homes and fix our housing market. Three, I will create millions of high-paying jobs through tax cuts that spur economic growth — particularly for the small businesses which create 70 percent of all new jobs in this country.
The first thing we must do is protect peoples’ savings, investments and retirement accounts by stopping the declines in the stock market, and by getting the credit markets moving again so people can get home, car and business loans. To do this, we need pro-growth and pro-jobs economic policies, not pro-government spending programs paid for with higher taxes.
This is the fundamental difference between Senator Obama and me. We both disagree with President Bush on economic policy. The difference is that he thinks taxes have been too low, and I think that spending has been too high.
My approach is to get spending under control and cut taxes to encourage individuals to invest in our markets or buy a home, and to encourage businesses to hire more workers. Senator Obama’s approach is to radically increase spending, and then raise taxes to pay for it. Today he claims that he will only tax the rich, but we have seen in the past that he is willing to support taxes that hit people squarely in the middle class, and with a trillion dollars in new spending, the most likely outcome is that everyone who pays taxes will be paying for his spending.
My approach will lead to rising stock market prices, a stabilized housing market, economic growth and millions of new jobs. Senator Obama’s plan will destroy business growth, kill jobs, and lead to continued declines in the stock market and make a recession even deeper and more painful.
We need action today, even as we lay the foundation for growth tomorrow. To help put a floor on the stock market, we need people and institutions to start buying and holding their investments again. To incentivize investments, I have proposed that if you buy stock and hold it for a minimum of a year, your tax on that investment will be cut in half.
To help retirees, I will eliminate a rule that forces people to take money out of their accounts when the markets are at these low levels. Also when retirees do sell, they will be taxed at a low 10 percent rate versus a much higher personal income tax rate. These vital measures will promote buying, help companies raise capital and create jobs, shore up investment and retirement plans and get stock prices stabilized and rising again.
But we also need to do more to build confidence that American investments and retirement accounts are safe, so I will reform the markets and Wall Street. I will make sure that the SEC enacts and enforces rules that keep our markets safe and competitive. I will demand complete transparency into the accounts and activities at all banks and insurance companies so they cannot take on the