Clinton, Obama focus on economy

Both Democrats agreed that McCain can’t handle an economic emergency.

NEW YORK (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama said Thursday a firmer government hand is needed on Wall Street and a $30 billion stimulus is needed to rescue homeowners and the jobless. Rival Hillary Rodham Clinton called for a new job retraining program to remedy what both candidates derided as Republican indifference to a sputtering economy.

Both Obama and Clinton argued that Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain isn’t ready or willing to handle an economic emergency.

“The phone is ringing, and he would just let it ring and ring,” Clinton said, echoing the “3 a.m. phone call” TV ad she used earlier to suggest she was more qualified than Obama to handle a national security crisis. Speaking in Raleigh, N.C., she chastised McCain for opposing government intervention in the nation’s credit and mortgage crisis.

Clinton focused on job insecurity and said the government needed to take more responsibility for helping displaced workers. The state holds its primary May 5.

“Our government is more focused on how you lost your job than how you can find a new one,” Clinton said. “And while we have been rightly focused on trying to help people who are out of work, there’s been too little thought and effort to help people gain new skills while they still have their existing jobs.”

Among other things, the former first lady called for a new program to extend federal aid known as Pell Grants to workers enrolled in education programs aimed at updating their skills. She also promoted a pre-emptive training initiative to allow workers concerned about potential threats to their jobs to receive grants to help transition into other industries.

Though many of the two Democrats’ ideas on the economy overlap, Obama laid out six areas where he would stiffen regulations of the financial system. He proposed relief for homeowners and the long-term unemployed as part of an additional $30 billion stimulus package, much like the one Clinton offered last week.

He said outdated government regulations have fallen dangerously behind the realities of modern finance.

“We do American business — and the American people — no favors when we turn a blind eye to excessive leverage and dangerous risks,” Obama said.

The presidential hopeful spoke not far from Wall Street, which has been suffering from the aftereffects of the collapse of the housing market and a credit crunch. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the almost candidate, warmly introduced Obama but stopped short of an endorsement.

The economic setbacks of recent months, Obama argued, show hardships long felt by middle class Americans had now spread everywhere.

“Pain trickles up,” he said.

Bemoaning the nation’s economic woes, Obama, like Clinton, dismissed McCain’s approach as pure hands-off.

Obama said, the next president should:

UExpand oversight to any institution that borrows from the government.

U Toughen capital requirements for complex financial instruments like mortgage securities.

U Streamline regulatory agencies to end overlap and competition among regulators.