The document summarizes the positions of several Republican presidential candidates on the economy and housing based on their platforms. For the economy, candidates such as Romney, Santorum, and Perry propose lowering taxes and reducing regulations. On housing, the document notes that candidates have been largely silent on plans to revive the sector, except for brief comments from Romney and Perry emphasizing job creation and letting the foreclosure process run its course. The rest of the document provides economic and housing data being released that week.

1. I s su e 13 , Vo lu me 2 / J an u ar y 1 3 , 2 012
Candidate Platforms on the Economy & Housing The Week Ahead -> The “Keys”
Tim McLaughlin - A plethora of housing data this week to start the year
With the Republican Primaries well underway, we analyze some
of the candidate’s platforms on two of the topics that will drive our Date Economic Release Prediction Last
industry over the course of the next four years: the economy and
housing.
1/17 Empire Manufacturing 10.50 9.53
The Economy:
1/18 MBA Mortgage Applications - 4.5%
Romney: A proponent of lower taxes, less regulation, and a
1/18 PPI (MoM) 0.1% 0.3%
balanced budget. Proposes the repeal of Dodd-Frank, a law
toughening financial industry regulations after the meltdown in that
1/18 ex Food and Energy 0.1% 0.1%
sector. Proposes changing, but not repealing, Sarbanes-Oxley, a
law tightening accounting regulations in response to corporate
1/18 PPI (YoY) 5.1% 5.7%
scandals, to ease the accountability burden on smaller businesses.
1/18 ex Food and Energy 2.8% 2.9%
Santorum: Spur jobs by eliminating corporate taxes for
manufacturers, drill for more oil and gas, and slash regulations.
1/18 Industrial Production 0.5% -0.2%
Repeal every Obama-era regulation that costs business more than
$100 million a year.
1/18 Capacity Utilization 78.1% 77.8%
Huntsman: End corporate subsidies, cut regulations, lower taxes,
1/18 NAHB Housing Index 22 21
spur jobs through energy development; seek repeal of President
Barack Obama's health care law. Break up megabanks as a hedge
1/19 CPI (MoM) 0.1% 0.0%
against future bailouts of the industry.
1/19 ex Food and Energy 0.1% 0.2%
Gingrich: Repeal the 2010 financial industry and consumer
protection regulations that followed the Wall Street meltdown, and 1/19 CPI (YoY) 3.1% 3.4%
repeal the 2002 regulations enacted in response to the Enron and
other corporate and accounting scandals. Restrict the Fed's power 1/19 ex Food and Energy 2.2% 2.2%
to set interest rates artificially low.
1/19 Housing Starts 685K 685K
Perry: Spur economy by repealing rafts of regulations, Obama's
health care law and Dodd-Frank toughening financial-industry 1/19 Housing Starts (MoM) 0.0% 9.3%
regulations after the meltdown in that sector. Create jobs in energy
sector by removing obstacles to drilling and production. Cut 1/19 Building Permits 675K 680K
corporate taxes.
1/19 Building Permits (MoM) -0.7% 5.7%
Paul: Return to the gold standard, eliminate the Federal Reserve,
let gold and silver be used as legal tender, eliminate most federal 1/19 Initial Jobless Claims - 399K
regulations.
1/19 Continuing Claims - 3628K
Housing: Sadly, the silence has been deafening regarding the
candidates stance on housing and their plan to revive the sector. A 1/19 BB Consumer Comfort - -44.7
couple of quotes are as follows:
Romney: “Don't try to stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its 1/19 BB Economic Index - -17
course and hit the bottom. Allow investors to buy homes, put
renters in them, fix the homes up and let it turn around and come 1/19 Philly Fed Survey 11.0 6.8
back up.”
1/20 Existing Home Sales 4.65M 4.42M
Perry: “Immediate remedy for housing is to get America working
again. Creating jobs will address the housing concerns that are 1/20 Existing Home Sales (MoM) 5.2% 4.0%
impacting communities throughout America."
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