and capital gains taxes.
Ron Paul unveiled an economic plan on February 1, 2012, that includes a one-year, trillion-dollar cut in federal spending, permission for workers to dip into their 401(K) retirement accounts without penalty to start or invest in new businesses, and reductions in corporate and capital gains taxes.
Mitt Romney
Republican Candidate
At the beginning of September, Romney unveiled a fifty-nine point economic plan (Politico) that includes cutting corporate tax rates, reducing government spending, eliminating free market regulations, and curbing the power of labor unions. He also outlined ten actions he would take -- by submitting five bills to Congress and issuing five executive orders --to foster economic growth and create jobs on his first day in the White House. In total, the five bills would propose reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 to 25 percent; exploring for new energy reserves; consolidating federal retraining programs and putting them under the purview of the states; and cutting non-security discretionary spending by 5 percent.
Romney would use his executive authority to order the secretary of Health and Human Services to return power over healthcare to the state level in an effort to phase out the federal healthcare law; direct federal agencies to eliminate "Obama-era regulations" that burden economic growth and job creation; issue immediate issuance of oil drilling permits to developers; list China as a currency manipulator and assess imposing countervailing duties on Chinese imports; and reverse the executive orders issued by Obama that favor organized labor.
At a January 8 GOP debate, Romney touted his record as governor of Massachusetts, saying he cut taxes nineteen times and balanced the state's budget each year he was in office. He said he also put in a place a $2 billion "rainy day fund" as governor. In February, Romney released a tax plan that would cut marginal rates by 20 percent for individuals and broaden the tax base. His proposal also would zero out taxes on income from capital gains, interest, and qualified dividends for families with an annual income below $200,000. Romney touted the plan as part of his overall platform to improve the economy and spur job growth.
In a May speech in Michigan, Romney said the United States is at a crossroads of economic divergence with President Obama attempting to take the United States down the path toward problems seen in Europe. "I propose a different course, a new course unlike any of our past. It will draw on the creativity and invention of the world's most innovative citizenry," Romney said. "Government will be their partner, not their master. And government will be small enough for businesses to grow fast enough – fast enough to exploit the global opportunities in our changing world, fast enough to create better jobs, fast enough to provide our children with a future brighter than our past."
In an op-ed also in May, Romney wrote he would cut individual tax rates "to jump-start job creation, grow the economy and help Americans keep more of their hard-earned dollars."
"I will reform a corporate tax system that drives American jobs overseas," he said. "I will slash the needless regulations that crimp our energy supply and inhibit so many different kinds of businesses."
With the mounting U.S. debt and deficits of great concern to voters, Romney, in an Iowa speech May 15, compared the growth of federal spending and debt to a fast-moving fire threatening to engulf the country, and touted his proposals for austerity, including entitlement reform, "streamlining" federal bureaucracy, and limiting government spending to 20 percent of GDP, down from the current 24.3 percent.
Newt Gingrich (*withdrew)
Editor's Note: Gingrich withdrew his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on May 2, 2012.
Gingrich has proposed a broad overhaul of the federal government (CNN) by implementing new tax cuts, reforming entitlement programs, eliminating some government agencies, and repealing regulatory legislation that targets the free market. To reduce taxes, Gingrich proposes making permanent the temporary across-the-board tax cuts passed by George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003; reducing the corporate income tax from 35 to 12.5 percent; eliminating the capital gains tax; and implementing an optional, individual flat tax rate of 15 percent.
Gingrich would also move to shrink the size and role of the federal government by repealing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which regulates companies' financial reporting and accounting practices; repealing the Community Reinvestment Act of 1997, which encourages banks to lend to low income individuals to buy homes, which are often considered to be risky loans; repealing the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform law of 2010; and repealing the Obama healthcare law of 2010.
In a separate effort to limit government regulation, Gingrich would dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency, as part of an effort to open up further oil and gas drilling and other means of energy development. At the same time, Gingrich would break up the federally sustained mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by spinning them off into the private sector.
At a January 8 GOP debate, Gingrich touted his record as speaker of the House of Representatives in the mid-1990s, saying he helped to create 11 million jobs. He also cited his experience working with former president Ronald Reagan in facilitating the economic recovery of the 1980s.
Rick Santorum (*withdrew)
Editor's Note: Santorum withdrew his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on April 10, 2012.
Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania, introduced in November 2011 a 31-point jobs plan called "Made in America: Empowering American Families, Building Economic Freedom" (ABC). Santorum's proposals largely focus on simplifying the tax code at the personal and corporate level.
He calls for cutting personal income taxes by having only two rates, at 10 percent and 28 percent; eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and the death tax; lowering the capital gains and dividend tax rates to 12 percent; and eliminating marriage tax penalties throughout the federal tax code. At the same time, Santorum calls for reducing the corporate income tax rate by half to 17.5 percent, and eliminating the tax on corporate income earned abroad.
His plan proposes federal spending cuts, as well as a constitutional amendment mandating a balanced budget. At a January 8 GOP debate, Santorum called for "block granting" a number of federal entitlement programs--including Social Security, Medicare, and food stamps--and relegating them to the state level.
Santorum also calls for auditing the Federal Reserve, while shrinking its mandate to one of solely managing inflation. Like many Republican candidates, Santorum would repeal the Obama healthcare law, and any other regulations from the Obama presidency that have an "economic impact over $100 million."
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed , Santorum outlined a "comprehensive pro-growth and pro-family" economic agenda that he said he would work with Congress to pass in the first 100 days of his administration. The plan calls for only two income tax rates of 10 percent and 28 percent along with a corporate tax rate of 17.5 percent.
Michelle Bachmann (*withdrew)
Editor's Note: Rep. Bachmann withdrew her candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on January 4, 2012.
Rep. Bachmann (R-MN) introduced in October 2011 an eleven-point economic plan (HuffPost) called "American Jobs, Right Now." The proposal broadly calls for tax cuts, government-spending cuts, and a renewed investment in U.S. energy resources, with the goal of returning the United States to a position of global "economic prominence."
Bachmann's plan emphasizes reducing taxes on companies earning profits overseas, a move that she says would incentivize those companies to reinvest over $1.2 trillion back in the United States. Other policies include the repeal of signature legislation supported by President Obama, including the 2010 health care and financial reform laws. Bachmann calls for repealing federal environmental laws that prohibit harvesting U.S. natural resources for energy use, which she says could create 1.4 million new jobs, generate $800 million in new revenue for the U.S. Treasury, and increase domestic energy supplies by 50 percent.
Bachmann also broadly puts forward policy proposals for increasing U.S. exports, jumpstarting innovation, and enforcing U.S. immigration laws, which she says would protect federal and local budgets, and jobs for U.S. citizens.
Jon Huntsman (*withdrew)
Editor's Note: Huntsman withdrew his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on January 16, 2012.
Huntsman has called on the United States to fuel economic growth by manufacturing more goods for the global economy and developing new free trade agreements. Huntsman would pursue new bilateral trade opportunities in the Asia-Pacific, as well as multilateral accords by pushing for the establishment of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Huntsman would also seek to establish multilateral trade agreements by working to restart the stalled international Doha round of World Trade Organization negotiations.
Huntsman has cited his experience negotiating free trade agreements in Asia and Africa as deputy U.S. trade representative; expanding markets for U.S. exports as ambassador to Singapore and China; and leading overseas trade missions as governor of Utah. Huntsman's other main economic thrust is to overall the income tax system. He would lower tax rates in three different brackets (Reuters) -- at 23 percent, 14 percent, and 8 percent -- while eliminating home mortgage and charitable deductions.
At the same time, Huntsman would eliminate taxes on capital gains and dividends. Huntsman has also advocated rolling back existing regulatory legislation -- including the 2010 Obama healthcare and Dodd-Frank financial reform laws -- while curbing the powers of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
At a January 8 GOP debate, Huntsman endorsed Rep. Paul D. Ryan's (R-WI) budget and deficit reduction plan for 2012, which could cut nearly $6 trillion (NYT) in federal spending over the next decade. He also said he would make cuts to social security, Medicare, and the Department of Defense.
Rick Perry (*withdrew)
Editor's Note: Perry withdrew his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on January 19, 2012.
Gov. Perry of Texas outlined in October 2011 his "Cut, Balance and Grow" economic plan. The strategy calls for significant tax reductions (LAT), which include lowering the corporate tax rate from 35 to 20 percent; giving individuals a choice between a flat tax rate of 20 percent or their current rate; eliminating the tax on social security benefits; eliminating the taxes on dividends and long-term capital gains; and transitioning to a territorial tax system that only taxes in-country income. Perry's plan would also allow for the creation of private social security accounts (MarketWatch), in which individuals could invest a portion of their payroll taxes. Perry called for balancing the budget by 2020 by capping federal spending at 18 percent of GDP -- including steep spending cuts to entitlement programs -- while also passing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. At a January 8 GOP debate, Perry indicated he would enact federal spending cuts at the departments of Commerce, Energy, and Education. At the same time, Perry has also said he would push to repeal the Obama healthcare law and Dodd-Frank financial reform law, saying both undermined the free market.
Campaign 2012
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