The cost of bolstering the US financial system will have policy consequences neither Presidential candidate wants to consider. The Columbian Journalism Review examines the candidates’ reluctance to change their policy ideas despite the financial crisis.

Katia Bachko from the Columbian Journalism Review does the math and disputes the campaign logic:

“If I were to write a formula representing the two presidential candidates’ reaction  to the impact the federal bailouts to the financial sector would have on their proposed social and economic programs, it would look like this:

Obama: Progressive Tax + Universal Health Care + More Funding for Education = Progressive Tax + Universal Health Care + More Funding for Education + $700 billion

McCain: Tax Cut + Open-Market Insurance + Semi-Privatized Social Security = Tax Cut + Open-Market Insurance + Semi-Privatized Social Security + $700 billion

Try to solve for the variable and you get a mathematical impossibility: 0=$700 billion!”

Read the full story here.