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McCain's a Democrat in Republican clothing.. and Obama is a true Soclialist. Neither of them tells the truth, or even comes close to it.
It seems the Popdose writers are all vehemently anti-McCain, and understandably so.
But honestly.. Is Obama really the best hope for our nation? The man can't tell the truth, has no solid plans for our nation that even have a prayer of working, has no understanding of money and how it works, and doesn't even know what a Constitutional Republic truly is. He loves to mention his "Christianity" and yet he seems to be a walking billboard for something else. He has this nation by the balls, and once he's voted in next month, a whole lot of people are going to wish someone else had been elected.
Ron Paul maybe? Won't matter, because by then we'll be in bigger trouble than we are now.
At least our current leadership will finally be out of office... thankfully. Sadly what we get to replace it will likely do nothing but continue our downward spiral as a nation.
So.. I guess I can give Obama one thing..
We'll definitely get "Change".
What he leaves out is that this will likely be change.. for the worse.
See, I can make claims and not back them with any sources too. A socialist? really? The man talks about cutting taxes for 95% of Americans and suddenly he's a socialist? I suppose its more democratic to continue to cut taxes for the other 5% of the nation (not to mention that 1% of that population owns over 20-30% of our national wealth) and hope that enough scraps fall into the gutters so the rest of us can survive.
http://radarsite.blogspot.com/2008/10/web-archi...
Can't tell the truth? No solid plans? "Walking billboard for something else"? Good Lord, man. Can I get you a beer? Quaalude, perhaps? You're worrying me here. And offending me a little, too.
You wan tPalin in office? Because frankly we have all watched McSame slowly fall apart just during his primarys he won't last another YEAR - and no way do I want a believer in protection from witchcraft Moosalini in orifice.
I'm surprised there were no references to 'Joe the Plumber' the relative of Charles Keating who got planted Rovian to be their surprise package - amazing attempt in the age of internet research and fact checking :)
I agree with the 1st bit of this - at this point this entire mess - including the freefall into complete planetary economic collapse - is out of the hands of ANY candidate. Yes yes I paraphrased and added my own spin. BUT - looks to me like since Cheney couldn't steal it all he decided (yes Cheney muppet Gollum W has NEVER been in charge) he is going to let it all fall down so the dealing with planetary disaster will protect him from indictment investigation and imprisonment.
See y'all in the internment camps
Sounds like someone has been palling around with Sarah Palin a little too much because answers like the one above suggests McCain, when framing a retort, pushed the same panic button of attack words Palin uses for her non-sequitur ramblings. Ah well...
I must say, though, that this debate was the best out of the three. The first one lacked any kind of passion from both candidates and there was too much “Me too” going on. The second debate was a Potemkin village “Town Hall” that served as prop for Obama and McCain to show how much they care about “real folks.” Last night’s exchange actually highlighted many of the differences between the candidates, but there was very little said about how each would address the current financial woes. And truth be told, it’s not really a fair question - mostly because both campaigns do not have the resources of the Executive Branch to give them advice needed to make policy. What they have are their economic philosophies that will inform their choice to head up the Treasury Department and advise them on economic matters.
For Obama, it’s a neo-Keynesian philosophy of lower interest rates and taxes plus direct government investments in the economy and infrastructure to stimulate growth. McCain’s view is an Arthur Laffer-inspired supply-side economics that has been the guiding economic philosophy of the Republican Party -- until the Bush Administration altered it to include massive socialism for the wealthy. Low taxes for the wealthy (i.e., “Producers”) are key for McCain because he believes these “producers” will take their surplus wealth from low taxation and invest in companies that make products and deliver services. The goodies (i.e., jobs and more “stuff”) will trickling down to us plebs.
Here’s the problem: both philosophies do not address the reality of a highly interdependent/globalized economy, and the limitations of government control. Capitalism may be global, but governments around still operate under a nation-state model of politics -- with variations, of course. And phrases like “City on a hill,” or “American exceptionalism,” or even “Joe the Plumber” glosses over the fact that our political and economic issues are not isolated from the world.
It would be political suicide for either candidate to acknowledge this, so they stick to their prepared talking points, and we get to sift through the verbiage.
And what is this bailout -- which both our presidential bozos voted for -- but welfare for billionaires?
If Obama prevails, I will at least take some pleasure in blaming the "Obama economy" as his economic theories are put into practice and we slide toward European levels of unemployment and malaise. If not worse. If we cannot drill our way out of our energy problems (true enough, but it would help), neither can we tax and spend ourselves out of depression. I guesstimate the deficit next year at $800 billion. Will the candidates merely be pushing on a string trying to revive the economy, leading to disinflationary recession or worse? Or will they reignite the economy at the expense of massive inflation?
All I know is that it will be an angry four years a-comin'. Pick yer poison.
So I'm ending on a high note that our two lying candidates can't tarnish.
It has been the workings of our financial sector and its clients (those "Americans themselves") -- with oversight (or not enough of it) from the government -- that have gotten us into this mess. At this moment, the entirety of that financial sector, and the vast majority of Americans who don't have the first clue how things have gotten so bad so fast, are waiting with bated breath to see what their government is going to do next, and whether it's going to work.
Of COURSE McCain, Obama, Congress and the current executive branch are flailing about for ways to fix the mess. They're politicians, not economists, and I don't personally know many economists who can win an election. (Certainly, Paulson, Bernanke & Co. have proven themselves inept at selling a bailout/rescue plan to the public.)
Regardless of all that, solving this crisis is going to require the greatest economic minds we've got -- Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative -- to come up with a coherent and viable plan (or two or three), convince the private sector and the public to embrace that plan, and then implement it. Whether it involves great expenditures of public funding, a massive change in the way we do business, or both, there's going to be a whole lot of necessary governmental action and direction in our economy over the next several years.
Which direction that involvement takes will depend a lot on who wins next month, but will need to be bipartisan and will need to attract a significant public buy-in. Systemic change, of the sort that's currently required, is going to have to be a public/private partnership that incorporates effort and sacrifice by millions of individuals, businesses and governmental organs working with common purpose.
Yes, some banks outright lied/committed fraud. Others put the actual terms of bad loans in small print to cover their ass legally and the folks borrowing the money failed to read it and ask the right questions (sorry - their fault, do a little homework if you're gonna borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars, be an adult). But overall, it comes down to the average American spending more than they take in (not even counting a mortgage) because they constantly want everything and more of it. No standard of living is high enough in our Blackberry/SUV/TIVO/HD/XBox/Ipod culture. Give us more, and we'll gladly keep going into more debt to get it.
Our greed and wastefulness as a people are legendary, and if the 6+ Billion in the world lived to our standard and behavior for even a week it'd be over. Game, set, match - not only of course for the environment but for economic markets.
However.
Ever heard the phrase "America and Americans tend to do the wrong thing before they eventually do the right thing". I think history has proven this to be true time and time again. I truly believe this crisis will get worse, and people will eventually come to realize that they never should have bought that 42'' HD TV (on a payment plan nonetheless) when their old 22' CRT worked fine. Why did they do that? They'll realize things will REALLY get bad, and they'll actually have to live without all the little perks they THINK they need (kids in Rwanda should feel so sorry for them). They'll have to spend LESS than they take in and actually learn financial and fiscal discipline. When this happens, things will turn around. People will start SAVING money (what a novelty!!!) and realizing you CAN live with an $18,000 minivan instead of a $35,000 Navigator - and you won't die from embarrassment (really). And BONUS! - it also gets better gas mileage so those horrible "Big Oil" people won't be "Stealing" your money.....
Are there truly poor people in America who don't fit in the bin above - of course. For them we have welfare, unemployment, food stamps, and other programs to help and I support that. But you know as well as I do there are folks collecting money on welfare right now who are also watching CSI Miami on a big flat screen they had no business buying. Americans will change their behavior and fix most of this by reducing personal debt. I have to have faith that will happen because that's at the root of this whole mess.
Give it time, things will get worse and some folks will find they have to actually open a savings account and buy a piggy bank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpSDBu35K-8&feat...
Given the record of these two who have lied throughout the campaign about each others positions, I don't believe him.
So I agree the government should create programs and policies that encourage saving, but raising capital gains taxes obviously won't encourage people to save.