WSJ: Interviews McCain about economy

Much was made about this statement from John McCain:

“The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” I’ve got Greenspan’s book.”

McCain talked to the Wall Street Journal about his views on the economy, social security and taxes.

In the interview with Wall Street Journal, McCain hit all the rights notes.

He wants to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, promised no new taxes and wants to simplify the tax code.

On taxes, Sen. McCain is walking a fine line between courting keep-taxes-low Republicans while insisting he is the candidate of fiscal discipline. Two weeks ago, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked him on “This Week” if he were a “‘read my lips’ candidate, no new taxes, no matter what?” referring to a pledge made by President George H.W. Bush, which he later broke. “No new taxes,” Sen. McCain responded. “But under circumstances would you increase taxes?” Mr. Stephanopoulos continued. “No,” Sen. McCain answered.

Asked in The Wall Street Journal interview to clarify, Sen. McCain softened that stance. “I’m not making a ‘read my lips’ statement, in that I will not raise taxes,” he says. “But I’m not saying I can envision a scenario where I would, OK?”

Behind the scenes, his campaign is searching for ways to pay for Sen. McCain’s tax proposals. In addition to extending the Bush tax cuts, the 71-year-old candidate would slash the corporate income-tax rate from 35% to 25% at a cost to the Treasury of $100 billion a year, estimates Mr. Holtz-Eakin.

On social security:

Sen. McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign Web site takes a different view, proposing “supplementing” the existing full Social Security system with personally managed accounts. Such accounts wouldn’t substitute for guaranteed payments, and they wouldn’t be financed by diverting a portion of Social Security payroll taxes.

McCain also added this:

With the U.S. economy softening, he said he might have “a couple of fireside chats with the American people because of what we see in the [consumer] confidence barometers.” But he added that the most potent economic stimulus would be to assure Americans that taxes won’t go up in the future and to “call for a meaningful — and I mean meaningful — approach to simplifying the tax code so that it’s fairer and flatter.”

Another interesting paragraph:

Sen. McCain began to prepare himself for campaigning on economics late in 2005 when Mr. Holtz-Eakin and conservative Kevin Hassett, a veteran of the 2000 McCain campaign, started sending him four-page weekly briefing papers on tax reform, trade and other issues. Sen. McCain also consults with business and political leaders including Cisco Systems Inc. Chief Executive John Chambers; former Republican Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, a deficit hawk; and former Republican vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp, who hails from the deficits-don’t-matter side of the party.

Obviously, McCain wanted to be sure he was up to speed on these issues as far back as 2005 so he could run for President in 2008. I am encouraged by this from John McCain. I believe in lower taxes on both income, investments and corporations. I would much rather see a radical change in our tax code than anything else. But, the realist in me will take whatever I can get. I would also encourage McCain to continue to push for privatization of social security. Bush tried and failed though the program was not very well received by the public. Apparently, we have been conditioned to think the government can take care of our money better than we can. The years of public education have worked (and yes, I went to public schools).