http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080327/ap_on_el_pr/democrats_economy
The two Democratic contenders offered competing plans to tackle U.S. economic challenges: Clinton proposed a $2.5 billion job retraining program and Obama urged greater oversight of U.S. financial markets.
"We do American business — and the American people — no favors when we turn a blind eye to excessive leverage and dangerous risks," Obama said.
The presidential candidate spoke not far from Wall Street, hard hit by the mortgage meltdown and credit problems.
To fix the economy, Obama proposed relief for homeowners and an additional $30 billion stimulus package to address the nation's economic woes.
"If we can extend a hand to banks on Wall Street, we can extend a hand to Americans who are struggling," he said.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the almost candidate, warmly introduced Obama but stopped short of an endorsement.
Bemoaning the nation's economic woes, Obama, like Clinton, dismissed McCain's approach as pure hands-off. On Tuesday, McCain derided government intervention to save and reward banks or small borrowers who behave irresponsibly though he offered few immediate alternatives for fixing the country's growing housing crisis. Obama said McCain's plan "amounts to little more than watching this crisis happen."
Instead, Obama said, the next president should:
_Expand oversight to any institution that borrows from the government.
_Toughen capital requirements for complex financial instruments like mortgage securities.
_Streamline regulatory agencies to end overlap and competition among regulators.
While he laid out a half-dozen principles for closer scrutiny of the financial markets, he offered no specifics, such as which agencies should be reorganized or exactly how the government should go about peering over the shoulders of bank executives.
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