Economic issues: The Key of the U.S. presidential 2008

Economic issues have become the main concern of American voters and Republicans and Democrats candidates in the race for the presidency. This is explained by the fear of recession and the extremely poor numbers of employment during last January.

As the "big Tuesday, February 5th, approach, where 22 states will choose their Democrat and Republican candidates in presidential elections, competitors have not hesitated to exploit the opportunity to comment on these poor results.

The poor employment numbers come when the real estate crisis and its consequences worry Americans more than the war in Iraq. Unlike the 2004 elections, where issues such as health insurance and immigration were the focus of election campaigns, this time candidates focus on the economy.

The Republicans managed to win the presidential elections in November 2004 by focusing on the issue of security and fears of terrorist threats, but this card is no longer playable after the deteriorating economic situation in the United United. Americans are more concerned about economic issues like : Will I keep my job? Will I keep my home?. The fear is even more intense after the failure of the Republican administration to manage the crisis related to Hurricane Katrina.

The crisis loans with high risk "Subprime", which hit the U.S. economy last summer and caused the loss by thousands of Americans of their homes, was the climax of the economic problems in USA.

Hillary Clinton, who aspires to be the Democratic candidate to contest the presidential election, said that when President George W. Bush said that the state of the U.S. economy was healthy, 17.000 people had lost their jobs. "This is the worst since four years and half", she added.

Hillary said that the growth rate of the biggest economy in the world was, for the first time, very low while the indexes showed a slowdown in the fourth quarter of 2007.

In a communique published Saturday, Hillary Clinton confirmed the need for the economic rescue plan, currently studied by the Congress, to "reinforces unemployment subsidies".

The former U.S. first lady called, once again, to award grants to ensure payment of heating bills, freeze the confiscation of houses for 90 days and to freeze the interest rates on mortgages with high risk. Meanwhile, Hillary's rival for the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama, said that these results were worrying and reflected the need to increase the aid granted by the Congress to the unemployed as part of a plan for revitalizing the U.S. economy.

Obama accused the Bush administration to meet with one solution to economic problems, namely high tax cut for businesses and the wealthier classes in American society. Obama attacked the Republican candidate john McCain of supporting tax cuts which he opposed. Obama said that if he is elected as president, he would change the "catastrophic" economic policy adopted by the Republicans.

In Republican side, McCain said he knew the suffering of Americans. He said that Congress should quickly approve the plan for reviving the U.S. economy and make a permanent reductions of taxs.

The House of Representatives approved Tuesday a plan to revive the economy, a plan negotiated with President Bush, while the Senate launched last Thursday its own plan and postponed the vote on the text till next week. But the Senate's plan faces opposition from Republican Senators whose support is needed for a majority of sixty votes required for approval.

The Senate proposes a plan to reduce tax exemptions granted to individuals with the expansion of this exemption to include 20 million people including the unemployed and pensioners.