The election and your money

Here's where Obama and the Republicans stand on pocketbook issues -- and what MONEY readers have to say about those heated debates.

How to get growth back
How to get growth back
The Democrats: The big difference between the two parties is which levers they look to pull when trying to get out of a slump. Obama's levers are government and consumer spending.

You can see this in the $450 billion jobs plan the White House laid out last year. Over half of that plan was a temporary payroll tax cut aimed at low- and middle-income Americans. The logic is that putting more cash in more pockets ought to goose consumer spending, in turn creating jobs. Obama has also asked for funds to build new infrastructure and to help strapped states and cities hire more teachers, police officers, and firefighters.

The Republicans: In early February, Mitt Romney led the GOP pack, with Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum still in contention. All share a view of how to spur growth: Make businesses and investors happy.

That makes Republicans' tax cuts different from Obama's. They're bigger, permanent, and more generous to high earners, because they're meant to give incentives to those with money to turn around and invest.

Nariman Behravesh, economist at IHS Global Insight, also expects a rollback of regulation if a Republican wins. The candidates are critics of Dodd-Frank, the new law regulating Wall Street.

Where you stand: In January, MONEY surveyed 1,500 readers. It was an affluent group, with more Republicans (34%) than Democrats (25%). Half preferred conservative prescriptions: cutting taxes, red tape, and the deficit.

Still, 40% thought investment in research, education, and infrastructure was the best path, making it the top choice. Far fewer preferred spending when it was described as a "stimulus" -- no wonder Obama speaks more of investment these days.



Source: MONEY reader survey, January 2012.
Janice Revell @Money - Last updated March 12 2012: 5:51 PM ET
Join the Conversation
Find Homes for sale
  • Property Type
  • Find a home in:
    New York | Atlanta | Chicago | Los Angeles
    Washington D.C | Houston | Philadelphia | More options
Most Popular
 
 
 
 
 

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.