McCain plan would zap taxes, back all savings

BLUE BELL, Pa. (AP) — John McCain, echoing both Barack Obama and Republican orthodoxy, proposed a $52.5 billion economic plan Tuesday that would eliminate taxes on unemployment benefits and cut the capital gains tax. He warned voters about taking a chance on his Democratic rival.

"Perhaps never before in history have the American people been asked to risk so much based on so little," McCain said of his opponent during a speech at a community college in this Philadelphia suburb.

McCain also promised that as president he would order the Treasury Department to guarantee 100 percent of all savings for six months. Such a guarantee, above the $250,000 now in force, would ease consumer fears of bank failures and restore "rational judgment to the choices of the market," he said.

The Republican standard-bearer wasn't breaking new ground with the unemployment and capitol gains proposals. He was a day behind Obama in suggesting that taxes on jobless benefits be suspended, and Obama also proposed extending the duration of those benefits. And Republicans for years have offered proposals to reduce the tax on capital gains from investments.