Sticking to the issues

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-17-2006
Sticking to the issues
83
Tue, 09-16-2008 - 7:53am
While McCain/Palin continue their political campaign of distract and react, I would like to try to focus the attention of voters on the issues.
The economy is in deep do-do.
The political state in Iraq has made little if any progress during the time of the so-called surge. Though violence has subsided somewhat, the three sides there still are at odds and are no closer to reconciling their differences than they were before the surge. Anytime, the civic war there could heat up again. Probably after the upcoming election it will.
Health care costs continue to rise, along with the cost of everything.
We have $10-12 billion dollars to spend every month in Iraq, yet those folks have a stash of money from their oill sales. Why are they not using that money to pay for our services there?
If we can waste that money there, why can we not spend a few dollars helping the Americans who have been hurt by Hurricane Ike? Our response there seems similar to the Katrina fiasco.
These are all issues that we need to be focused on as we head into the stretch run of the presidential race.
The big question to be asked is, are you better off today than you were before George W. Bush took office? John McCain is the voice of status quo. If you like what Bush has done for our country, then vote for McCain.
On the other hand, if you want change, you must vote for Obama.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-28-2008
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 4:15pm

Disgrace! Obama discourages troop negotiations for personal political gain!


iVillage Member
Registered: 09-09-2008
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 4:26pm

Let's see if Obama can put lipstick on this pig. The gutless turd is willing to trade American lives for personal power...disgusting.

WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09152008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/obama_tried_to_stall_gis_iraq_withdrawal_129150.htm

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-09-2008
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 4:28pm
ITA!
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-05-2008
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 4:36pm

<good thing... just that its a place where Kennedy & Lieberman appear to align better than any other Democrat>>


Well, whether the two are in agreement in this area makes no difference to me since I don't view this as a positive thing and would not be looking for this in a candidate.


<Furman federal execution, and, as of 2008, the last military execution. Governor of Iowa Harold Hughes, a death penalty opponent, personally contacted Kennedy to request clemency for Victor Feguer, who was sentenced to death by a federal court in Iowa, but Kennedy turned down the request and Feguer was executed on March 15, 1963.>>


Granting clemency and supporting the death penalty is two different things.

 

 

Guild Member since 2009

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-25-2008
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 5:10pm

I never said being Kennedy-esque (or Liberman-esque) was necessarily a good thing or a reason to vote for someone... only noting the similarities.


But, on the Kennedy tax cut, note that the majority of the cuts went not to the lower and middle classes who would spend the money, but to the highest wage groups, who, according to either Keynsians or supply-siders, would not be spending the money, but investing it.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-05-2008
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 6:27pm

<He cut tax rates for supply-side reasons, but used Keynesian arguments to sell them.>>


LOL, it

 

 

Guild Member since 2009

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-25-2008
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 7:54pm

the lion's share of the reduction went to the upper classes, and as you'll note fro mthis table, the amount they actually paid in taxes went up even though their tax rates went down... Actually sounds rather like supply side economics when you think about it...


Quote and table follow:


On January 24, 1963, Kennedy sent his tax cut proposal to Congress. It called for reducing the top marginal income tax rate from 91 percent to 70 percent, reducing the lowest income tax rate from 20 percent to 14 percent, and cutting the corporate income tax rate from 52 percent to 47 percent.(42) Interestingly, Kennedy's tax plan was opposed by some of his more liberal advisers, such as John Kenneth Galbraith.(43) They favored stimulating the economy by increasing government spending. But Kennedy held firm, not just on the need for tax cuts, but on cuts in marginal tax rates.






Table 8
Tax Revenue from the Wealthy, 1961-66 ($ Millions)


Income Class
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965

$100,000 - $500,000
1,970
1,740
1,890
2,220
2,752

$500,000 - $1 million
297
243
243
306
408

Over $1 million
342
311
326
427
603


Source: Michael K. Evans, The Truth about Supply-Side Economics (New York: Basic Books, 1983), p. 199.


Sorry, it wasn't a Keynesian action... Although in the long run, we all indeed are dead.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-05-2008
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 8:01pm
I don't care how much you call it supply side economics because it was not.

 

 

Guild Member since 2009

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-25-2008
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 8:14pm

We'll have to agree to disagree then...


Given that J.K. Galbraith opposed it, and he was one of the biggest Keynesian disciples, I can't see it as "Keynesian".


It has been fun though.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-05-2008
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 8:19pm
I think he opposed the plan because he wanted to spend more on public expenitures but

 

 

Guild Member since 2009

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