New York, NY—

In the heart of the nation’s financial capital and using the same podium that Abraham Lincoln once spoke from, Barack Obama unveiled an economic policy today calling for a 30 billion dollar stimulus plan to revive the struggling economy–including tighter government regulation and transparency. He stated that providing relief to people struggling from home foreclosures is imperative. He blamed the Bush administration for it’s “inaction” and compared his Republican rival, John McCain to the president:

“After months of inaction, the President spoke here in New York and warned against doing too much. His main proposal – extending tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans – is completely divorced from the reality that people are facing around the country,” Obama said to cheers, “John McCain recently announced his own plan, and it amounts to little more than watching this crisis happen. While this is consistent with Senator McCain’s determination to run for George Bush’s third term, it won’t help families who are suffering, and it won’t help lift our economy out of recession.”

The McCain campaign responded immediately with the Republican nominee-in-waiting lashing out at both Obama and Clinton calling their plans bailouts:

“ I believe the role of government is to help the truly needy, prevent systemic economic risk, and enact reforms that prevent the kind of crisis we are currently experiencing from ever happening again. Those reforms should focus on improving transparency and accountability in our capital markets — both of which were lacking in the lead-up to the current situation,” McCain said in an e mail statement, “However, what is not necessary is a multi-billion dollar bailout for big banks and speculators, as Senators Clinton and Obama have proposed. There is a tendency for liberals to seek big government programs that sock it to American taxpayers while failing to solve the very real problems we face.”

Obama’s six-step plan ranged from greater financial institution regulation and reform to restraining illegal trading activity and market manipulation. He also called for the creation of a commission that would advise the President and Congress on the state of the economy to try and “anticipate risks before they erupt into a crisis. ” He stressed that Wall Street and Main Street are intertwined:

“What was bad for Main Street was bad for Wall Street. Pain trickled up,” Obama said, “There is no dividing line between Main Street and Wall Street. The decisions made in New York’s high-rises have consequences for Americans across the country.”

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