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The party of fiscal responsibility is the Democratic party, not the Republican, and this has been true for more than half my 50 year life. It's time for this fact to be reflected in analysis. It is not a problem for Republicans to spend more (especially since they just foist it off on future voters). It's what they do. And it is supported by their base voters.
Test: What happened to the last Republican president who showed a brief return to fiscal responsibility? He was drummed out of office by his own Right wing. (That'd be George the first).
The brand image of the party is to deliver huge spending to corporations, who pay salaries and dividends with low tax rates to major donors, who use the money to re-elect Republicans and control media outlets to smear opponents. Why would they be bothered by consistency around any particular policy? Their brand has nothing to do with governing.
It's more likely that Gore is angling for a major cabinet position. Think of the profile he'd have as Secretary of Energy, and you could also give him a chance to pick the head of the EPA.
I wasn't expecting much from the conversation, but I thought Brokaw asked some interesting non-softball questions. His style was very different from Russert's gotcha-quote gauntlet, but there was almost no fawning. Kudos to Brokaw.
SunTrust Bank hires an off-shore call center to do collections on past due car loans. Except some of the calls go to customers (like myself) who are never late. The caller asks for the customers social security number in a heavy foreign accent. Everybody with half a brain hangs up. I call the bank fraud unit and they promise a full investigation. After the second call I check the caller ID. It's a Suntrust number. How can they be so stupid?
My first Major League game was at Yankee Stadium in 1954. I don't remember who they played, but I do remember seeing Micky Mantle. The place was so huge. I'd never seen so many people. I can still remember how big the players seemed and the smell of cigar smoke. I didn't understand much, I was only 4, but it made a big impression on me. I've been a big baseball fan ever since.
Tim Pawlenty
He's on the short list.
What can John McCain do to fire up his backers?
a. Go on a national tour singing "Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran."
b. Crib opening of "Ellen"—begin campaign events by dancing down the aisle.
c. Drop the N-bomb. At this point, what could it hurt?
http://www.236.com/news/2008/07/18/john_mccains_old_white_angry_a_7804.php
Romney for VP?? Do you remember the attack ads from the primarys that Romney put out against McCain?? Do you remember the video of Romney saying McCain is dishonest? It would be a gift to the DNC to make Romney McCains VP. You can go to
http://www.HotPres.com
to see all the attack ads that Romney put out against McCain, You can also see the video of Romney calling McCain dishonest. Romney would be a big mistake. I would rather have t boon pickin then romney. lol. Least he has a plan.
http://www.tboonepickans.com
I suggest you go look at the attack ads Romney put out against mccain at the above site. Before you make up your mind about Romney being a great VP.
Romney for VP?? Do you remember the attack ads from the primarys that Romney put out against McCain?? Do you remember the video of Romney saying McCain is dishonest? It would be a gift to the DNC to make Romney McCains VP. You can go to
http://www.HotPres.com
to see all the attack ads that Romney put out against McCain, You can also see the video of Romney calling McCain dishonest. Romney would be a big mistake. I would rather have t boon pickin then romney. lol. Least he has a plan.
http://www.tboonepickin.com
I suggest you go look at the attack ads Romney put out against mccain at the above site. Before you make up your mind about Romney being a great VP.
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/07/20/why-is-the-sec-manipulating-the...
"The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is becoming the very thing it is supposed to be stopping -- a stock market manipulator. The SEC was first established after the Great Depression to protect the general public from the shady stock dealings that caused that catastrophe. But the Wall Street Journal reports that the SEC has now become the epitome of the very thing that it's supposed to prevent."
Stock market anyone? Your odds are probably better in Vegas . . .
Other banks and financial companies beyond the "special 19" now want protection from naked shorting.
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB121642263809866665.html?mod=2_156...
'It also means passing longer-term measures to reduce economic anxiety....'
No wonder he's always griping.
JOHN McCAIN’S 3R ECONOMIC PLAN 2008
Abbreviated version
Progressive thinking Republican Candidate John McCain comes through for America with his 3R economic plan. In the persona of Theodore Roosevelt, McCain’s plan just makes sense.
FIRST , keep in mind that to drop the fuel tax, the local gov’ts would crash. We must use the 3R to replace taxes lost from replaced fuel through green energy (Yes, we have it ready to go!)
www.betterconstructed.com
1. RETHINK: America must see globally on what America is capable of in our current state of technology, engineering and meet the demands that face the world.
Private Sector framework is in place and current laws allow the 3R to happen. The Progressive attitude of John McCain to get things done by crossing party lines will resurrect America.
2. REFORM: The American people must demand higher quality products and less restricted trade routes for Made in USA components. We will lead the way of MFG again!
The USA will reform its dead manufacturing base
3. REINVENT: America and Americans must reinvent themselves to reach and maintain these standards and by sheer American ingenuity, control the world’s marketplace in the competitive manner, as the USA has always been proud to be #1.
NUTS AND BOLTS of the plan are simple.
Billions of savings equates to millions of lost tax revenue from energy companies. The US needs a separate tax revenue source before we can move away from fossil fuels.
McCain 3R solution.
McCain’s 3R is about technical, closely monitored and rapid hands on training from pros to create new pros. Thousands of currently-job-displaced “once leaders in the manufacturing arena” will be asked to train and play instructor rolls in the 3R plan. Paid, of course, as these new leaders will help create a whole new style of prosperous America. A massive restructure providing thousands New American MFG means millions of new jobs for infrastructure alone.
We have the buildings, needs and infrastructure to do this!
New jobs is the mainstay for Creating a new guard for Social Security.
This is the new place for financial speculators to invest!
McCain’s Progressive nature embodies Theodore Roosevelt more than any US presidential candidate in history since the original Rough Rider blazed the greatest era of growth in America.
We need John McCain to lead our nation with the same type of change.
www.betterconstructed.com
THIS 3R DRAFT COURTESY OF:
John Lewis Mealer, Founding President of Mealer Companies
IF Obama is elected he would crush this nation by doing the following:
Obama's World Poverty Bill (google it) would be passed and take ALL of the US Gross Domestic Profit earnings to give to the UN for distribution to African nations (seriously, GOOGLE IT) (All 7%. Which is the profit margin).
There goes the US cash gifts to support Israel!
Guns would be also gathered up according to Obama's Global Poverty Bill plan (Did you Google it yet?) and the US would go into massive civil war.
Hey.. the lefties are unarmed anyway, so that might not be so bad!
Obama would tax the investor class and no new small businesses would come into being (esp with the bank failures going on at the moment and no new loans being issued).
America would stagnate and begin to fall apart.
Obama's tax on the investor class also takes away incentives for lower classes to strive to become better people!
Did you hope to begin your own business someday?
Obama says NO!
Obama must keep us in our place, after-all.
Obama would immediately tax the large corporations which are already just barely balanced between the democrat instituted union demands and simply closing up and moving overseas or to Mexico.
The USA corporate infrastructure would be detroyed within a year.
Obama would force the remaining small businesses to pay totally unaffordable health care for employees and they too, would close up and go out of business even before finding health care, IF it were available. This will really hurt the women business owners who employ mostly younger women in retail, who have higher health care coverage. THEN he comes up with some LIE that he wants to give small business 5k per covered worker. DO you realize how many workers there are in small businesses? How would he pay for thise TRILLIONS?!! Talk about not even thinking about how grand of a lie he tries to weave.
Jane... Looks like you need to become a waitress again.
Obama will over tax and over extend this country so quickly and at the worst time that we will DIE as a nation.
If you want the USA to die, then you surely want Obama to become president and vice versa.
Israel will fall apart and diappear if the USA falls.
The US pays Israel just enough to stay afloat with all of it's military needs against the very countries that McCain defends Israel from, YET, Obama supports and wants to discuss politics with these same terrorist groups over crumpettes and tea.
Note to Obama:
Terrorists do not eat crumpettes, they send their brainwashed neighbors into tea N crumpette shops with bombs strapped to their bodies. They do not negotiate!
This is not some game where we can push reset and this certainly is not a basketball game or charisma pagaent.
This is the cold hard reality of Obama that people play deaf and dumb to.
This is real life.
Are you awake and ready to learn about the survival of our nations?
McCain 3R Plan is a start, but Obama's view is the end.
Estimated price: up to $3 trillion
The Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan group that Gore chairs, estimates the cost of transforming the nation to so-called clean electricity sources at $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion over 30 years in public and private money.
and vocal about why -- here's a sample of what they are saying:
"They've protected the Crooks who are responsible for the Naked Shorting and give them the green light to go after the companies that aren't protected.
The question is will our government step in and stop these crooks?. So far they are just enabling them. All the SEC did is protect the companies that are actually the culprits.
This is the state of our Government today. Bush, Chaney, Reid, Pelosi are absolutely worthless. Both parties are dominated by a bunch of crooks. Hell, they probably have all their assets in the Hedge Funds. "
Looks like the government and financial sectors have a little issue with trust.
Congressman Ackerman (NY) introduced a bill yesterday to reinstate the uptick rule. About time.
fire them all
Never frown,even when you are sad,because you never know who is falling in love with your smile. 张家界旅游
张家界旅游景点
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Hahahahaha. Balanced budget. Hahahahaha. You're kidding.
You've got it right. Building infrastructure is an investment in our nation that provides real jobs.
If the government wants to help me (like they care about that but whatever) they can do two things that will immediately boost my spending ability, enhance my retirement investments, and make me invest more in corporate America (versus buying euros or hoarding gold):
1) Extend the "no naked shorting rule" to all stocks. SEC has decided to implement an emergency rule for their "darlings" only . . . but all stocks are subject to naked short manipulation (and they know it). Lack of rule enforcement (SEC's regulatory capture problem) costs all honest investors.
2) Reverse the repeal of the uptick rule. Again, this is killing us. One of the biggest deterrents to spending is watching your net worth rapidly collapse.
These two reforms would be worth 100 times any stimulus payment, wouldn't cost the taxpayer a dime to implement, and would have tremendous ripple effect (boost) across the economy.
To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world. 张家界旅游
张家界旅游景点
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One thing that might be nice would be a federal version of Proposition 13 that we have here in Cal-e-for-ya.
Limit taxes and require a 2/3rd vote for new taxes.
The other option is to dismantle the federal hydra by starving it and chopping off unnecessary departments like Reagan tried. Too bad it got stopped by the next three presidents after him.
The problem with your analysis about cutting defense is that even if you eliminated it completely the social spending would quickly eat it up.
Taxing carbon is beyond silly because it meddles with the root core of the economy - energy and everything that touches. Let gas prices go whever they go and the market will correct for it.
Here are two plots that show just that (From greencar congress)
http://bioage.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/...
http://www.greencarcongress.com/images/2008/04/30/cagg.png
You can tamper with carbon taxes if you trust Congress and States to be responsible with it -- but the point of your article is just the opposite! They will exploit it and waste the money just like always. (In the end when people find out that the whole CO2 monster is made up it will really explode and poison any future efforts on the environment to boot.)
Prop 13 and let oil prices shoot through the roof. Trust the people, they are not fools and will make the right choices as a result.
JV shootyoureyeout.net
Stan: I think McCain's using the balanced budget by 2013 claim as shorthand to signal his "commitment" to being fiscally responsible. It's just unfortunate that the claim actually connects to a specific outcome (that makes it an incredible claim). Obama is also using shorthand in his commitment to "pay for" all of his proposals (when compared with the Bush policy extended baseline). This claim seems more honest if you're one of the budget geeks who understand the difference between current-law and policy-extended baselines.
Probably neither candidate expects to balance the budget or even reduce the deficit, but both are trying to find a quick way to promise fiscal responsibility in a way that sounds relatively painless ("short and sweet").
Tom C and Abondroit have a fair point.
The challenge isn't in criticizing what a candidate says about the deficit, it is in coming up with what he should say about it, that both is economically sound and will help him get elected -- or at least won't get him killed.
Look at the range of possibilities for '08...
"I will erase the deficit while in office."
-- Fat chance. Another lying politician.
"I will reduce the deficit X% by year Y."
-- See original post.
"I won't lie to you. I don't know what will happen to the deficit. It depends on what happens to the economy, what best policy thus is, what Congress will go along with ..."
-- The deficit is the single most important economic problem this country has. Not only is he telling us he's not planning to cut it, he's already setting up his excuses to increase it!
"The current cash basis deficit of govt isn't the big issue -- the real threat comes from the entitlement funding deficit of $2 trillion a year on top of $40 trillion already accrued, and I will turn my efforts to containing that problem."
-- How is he going to do that without cutting our Medicare and Social Security? He's going to CUT our retirement benefits! Get out the tar and feathers!!
"[Silence]"
-- The deficit is the single most important economic problem this country has, and he has nothing to say about it.
So as a speechwriting economist, what words should one write for a candidate to both reflect sound economic policy and help win (rather than help lose) on the political battlefield?
I don't think that's such an easy challenge. I'd like to see any of the blog authors or commenters here take it up, test out some possibilities.
In the 1932 campaign Roosevelt ran on a balanced budget plank, and hammered at Hoover's deficits.
Honesty on this issue just may not pay-off, when winning is what really matters.