NewsHour's economics correspondent Paul Solman recently toured northern Virginia with Nancy Pfotenhauer, an adviser to Sen. John McCain's campaign, to learn about the GOP presidential hopeful's economic policies and how they could impact everyday Americans. McCain's ideas include an 18.5-cent gas tax holiday, increased drilling for oil in the United States, more nuclear power plants, a $300 million prize for the development of an electric car battery, lower taxes for corporations and small businesses, and keeping the Bush tax cuts for all income brackets. McCain's proposals reflect the Republican belief in supply-side economics, which creates economic growth by cutting taxes to induce businesses and people to produce more (supply) goods and services. Quotes "In the short term, what Senator McCain wants to do is, of course, give us a gas tax holiday, like we've had before in this country, like Japan has tried." - Nancy Pfotenhauer, Adviser, John McCain Campaign "In a market, you want the most competition you can get in order to drive prices down and give consumers the most options." - Nancy Pfotenhauer, Adviser, John McCain Campaign "I help my employees with the health care, but many have opted out because it's just gotten too expensive. Either they find something with their spouse or they're going without. And that's not good." - Larry Porch, Business Owner "This is the familiar Republican supply-side argument: Lower taxes induce harder work, and more investment, and ultimately more growth, to which we felt obliged to offer the familiar response, citing the Tax Policy Center, run by directors from both parties, set up for independent analysis. They say the larger future deficits would reduce and could completely offset any positive effects." - Paul Solman, NewsHour Economics Reporter "They do not take into consideration the reduction in the growth rate of spending. They simply say they don't believe it's going to occur. Well, the bottom line is, it has occurred in the past." - Nancy Pfotenhauer, Adviser, John McCain Campaign Warm Up Questions 1. How does the price of gas affect the U.S. economy? What can the government do about the high price of gas? 2. What are taxes and how do they affect how much money families spend and how does that affect the U.S. economy? Discussion Questions 1. What are some of John McCain's proposals to help the U.S. economy? 2. What is your opinion of McCain's ideas? 3. What is supply-side economics? What are arguments for and against it? 4. Take a look at Barack Obama's economic proposals. What are the differences? 5. Based on their ideas about the U.S. economy, who do you think would be the best president? Why? Additional Resources Transcript of this report Barack Obama's economic proposal