2008 first presidential debate, at Ole Miss: on Corporations

Barack Obama: We need Wall Street responsibility BEFORE financial crises

McCAIN: Sure. But there’s also the issue of responsibility. I’ve been heavily criticized because I called for the resignation of the chairman of the SEC. We’ve got to start also holding people accountable, and we’ve got to reward people who succeed.

OBAMA: McCain’s absolutely right that we need more responsibility, but we need it not just when there is a crisis. We’ve had years in which the reigning economic ideology has been what’s good for Wall Street but not what’s good for Main Street. There are folks out there who have been struggling before this crisis took place. And that’s why it’s so important we look at some of the underlying issues that have led to wages and incomes for ordinary Americans to go down, a health care system that is broken, energy policies that are not working. Unless we are holding ourselves accountable day-in, day-out, not just when there’s a crisis for folks who have power and influence and can hire lobbyists.

Barack Obama: High corporate tax rate is offset by numerous loopholes

OBAMA: Here’s what I can tell the American people: 95% of you will get a tax cut. If you make less than $250,000--less than a quarter-million dollars a year--then you will not see one dime’s worth of tax increase. McCain mentioned that business taxes on paper are high in this country, but there are so many loopholes that have been written into the tax code, oftentimes with support of McCain, that we actually see our businesses pay effectively one of the lowest tax rates in the world.

John McCain: Warned about corporate greed & excess; supports bailout

A: Sure. Sure, but let me point out I also warned about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and warned about corporate greed and excess and CEO pay and all that. A lot of us saw this train wreck coming. But there’s also the issue of responsibility. Pres. Eisenhower, on the night before the Normandy invasion, went into his room, and wrote out two letters. One of them was a letter congratulating the great members of the military and Allies that had conducted and succeeded in the greatest invasion in history--still, to this day, and forever. And he wrote out another letter, and that was a letter of resignation from the US Army for the failure of the landings at Normandy. Somehow we’ve lost that accountability I’ve been heavily criticized because I called for the resignation of the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. We’ve got to start also holding people accountable, and we’ve got to reward people who succeed.

John McCain: Need stricter interpretation and consolidation of regulators

McCAIN: We’ve got fundamental problems in the system. And Main Street is paying a penalty for the excesses and greed in Washington, DC, and in the Wall Street. There’s no doubt that we have a long way to go, and obviously stricter interpretation and consolidation of the various regulatory agencies that weren’t doing their job that has brought on this crisis. But I have a fundamental belief in the goodness and strength of the American worker. And the American worker is the most productive, the most innovative.