While John McCain goes around pretending that he’s going to cut the price of gas, Barack Obama presents a serious proposal for alternative energy.

While John McCain says that he’ll cut taxes for the $4 million per year “middle class,” Barack Obama has come up with a bipartisan plan that substantially cuts taxes for people making less than $50,000 per year while responsibly balancing the budget and investing in America’s future.

Basically, Obama’s plan goes like this. First, Obama gives additional tax rebates to people who need it most, and he cuts taxes for almost everyone (90% of all American taxpayers will see a tax cut). Then, Obama will roll back the Bush tax cuts, so that the wealthiest of the wealthy (the top 1%) will pay a more fair share in taxes (they’ll pay the same rates that they did during the 90s).

After undoing the Bush/McCain/Republican policies, then Obama will go on the attack. Obama will use the increased revenue from doing away with wasteful Bush policies to invest in new energy sources to create 5 million new Green Collar jobs. He’ll invest in new roads and bridges, creating even more jobs. Obama will invest in science, to keep America at the forefront of new technology. He’ll support small businesses and entrepreneurs with targeted tax relief, and he’ll protect the rights of workers to form unions.

Obama developed his economic plan after listening to experts from all sides of the political spectrum. He hasn’t been afraid to challenge Democratic orthodoxy, and the result is a powerfully pragmatic plan that would create the biggest change in our economy since the New Deal.

There’s already a great article about how Obama has navigated the complexities of the American economy, so I won’t spend too much time describing how Obama’s plan was developed. Here’s a basic summary of Obama’s economic security focus:

“In practical terms, the new [Democratic] consensus means that the policies of an Obama administration would differ from those of the Clinton administration, but not primarily because of differences between the two men. “The economy has changed in the last 15 years, and our understanding of economic policy has changed as well,” [economic expert Jason] Furman says. “And that means that what was appropriate in 1993 is no longer appropriate.” Obama’s agenda starts not with raising taxes to reduce the deficit, as Clinton’s ended up doing, but with changing the tax code so that families making more than $250,000 a year pay more taxes and nearly everyone else pays less. That would begin to address inequality. Then there would be [former Labor Secretary Robert] Reich-like investments in alternative energy, physical infrastructure and such, meant both to create middle-class jobs and to address long-term problems like global warming.”

If you need more details, see how Obama introduced his plan to Michigan’s voters here. And Obama has more specifics about how his economic security plan will work on his website.

While McCain has been busy figuring out how many houses he owns, Obama has been busy working with top economic experts to develop a plan that cuts taxes, stimulates the economy, and prepares America for the future. McCain will do his best to talk about anything other than his economic plan, because he loses the debate over the issues flat out.

Obama’s got a plan that’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good — and it’s a lot better than McCain’s plan to follow George W. Bush’s lead. One thing’s for sure: we can’t afford another four years of Bush/McCain economic policies.