John McCain issued a press release today which contained a statement from 300 economists who support his economic plan. The economists seem motivated by promises of reduced business taxes, reduced spending, and free market trade.
The Politico's Ben Smith notes that the economists didn't sign on to everything:
The statement leaves out two big chunks of McCain's economic argument: the gas tax holiday and his promise to balance the budget by the end of his first term.
To contrast, Steve Forbes discussed in a conference call today how Obama voted to raise taxes on those making as little as a $32,000 a year.
The lion's share of the federal budget is entitlement spending. John McCain has made his position on this clear:
[T]he only way to keep the budget balanced is successful reform of the large spending pressures in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
As I have previously noted there are two ways to reform entitlement spending: reduce benefits and increase taxes. It appears that John McCain has a long term goal of cutting benefits, which may be a politically unpopular position to maintain in the general election.
Marc Ambinder in the Atlantic provides a method for Obama to weasel his way out of his votes to increase taxes on everyone:
Obama voted twice in favor of a budget resolution that would have raised marginal tax rates on the 25% bracket by three percentage points. Budget resolutions, though, set wide targets and don't have the force of law. The same budget resolution called for middle class tax relief and AMT reform; it's hard to sustain the charge that Obama actually "voted" for tax hikes because he wasn't voting on a bill -- he was voting to give Senate taxwriters a set of guidelines for them to maneuever.
So what do people want higher taxes or smaller benefits? We will find out in November.