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Sen. OBAMA: Some of those you could possibly defer. But I think the basic principle of restoring fairness to our economy and encouraging bottom up economic growth is important. So for--you know, here's what we know. We know that over the last decade or so, that more than half of the economic growth has been captured by the top 1 percent of US citizens. That means the other 99 percent have seen their effective incomes go down. That is not a recipe for long-term economic growth. And so if we, in fact, are putting more money into the pockets of the middle class, if consumers feel some confidence because their bills are actually adding up at the end of the month and they can pay for them, that's going to, over the long term, be good for business, that's going to be good for the markets, that's going to be good for Wall Street.

And I think that we've had an economy that's been out of balance for too long. So the general principle of raising taxes on higher income Americans, like myself, and providing relief to those who haven't benefitted as much from this new global economy, I think, is a sound one. And keep in mind on all of these proposals, that what I've said is let's make sure that we define the well off, so we're not hitting the middle class. You know, I generally define well off as people who are making $250,000 a year or more, and that means, for example if we raise the capital gains tax, I would exempt people who are essentially small investors and really capture those who have done very, very well over the last two decades.

HARWOOD: On your general approach to business, you have criticized trade deals as not in the interests of American workers. You've talked about Wall Street speculators tricking people out of their homes, you've hit corporations for outsourcing. Are you a populist, and do you have any concern that your agenda might end up doing some damage to a US and global economic system that, though it's struggling now, has delivered a lot of benefits to a lot of people over the last 25 years?

Sen. OBAMA: Look. I am a pro-growth, free market guy. I love the market. I think it is the best invention to allocate resources and produce enormous prosperity for America or the world that's ever been designed. As I said before, I think what's happened is that the market has gotten out of balance. This isn't the first time it happened. It happens often, particularly during periods of great technological and economic change. It happened, you know, when we moved from farms to factories. It happened when we shifted from factories to the information age. We're still in the process of adapting to this new environment. And there are those of us who have done very well in this new global economy. A lot of dislocations have taken place.

And all I've said is let's make sure that our economy takes into account not just the winners but also the losers in the economy. Let's make sure that the burdens and benefits of globalization are fairly distributed. Let's make sure that we are investing in what's required for long-term growth. And I don't think there's any market advocate who would suggest that if our schools are underperforming, if our investment in basic science and research is declining, if young people can't afford to go to college, if our health-care system is broken and more expensive delivering less in terms of quality care than any other advanced nation, that those are good things for the market, then, you know, we should go ahead and make those investments, make those changes, to make this marketplace work better. That's my basic philosophy.

And on trade deals, I believe in free trade. And as somebody who lived overseas, who has family overseas, I've seen what's happened in terms of rising living standards around the globe. And that's a good thing for America, it's good for our national security. But what I also believe is that if trade agreements are written only with corporate profits and Wall Street in mind and not with its possible effects on Main Street, then we're only seeing half of the equation, and we've got to take those into account.

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