Vote yourself poorer. Vote McCain.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Vote yourself poorer. Vote McCain.
10
Mon, 09-08-2008 - 10:13pm

No joke. Unless you are rich, if you vote for McCain you are voting yourself poorer relative to the rich:

"It is well known that income inequality in the United States has been on the rise for about 30 years now — an unsettling development that has finally touched the public consciousness. But Professor Bartels unearths a stunning statistical regularity: Over the entire 60-year period, income inequality trended substantially upward under Republican presidents but slightly downward under Democrats, thus accounting for the widening income gaps over all. And the bad news for America’s poor is that Republicans have won five of the seven elections going back to 1980."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/business/31view.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1220925717-m0PHN3OD5ZOh/hLN4UUk1A

And by the way, the nation does better under Democratic Presidents than Republican ones.

"The stark contrast between the whiz-bang Clinton years and the dreary Bush years is familiar because it is so recent. But while it is extreme, it is not atypical. Data for the whole period from 1948 to 2007, during which Republicans occupied the White House for 34 years and Democrats for 26, show average annual growth of real gross national product of 1.64 percent per capita under Republican presidents versus 2.78 percent under Democrats.

That 1.14-point difference, if maintained for eight years, would yield 9.33 percent more income per person, which is a lot more than almost anyone can expect from a tax cut."

(from same link)

So what is really going on? Democratic Presidents create fair conditions in which everyone makes money. Then Republican Presidents create conditions in which the rich grab the money from the poor and in the process slow down growth for everyone.

So anyone on this board who is not rich and is Republican is voting against their economic interests. I wonder if they are thinking about how much they are sacrificing to save those fetuses. If so, it's admirable. If, as I suspect, not, then the Republicans have pulled the wool over people's eyes by using no cost social issues to get people whipped up so the rich can take the poor's money.

Oh no, say the Republican politicians like Bush and McCain and Republican political operatives like Karl Rove and McCain's lobbyist campaign officials. Why should we trust them? Because Fox tells us the Democrats are somehow to blame for everthing?

Repeating the same thing over and over with equally bad results is one definition of insanity. Will America prove itself insane this election by electing a 73-year-old with a neophyte ideologue VP?

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2008
Tue, 09-09-2008 - 2:52am

(((((((Democratic Presidents create fair conditions in which everyone makes money. Then Republican Presidents create conditions in which the rich grab the money from the poor and in the process slow down growth for everyone.0))))))))))))

Oh boy. These GOP people have forgotten where they come from. And the democrats that vote GOP are selling out their own families. How can fellow Americans let other Americans suffer just to be spiteful?

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-06-2003
Wed, 09-10-2008 - 12:39pm
Okay, so here's your problem.

Nikki :) Mama to Mariah, Jaden, Milo, Oliver and one on the way!!! 4-27-09

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Wed, 09-10-2008 - 11:14pm

"These GOP people have forgotten where they come from."

Do you have any facts to refute the statistics I've cited showing that ordinary people do better under Democratic Presidents than under Republican ones? If you have anything more than sarcasm to offer, your position would be much more compelling. The Republicans have been leading based on sarcasm and a big giant chip on the shoulder for the past 8 years, and it hasn't been working too well so far. Maybe we should give it another spin just for kicks and giggles!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2007
Wed, 09-10-2008 - 11:35pm

Long before George Bush gave those tax breaks to the wealthy, business owners were getting rich and doing just fine.

Sopal

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2007
Wed, 09-10-2008 - 11:38pm
Soupyduck,

Sopal

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Thu, 09-11-2008 - 10:47pm
Apologies. As Sopal pointed out, I was stupidly challenging you for taking a position I happen to agree with. Oh well, I've had better posts. As I've often said, when I'm wrong I admit it. If I've been stupid I admit it. Sorry again.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Thu, 09-11-2008 - 10:49pm

"As for taxes, well...supposedly (though I have a difficult time believing) people vote their pocketbooks."

I have a hard time believing it too. According to the historical numbers at the beginning of this thread and the forward-looking numbers you posted, when the poor vote Republicans they vote against their own interests. It has been true for decades and decades. Not surprisingly, it will continue to be true in this election.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2004
Tue, 09-23-2008 - 1:51pm

To make people more aware of the taxes they pay I wish they would stop all tax withholding from paychecks.


Then the people write their own

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Wed, 09-24-2008 - 7:10am
I agree that both sides play games with taxes. Bottom line is we have to pay for the services we get. Bush has grown spending just as fast as the Democrats who Republicans criticize so strongly for growing government. Only difference is Bush put all those services on our credit card. Bush and McCain, who voted for all this, have saddled our future generations with a terrible burden. In fact, we are feeling the effects right now as our strapped government tries to keep our financial industry afloat.
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-15-2008
Wed, 09-24-2008 - 7:41am

I don't believe it's going to matter very much about taxes.