No wonder Congress has a 9% approval rating!
[quote=Barney Frank] I think at this point, there needs to be an immediate increase in spending, and I think this is a time when deficit fear has to take a second, uh, a second seat. I do think this is the time for a very important kind of dose of “Changism ”. Yes, I think later on, there should be tax increases. Speaking personally, I think there are a lot of rich people out there who we can tax at a point down the road to recover some of this money. [/quote]Is this what we can expect if the democrats take total control? I guess deficits aren't so bad after all.
Daddy Rulz you’re right they’re not “tax and spend ”, Barney Frank admits they’re spend and tax!
All the Metrics Point to an Obama Win
[QUOTE=]Back in 2007, when practically every pundit saw Rudy Giuliani as the inevitable Republican nominee, political guru Charlie Cook said he (Cook) was more likely to win the Tour de France than the Republicans were to nominate a thrice-married, gay-friendly, Catholic New Yorker. Cook didn't win the Tour de France and Giuliani didn't win the nomination, so Cook gets a certain amount of credit. Now he says there are six factors pointing to an Obama win in two weeks:
1. No candidate this far back two weeks out has ever won.
2. Early voting is going strong and even if something big happens, those votes are already cast.
3. The Democrats have a 10% advantage in party registration; in 2004 it was even.
4. Obama is outspending McCain 4 to 1 in many states.
5. There is no evidence for the so-called Bradley effect in the past 15 years.
6. Obama is safe in all the Kerry states and ahead in half a dozen states Bush won.
.[/QUOTE][url]http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/ot_20081021_3912.php[/url]
Regards,
BM.
Charlie Cook is a good source but forgets his history
With two weeks before the election, both Reagan in 1980 and Gore in 2000 were behind by about what McCain is today. Each of them came back to win the popular vote.
That Electoral Vote site is run by a partisan D. He had Kerry winning 300+ electoral votes in 2004. Caveat poll reader.
At this point, anything can happen. Obama has the better shot at this point but by no means is this a done deal. McCain has momentum and is closing the gap. Obama's own internals show him only +2 in Pennsylvania. He likely can't win the Presidency without Pennsylvania, and in the D primary in April his election results were significantly worse than his pre-election polls indicated. This "Bradley effect" is another (more recent) historical fact that Cook overlooked.
The letter of the day is L
Lots of Republicans and "independents" looking for a Democrat presidential candidate to curl up next to.
NBC is embedded in the war zone now and describe the disintegrating scene in the Republican campaign tent.
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-bHIqxkmdw[/url]
12 days and a wake up!
Democrats to kill 401(k) s
"Powerful House Democrats are eyeing proposals to overhaul the nation ’s $3 trillion 401(k) system, including the elimination of most of the $80 billion in annual tax breaks that 401(k) investors receive.
House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-California, and Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Washington, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee ’s Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, are looking at redirecting those tax breaks to a new system of guaranteed retirement accounts to which all workers would be obliged to contribute.
Hmm …. “a system of guaranteed retirement accounts to which all workers would be obliged to contribute.” That sounds very, very familiar, doesn ’t it? Don ’t we already do this with Social Security?
A plan by Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic-policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, contains elements that are being considered. She testified last week before Miller ’s Education and Labor Committee on her proposal. …
Under Ghilarducci ’s plan, all workers would receive a $600 annual inflation-adjusted subsidy from the U. S. Government but would be required to invest 5 percent of their pay into a guaranteed retirement account administered by the Social Security Administration. The money in turn would be invested in special government bonds that would pay 3 percent a year, adjusted for inflation.
The current system of providing tax breaks on 401(k) contributions and earnings would be eliminated.
That means your employer can no longer write off their contributions to your 401(k) and your capital gains would be taxable year-on-year. In other words, it becomes just another investment or savings account, with no tax benefit at all, and no employer contribution. Instead, Uncle Sam would give you your “matching ” funds — up to a whopping $600 per year! Whoopee!
As Michelle Obama says, you could buy a pair of earrings every year … except, of course, you can ’t. It ’s in The Lockbox, defined by politicians as Locked Away from You but Accessible to Us. It goes there along with 5% of your gross earnings, apparently to play with the 7% of your gross earnings that already goes to Social Security. And what do they do with the money? They give you government bonds as your only investment option.
Maybe you ’ll be lucky, and they ’ll have Franklin Raines running the agency issuing those bonds.
The Democrats want to end the private retirement system that has allowed Americans to become a vast investor class and put them back in thrall of the federal government. This is nothing more than a second welfare system that would sit on top of the crumbling Social Security entitlement. It would leave the American working and middle classes with no retirement option other than a government handout.
If the Democrats control both Congress and the White House, kiss your 401(k) s goodbye, and get into the bread lines first before the crowd arrives."
[b]Now that will be a "wake up"![/b]
The word of the day is LA
[QUOTE=Sidney]And beginning in January, he will begin to realize, as his business declines perceptibly, the subsequent severe decline in worldwide business, and much of the World's decline of stocks and bonds was anticipated by the Obomination's probable election. Bacchus9 and other ''O'' lovers will be severely disenchanted. Their glee will turn to tears! ----Sad Sid----[/QUOTE]Syd, old sport,
You are getting dangerously close to joining the Wizard of Libidos behind the green curtain there with the flashing lights and smoke machine. Actually, now that I think of it, you've gone far beyond - you are not in Kansas anymore Syd. You've really gotta give up smoking those 100 dollar bills, it's hazardous for your health and apparently causes delirium. The prospect of Obama's presidency brought on the worldwide financial crisis and will be responsible for a recession and my personal business failure?
I've got news for you Syd. I would of voted for a postage stamp of a dead president if I thought it would put an end to the train wreck the Republicans have engineered for America and the world. Thank god there's someone brave enough, skilled and smart enough like Obama to snatch the power out of their hands and try to find a way out. I'm sure it won't be pretty whatever comes next and I'm sure you'll be joining the Bob Barr's of the US to single mindedly bringing him down, like they relentlessly dogged Clinton, instead of giving credit where it's due and working for the general good.
11 days and a wake up!
Yep - America going the way of Argentina
[QUOTE=Punter 127]"Powerful House Democrats are eyeing proposals to overhaul the nation 's $3 trillion 401(k) system, including the elimination of most of the $80 billion in annual tax breaks that 401(k) investors receive.
House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-California, and Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Washington, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee 's Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, are looking at redirecting those tax breaks to a new system of guaranteed retirement accounts to which all workers would be obliged to contribute.
Hmm. "a system of guaranteed retirement accounts to which all workers would be obliged to contribute." That sounds very, very familiar, doesn 't it? Don 't we already do this with Social Security?
A plan by Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic-policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, contains elements that are being considered. She testified last week before Miller 's Education and Labor Committee on her proposal.
Under Ghilarducci 's plan, all workers would receive a $600 annual inflation-adjusted subsidy from the U. S. Government but would be required to invest 5 percent of their pay into a guaranteed retirement account administered by the Social Security Administration. The money in turn would be invested in special government bonds that would pay 3 percent a year, adjusted for inflation.
The current system of providing tax breaks on 401(k) contributions and earnings would be eliminated.
That means your employer can no longer write off their contributions to your 401(k) and your capital gains would be taxable year-on-year. In other words, it becomes just another investment or savings account, with no tax benefit at all, and no employer contribution. Instead, Uncle Sam would give you your "matching " funds — up to a whopping $600 per year! Whoopee!
As Michelle Obama says, you could buy a pair of earrings every year. Except, of course, you can 't. It 's in The Lockbox, defined by politicians as Locked Away from You but Accessible to Us. It goes there along with 5% of your gross earnings, apparently to play with the 7% of your gross earnings that already goes to Social Security. And what do they do with the money? They give you government bonds as your only investment option.
Maybe you 'll be lucky, and they 'll have Franklin Raines running the agency issuing those bonds.
The Democrats want to end the private retirement system that has allowed Americans to become a vast investor class and put them back in thrall of the federal government. This is nothing more than a second welfare system that would sit on top of the crumbling Social Security entitlement. It would leave the American working and middle classes with no retirement option other than a government handout.
If the Democrats control both Congress and the White House, kiss your 401(k) s goodbye, and get into the bread lines first before the crowd arrives."
[b]Now that will be a "wake up"![/b][/QUOTE]Don't you know those 401(k) things are just a tax dodge for the rich and super rich? Part of making them pay their fair share will be to seize those funds and spreading the wealth around to those less fortunate than those fat cats with tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting in tax-sheltered accounts on Wall Street.
The word of the day is LAN
One of the most interesting and informative white flags rising from Republicans as we start to see more of their backsides heading into an ignominius future. Here David Frum gives marching orders to the inhabitants of the Alamo.
"We're almost certainly looking at a Democratic White House. I can work with a Democratic president to help this state. But we need balance in Washington."
[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/23/AR2008102302081.html?hpid=opinionsbox1[/url]
McCain / Palin apparently is not only sucking the life out of their own campaign prospects but Republican senators and house reps as well.
Maybe it won't be necessary to send two time Bush voters to Guantanamo after all. 8 long years of a Democrat president and Congress would have them leaping off of tall buildings or locking themselves up in their bomb shelters. What a bonanza.
Obama Continues to Lead in the National Polls
Here is the next installment. The average is 7.8%
[QUOTE=]- Battleground (Obama +3)
- Diageo (Obama +7)
- Gallup expanded (Obama +7)
- IDB (Obama +4)
- Newsweek (Obama +12)
- Rasmussen (Obama +7)
- Research 2000 (Obama +12)
- WaPo / ABC (Obama +9)
- Zogby (Obama +9) [/QUOTE]Regards,
BM.
