Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said Oct. 20 Congress and the President must act to stave off a worsening economic situation, adding he will support an additional stimulus package that should “include measures to help improve access to credit by consumers.”

Regardless, easy credit and mal-investment – induced by federal government intervention – is the direct cause for the current economic situation, and most Americans are looking toward two men for solutions: Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain.

Only in a true “two-party” system can the American public be offered two opposing candidates who agree more than disagree.

Democrats want to raise the top earners’ tax rate to 39.5 percent while Republicans favor a 35 percent tax rate.

“Well ain’t democracy grand? We get to debate a whole four and a half percentage points. We’d better spread this system around the world,” economist and historian Tom Woods said.

But this issue underscores the level of disagreement these two candidates offer.

Obama released details on his new economic spending plan Oct. 13, which is estimated to cost in excess of $175 billion during the next two years. McCain released his own version of governmental intervention the following day, which is expected to cost more than $52 billion initially.

Both plans offer supposed tax credits to varying segments of the economy, tax breaks to small businesses and help to people who need assistance meeting mortgage requirements.

But neither plan will actually lower taxes; it is impossible to maintain lending and debt monetarization at this level forever. Instead, both of these plans are an attempt to pander to the candidates’ respective bases.

Seemingly though, one who favored fewer taxes and less government intervention would side with McCain because his egregious policies are less expensive. However, his estimated $52 billion economic stimulus package does not take into account his separate $300 billion plan that would have the U.S. Treasury Department forcefully renegotiate personal debt.

There are only three ways for the U.S. government to pay for either McCain’s or Obama’s planned economic package: cut the same amount of spending in other areas, tax the amount needed – which both campaigns adamantly rejects – or borrow the amount, which causes a direct inflation tax on consumers who decided to save their money rather than borrow endlessly.

Obama and McCain both give platitudes of “eliminating [federal programs] that aren’t working,” yet neither could name a single program in any of their debates.

The simple truth is, government will grow under either administration as will the national debt. Both of these men and their respective parties are living in a fairy tale of continual spending without limit, and the American people are the ones who will suffer in the end.