I didn't forget the Republicans. As promised on Thursday, when I highlighted the top three Democratic presidential candidates' plans for bolstering the economy and housing market, I spent this morning combing through the campaign Web sites of front runners Mitt Romney, John McCain and Mike Huckabee to get an overview of their positions. As I mentioned in my Thursday blog, the economy and the housing crisis will be the biggest challenge the next elected president will face heading into office. While candidates from both sides of the political divide have laid out elaborate plans on immigration reform and the war in Iraq, voters have heard very little about their plans to stave off a recession and reinvigorate the slumping housing market.
No formal housing plans
Former venture capitalist and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney used his business background and performance as a trouble-shooter at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics to sway voters in his native state to defeat John McCain in Tuesday's Michigan primary.
Following his victory, Romney revamped his message of economic renewal for the national stage: "The key is to be able to rebuild the economy.... I would say it's in a fragile state and needs a steady hand at the tiller," the multimillionaire told CNN, when asked about the "state of America."
While Romney focused his rallies around the Motor City's troubled auto industry, there was little talk about his plans to reduce the state's growing foreclosure rates. According to RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosure properties, Michigan is among the top four states with the highest rates of foreclosures.
Romney has said in numerous news reports that "the number one priority to head off a recession should be to stop the housing crisis." So what's his solution? Well, I'm not quite sure. If you go to the Romney campaign site, among the 11 issues ranging from immigration to the war in Iraq, there is no mention of the housing crisis under his "Global Economic Competition" plan. There was one sentence on the site: "At home, America faces the challenge of continuing to educate the workers of the future while dealing with a housing crisis and credit crunch."
His fellow candidates wish he would just go away, but Republican underdog Mike Huckabee is like wet mud on a campaign trail, and his message appears to be sticking with voters. The former Arkansas governor tackles 19 different issues on his Web site, but does not touch on any key housing problems facing the economy. Huckabee's proposal for a "fair tax" plan takes up a good 1,213 words under his tax and economy category."We have to scrap a 20th century tax system that is holding us back and keeping us down in the 21st century. The fair tax is the path to greater prosperity and job security for us and for our children," Huckabee writes.
Other than theoretically putting more money back in consumers' wallets, I don't know how a fair tax plan will help current homeowners from avoiding foreclosures, help increase home values across the country, or stem the country's rising unemployment rate. But this is Huckabee's biggest economic reform initiative and has been the most talked-about issue on the campaign trail.
John McCain is often referred to as a maverick within his own party, in due part for his willingness to cross party lines and push for bipartisan economic and government spending reforms. But that is for another debate on another blog. On his Web site, the Arizona senator devotes 1,423 words towards his "pro growth tax" agenda. It's the only section on the site that addresses the economy in-depth. Like his fellow contenders, McCain makes no mention of the housing crisis and its massive impact on the economy.Republicans, for the most part, support President Bush's approach on the subprime crisis, which involves getting lenders and mortgage-bond investors to agree voluntarily to modify some troubled loans. The Republican candidates haven't unveiled separate plans like the Democrats, but Romney and McCain have indicated that more might need to be done if the situation worsens. But I ask: How much more will the housing market need to deteriorate before these candidates fork over a viable solution? I'm hoping it doesn't happen four years from now, when it's time again to elect another president. I'd also like to add that my idea of a solution does not have to come in the form of a government bailout.
Do you think that the housing crisis should play a bigger role on the Republican campaign agenda?
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