As November nears we are coming ever closer to what could be the most contentious US election since 1932. There are striking similarities between 2008 and the election in which Franklin Delano Roosevelt trounced Herbert Hoover in electoral votes by a margin of 472 to 59. Perhaps the most stunning comparison between two elections separated by 86 years is the powerful economic implications of the decision American's are faced with at the voting booth. The 1932 election was the first since the 1929 stock market crash and occurred at a time when America's economic future looked bleak. Today, we are dealing with a shocking downturn in the Dow Jones Industrial Average which has hit it's lowest point since 2003 after falling over 5000 points in the last year, and over 2000 points in the last month alone.

The economy is clearly on the minds of a large percentage of Americans. And with the latest polls showing Democratic Candidate Barack Obama leading John McCain by between 3 and 11 percentage points lets take a look at some of Obama's economic policies and what they mean to the American People.

MIDDLE CLASS ECONOMICS – The basis of Democratic Economic policy lies in the belief that if the middle class is doing well, the entire economy will perform well. As Obama himself has said, he's aiming to "to help working families who are struggling to keep up" by relieving their tax burden and allowing them to get out of debt.

If you believe in this type of Middle Class Economics you are either a:

A: Hard Worker [HW]: The real mission of the democratic tax plan is to provide relief to the Americans who are suffering right now, not to provide relief to the executives at the recently failed banks. Executives who, upon hearing news of the 700 Billion Dollar Bailout last week, decided they ought to take a $440,000 spa vacation to celebrate.

 OR… 

B: Spend Thrift [ST]: Democrats love social programs, and social programs cost money. So Barack Obama may be spending more money than he's taking in. This includes a $150 billion program to research alternative energy. In fact, one ad is claiming that Obama's spending could reach up to $1 trillion new dollars. Money the country can ill afford right now.

THE TAX POLICY: It’s a popular thing for the Republican Party to claim that Democrats will raise taxes, and it’s a stigma that has won many elections in recent years for the Republican Party. The truth of the matter is that Democratic Tax policy usually relies on either cutting or stagnating taxes for the middle class while raising them for the upper class. This runs contrary to the Republican plan of cutting taxes for everyone, especially the upper class.

If you believe in Democratic Tax Policy you are either:

A: Comfortable in Big Groups [CBG]: You’re like 95% of the population. This is the percentage of worker who will see a tax cut under Senator Obama’s plan, with an increase in taxes for any household making more than $250,000. In fact, the only increase of taxes proposed by the Democrats is a repayment of the tax cuts received by the top 2% of American households.

Or

B: A Working Stiff [WS]: and don’t see yourself as an entreprenuer. It seems all well and good that 95% of American households will be receiving a tax cut, but this number doesn’t include the multitude of people who own small businesses in this country. It has been a common attack lobbed by both John McCain and Sarah Palin that Obama’s plan will actually benefit small business owners much less than their own plan.

HEALTH CARE: Obama’s health care plan relies around the much ballyhooed statement: “Health Care should be a right, not a responsibility” Obama does not believe in socialized health care, a la the Canadian System, but he does advocate a so-called backup health care system, where any American who can’t afford their employer’s health care provider (or is unemployed) can utilize a government run health care system. The government run health care would be nowhere near as comprehensive, but it would guarantee hospitalization for every American.

If you believe in the Democratic Health Care Plan you are either:

A: An Altruistic Soul [AS]: According to the 2005 US Census there were 46.6 Million Americans living without health care coverage, which amounted to almost 16% of the nation. This is a large portion of American’s who can’t get help when they’re sick, and have simply hope that their children remain healthy.

Or

B: Blindly Optimistic [BO] :  and believe money grows on trees. Universal Health Care is going to cost Americans who already pay for their health care a lot of money. A LOT of money. It’s been argued that it’s going to be hard to reconcile the middle class tax cuts with the increased spending, and this is going to be one of the chief culprits of a more regulated democratic government spending program.

JOB CREATION: There has been a mass exodus of American Manufacturing jobs to Latin American nations in recent years, but Senator Obama has expressed a desire to reverse this trend. The Democrats plan involves investing in, and awarding, innovative manufacturers in order to grow their companies and allow a percentage of unemployed Americans to find the blue collar jobs that have been off shored in recent years.

If you Believe in the Democratic Job Creation you are either:

A: A Believer in the Little Guy [BLG] : “Because that’s who you are, and that’s what you care about.” With all of the jobs that have gone to third world countries in order to decrease manufacturing costs, satisfy internal lean manufacturing standards and increase margins by a tenth of a percent, Obama’s plan would look to reverse that in order to decrease unemployment and grow blue collar job opportunities.

Or

B: A Linear Thinker [LT]: Most of the companies who moved their manufacturing processes overseas started out as big American employers. What is there to stop these companies from growing, realizing they could have higher profits if they outsourced their manufacturing processes and laying off all of their employees to move to Mexico? It’s an idealistic hope to believe that, in a free market, anyone would keep their manufacturing local despite lower costs overseas.

Coming off the worst point loss week in the history of the NYSE, the economy is at the top of everyone’s mind as the election draws nearer. It’s generally been accepted in America that the Democrats are more trusted to handle economic turmoil than the republicans, especially since John McCain’s famed “The Fundamentals of our economy are strong” comment. Whether or not this concern will carry over to Election Day won’t be known until November 4th.