US election: Obama lays out details of $60bn economic plan
• Toledo, Ohio speech focuses on job creation
• Federal funding to go toward infrastructure projects
US Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama addresses a policy speech in Toledo, Ohio. Photographer: Emmanuel Dunand
Barack Obama sought to build on his commanding poll lead over John McCain today by setting out a $60bn rescue plan aimed at creating more jobs and easing the burden on US households suffering from the economic shakeout.
In an echo of the 1930s New Deal, Obama proposed embarking on programmes to repair bridges, roads, schools and other infrastructure projects that have been on hold for decades.
To provide immediate relief for struggling families, he suggested allowing people to dip into their retirement plans and imposing a three-month moratorium on mortgage foreclosures.
Obama said his plan should be implemented immediately and would not have to wait until a new president takes over on January 20.
The Democratic candidate was seeking to take control of the issue that could decide the election. Neither he nor McCain have yet put forward ideas for dealing with the financial crisis that have resonated with the electorate. Republican and Democratic analysts say that the first of the two to do so will hold the key to November 4 election.
Obama announced his plan, worked out over the last few weeks with a battery of former treasury staff and other economic advisers, in a speech in Toledo, Ohio.
With only three weeks left to the election, support for Obama appears to be hardening as the public blames the Republicans for the crisis. A Washington Post/ABC poll today put Obama on 53% to McCain's 43%. In a survey of scores of Republican strategists conducted by the National Journal over the weekend, 80% said they expected Obama to win, compared with only 17% three weeks ago.
Although the polls could narrow closer to the election, especially if the stock markets rebound, McCain's campaign continues to show signs of uncertainty. In contrast with Obama's announcement of specific economic policies, McCain abandoned a plan, promised by one of his advisers, senator Lindsey Graham yesterday, to unveil proposals of his own.
Obama, in what his campaign team billed as a major economic speech, put the emphasis on creating new jobs after the loss of 750,000 jobs this year and predictions of 8% unemployment by the end of the year. "It's a plan that begins with one word that's on everyone's mind, and it's spelled J-O-B-S," he said.
To help create jobs, he is proposed a $3,000 job tax credit for every new employee a firm takes on over the next two years. He said 1m new jobs can be saved by creating a jobs and growth fund that will provide money to states and local communities to rebuild and repair roads, bridges, schools and other infrastructure projects.
He is suggesting that federal lending should be provided to help states and municipal governments embark such projects.
In a rare acknowledgment of a good idea from the opposing camp, Obama, appealing to independents who tend to dislike partisan politics, welcomed McCain's plan for changing pension regulations so that people are not penalised by low stock market prices. "I think that's a good idea, but I think we need to do even more," Obama said.
The Democratic candidate's plan to allow people to raid their pension plans would allow families to "get through this crisis without being forced to make painful choices like selling their homes or not sending their kids to college".
Opening his speech, he described the crisis as the worst since the Great Depression. "You've got auto plants right here in Ohio that have been around for decades closing their doors and laying off workers who've never known another job in their entire life," he said.
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