Thursday, October 2, 2008

Nitpicking

I like both candidates, I hate both candidates. The economy is a confusing mess. Supply and demand topics learned in high school don't really explain any of what is truly going on. The following is more of me collecting my current thoughts in the final stretch before the election.

Obama:
I'm always suspicious of the white knight, to much charm not enough about what he's done. I also don't like the "I'm not Bush" platform. That's what got us Gee-dubbya in the first place. He's mostly promises "no new taxes for the middle class". If only there was a tax on saying crap about raising taxes. However, the man is smart. Graduated Harvard, taught constitutional law in Chicago. I respect that.

McCain:
I dig the Maverick thing. Historically McCain has been a non-standard Republican. I respect that. But he's doing anything he can do to win votes in this election. Search YouTube for 'McCain abortion' Roe v. Wade is not one of those things people change their minds on very much and they should have a damn good reason for it, but I guess becoming President is enough of a reason.

The Economy:
The finger blaming the subprime mortgage crisis wavers between the Clinton administrations pushes for increasing home ownership or Bush's push for deregulation. Honestly, if a predecessor fucks up, then it's the job of the successor to fix it, otherwise you don't take the job.

Candidates like to talk economics two ways: Taxing the rich decreases the number of jobs. Trickle down economics. More money in business owners hands, more money available for new jobs. Taxing the middle class, is robbing the middle man of enjoying a better life.

I am for trickle down economics. For me the 'Pursuit of Happiness' means making available education to learn skills, having jobs available to pursue, and being able to work for yourself. More business means more jobs, means more money in the system, more money for taxes.

Taxes:
What, when, and who you tax is a game of balance and some people just have a ridiculous amount of money. I also want that money to wind up somewhere important. Philanthropy is the free markets way of distributing that money, but it doesn't guarantee education, jobs, or the ability of an individual or group to raise funds to work for themselves.

Deregulation and tax breaks did nothing to stop the current crisis, so quite frankly, I am willing to check out some alternatives. I didn't realize it until tonight but I was thinking about the quote "The fundamentals of the economy are strong". McCain has explained he is referring to the average U.S. worker and our ability to innovate.

Home ownership is one of the most common and largest wealth building tools to John Every Man. If this is what is causing the current crisis, then McCain is missing something about the fundamentals of the economy.

The Debates, the campaigns, and the flying circus of the press:
The debates are annoying, I crave them because sometimes a candidate will talk about something reminiscent of a plan, but the majority fo the talk is "We're going to tax so and so" followed by "You approved X billion dollars for this useless thing". And then it goes back and forth clarifying and correcting each other.

Can someone do some fact check on the content of these and put them side by side? Isn't that what a debate is really about? Comparing the merits and downfalls of one idea or plan to another? Instead there is the salvo of 'he voted, she voted'. Certainly it's important to understand what sort of choices a person has made in the past and whether this leadership applies to their plan for leading this country, but often the latter gets left off.

VPs:
Vice Presidents should be an after thought when it comes to who to vote for, Presidential succession is a rare occurrence, voting based on VP smells to much like fear mongering to me. However, they do give a reflection of the types of choices a candidate are going to make when it comes to choosing co-workers (i.e. the cabinet). Palin is an obvious grab for the evangelical vote. If McCain wins and is up for re-election, will he make more dramatic decisions like this? That bothers me.