"You can't find evidence that low tax rates foster high economic growth," said Jared Bernstein, director of a research program at the liberal Economic Policy Institute. "In my view, Medicare, education, child care and preschool services that the government provides are going to be more necessary in the future."
In their attacks on each other, neither candidate has issued a wholesale rejection of the twin principles of the federal tax system -- that it should be equitable and should do as little as possible to discourage the creation of wealth.
Though McCain has relentlessly attacked Obama's statements that the Illinois senator wants to "spread the wealth" by raising taxes on high- income Americans, he has not publicly rejected the idea of a progressive tax system that requires the wealthy to pay a larger share of their income than the poor.
And though Obama has attacked McCain for wanting to reward the wealthy, he has not publicly rejected the Reagan-era economic doctrine that extremely high tax rates cause so much disruption and scheming that they ultimately hurt the middle class.
What's more, neither candidate has placed a high priority on eliminating the staggering budget deficits that have grown during the Bush administration.
The independent Tax Policy Center has examined both candidates' proposals and concluded that McCain would cut taxes $4.2 trillion by 2018 and Obama $2.9 trillion. Neither side could stimulate enough growth to offset those cuts, leaving a widening deficit, according to the analysis.
The longer-range issues are compounded by the gloom of the current rut. The rounds of layoffs across the nation, coupled with the plunge on Wall Street, declining home values and the credit crisis, have sent the confidence of American consumers to its lowest levels in history. It is a predicament that both candidates are trying to exploit.
"Barack Obama is a sure-fire depression," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain's domestic policy chief. Obama's agenda "adds up to an unmistakable ability to turn a downturn into a disaster."
Obama's campaign doesn't quite go that far, but deputy economic policy director Brian Deese said that McCain was "doubling down on the Bush administration's failed economic policies" and that his approach is "precisely the wrong answer to the current economic crisis we face."
Underneath the campaign trail sound bites, the two candidates have offered very detailed programs.
