“Neither of them have a plan yet,” said Dan Homernik, a history junior.

“They’re doing what they have to do in the campaigns where they’re not articulating what they really want.”

Elizabeth Machie, a marketing senior, said the candidates’ plans are different but not much will be able to alleviate the situation in the near future.

“It’s going to get worse before it gets better no matter what,” she said.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Tuesday he intends to allow people over the age of 60 to withdraw money from IRAs or 401(k) retirement plans at a lower rate in 2008 and 2009, cut the tax on long-term capital gains in half to 7.5 percent and enable Americans to deduct $15,000 in losses per year for 2008 and 2009.

The proposal would cost $52.5 billion, according to The New York Times.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., proposed Monday doubling automaker loan guarantees to $50 billion, providing employers with a $3,000 tax credit for hiring new workers and allowing all Americans to borrow from retirement savings without penalty.

These measures would total $60 billion, according to the Times.

Craig Ruff, senior policy fellow at Lansing-based Public Sector Consultants, said he was “flabbergasted” by the candidates’ proposals because they inflate America’s more than $10 trillion debt.

“I have to laugh. There is no money. Do the two candidates not understand that?” he said. “It’s a nice sentiment that is just loaded with poison — economic poison.”

Ruff said the economy is a delicate issue because normally a government would raise taxes to eliminate debt, but that would be fatal given Americans’ lack of money and ability to spend to keep the economy afloat.

At the same time, the government should not spend more to revive the economy because it will contribute to debt, Ruff said. If it continues to spend, inflation will result.

“All of this is some of the most bothersome policy pronouncements that I’ve ever heard at this stage of a presidential campaign,” he said. “It’s going to bankrupt your generation.”

Charles Ballard, an MSU economics professor, said the candidates must be wary of adding to the national debt because it is financed by other countries’ investment in U.S. bonds, which poses foreign policy and national security problems that will affect people in the future.

“That’s an issue we have to keep an eye on for a long time,” Ballard said. “I doubt the Chinese will lend us half a trillion every year forever.”