Who will you Vote for 2008

[PMBG83]

Obama all the way! I finally feel this is chance for african americans. Whew and his wife is off the chain, so damn intelligent! Not that Mccain is outright blah but poor thing just looks out of it all the time. This will also be the first time wed have a president thats extremely handsome too:0p

 

[PMBG83]

Also why did bush take money from the katrina victims funds and give it to other funds?

 

[athena123]

Sorry PMBG, but I've actually heard others who've jumped on the Obama train who plan to vote for him on this very basis. I remember hearing the same thing for those who planned to vote for Gore back in 2000, and those who cast their vote for Edwards as well. Yes, vote for the cute one that's what a world leader should be in the age of video and television! Handsome, cute and above all..... Photogenic!

 

[red]

So why not (for example) have everyone pay a small amount every month towards the cost of medical care as part of their taxes so that everyone gets covered when the time of need comes?



because if you read Obama's plans (as an example, but read McCain as well) on how we're going to pay for this, it's the top 10 percent of the population that will be carrying this burden. Ok, you may say, "so what, they have more money, they should contribute more" ... good point, but counter-productive in the long run.

we need to ask ourselves how we're going to pay for all these grand plans ... and not put the burden on a small percentage of Americans.

we need to ask ourselves a lot of questions, and not vote for someone, who "seems" like a nice guy (I'm talking in general, not in specific).

at the end of the day, when it's all said and done .. its politics as usual ...the more things change .. the more they stay the same.

 

[mona lisa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by red So why not (for example) have everyone pay a small amount every month towards the cost of medical care as part of their taxes so that everyone gets covered when the time of need comes? because if you read Obama's plans (as an example, but read McCain as well) on how we're going to pay for this, it's the top 10 percent of the population that will be carrying this burden. Ok, you may say, "so what, they have more money, they should contribute more" ... good point, but counter-productive in the long run. we need to ask ourselves how we're going to pay for all these grand plans ... and not put the burden on a small percentage of Americans. we need to ask ourselves a lot of questions, and not vote for someone, who "seems" like a nice guy (I'm talking in general, not in specific). at the end of the day, when it's all said and done .. its politics as usual ...the more things change .. the more they stay the same.

Not to mention that every plan to impose another federal burden onto the populace is sold with the idea of "taxing the rich." The federal income tax amendment was sold by the notion that it would be a 1-2% tax on only the top percentile of income earners. To adjust for today's values (if I am doing this right and as it is off memory I may be wrong on the precise number) it would be about a 2% income tax on only those who make at least $80,000 a year. Last time I checked, more than the top percentile pay taxes now and the top rate is not 1-2% but instead is 39%. (It was 90% during the Depression -a mere twenty years after the amendment was adopted- 70% after Kennedy's marginal cuts in 1962, and 28% once Reagan's marginal cuts were phased in.)

But there are and have been for a long time people of varying incomes paying taxes because once the machinery is in place, it is not that hard to manipulate. Whenever I hear anyone try to sell a tax increase of any kind, I do not trust them and if they try to claim they are going to "only tax the rich" or "only the top income earners" the lack of trust doubles. And I say this as someone who is not rich myself.

It is pathetic that we have a federal budget that is three times the size as the one in 1987 (which was the first trillion dollar budget) and the morons of congress still cannot balance the budget. I do not believe for a minute that this government cannot be run on a trillion dollar budget. And to have a three trillion budget and still have deficits? Are these people idiots? It is either that or they all have their hands in the till as far as I am concerned -the Democrats are historically the worst of all but the Republicans from 1/2001-1/2007 were just as bad.

Everything the government runs it tends to run badly except for the military. Consider that we have had forty years and spent trillions on the "war on poverty" so far and have they improved the poverty rate? No they have not and yet where is the call for "withdrawal" from that "war"? Not only are they not withdrawing but they are increasing the monies spent every year.

In a nutshell on "national health care", I do not trust the federal government with running anything based on their horrid track record so not only do I say "no" to national health care but HELL no! (The same thing I say about that idiotic "cap and trade" idea to fight the latest Y2K joke called "global warming.") Stay out of my pockets, do not tell me where I have to go to the doctor, basically: leave me alone federal government.

Sorry about the

girls but this stuff really bothers me. But then again, I also favor privatizing Social Security -having (i) no faith whatsoever in the federal government to provide for me and (ii) knowing that even if I invested the money in low rate CD's I would get a better rate of return than with the way the system is structured. (Where you basically get no interest on your forced "investment" in case you did not know.)

 

[red]

We currently pay something like $548.9 billion annually into the defense budget - the highest in the world. I'd prefer that a lot of that money go into stuff we need at home - better education, a health system that works, and jobs that don't end up outsourced.



Yeah, I thought the same thing for years, until the Iranians started buiding the nuclear bomb - these folks are a serious threat. They've threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, a passage way on the Persian Gulf, which a significant portion of the world's petroleum passes thru.

 

[Shimmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PMBG83 Also why did bush take money from the katrina victims funds and give it to other funds?

Katrina isn't even something that enters into anything to do with the election.
On a STATE level that mess was mishandled. Completely. From the STATE level moving upward. It was an easy way for a LOT of people to get more money at one time than they'd ever had.

 

[mona lisa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by athena123 Sorry PMBG, but I've actually heard others who've jumped on the Obama train who plan to vote for him on this very basis. I remember hearing the same thing for those who planned to vote for Gore back in 2000, and those who cast their vote for Edwards as well. Yes, vote for the cute one that's what a world leader should be in the age of video and television! Handsome, cute and above all..... Photogenic!

Voting with any primary criteria in mind for "the cute one" is as much of a problem with politicians as it is with dates. (In both cases so often the "cute ones" show a different side to themselves when you know them better.)

 

[PMBG83]

Quote:

Originally Posted by athena123 Sorry PMBG, but I've actually heard others who've jumped on the Obama train who plan to vote for him on this very basis. I remember hearing the same thing for those who planned to vote for Gore back in 2000, and those who cast their vote for Edwards as well. Yes, vote for the cute one that's what a world leader should be in the age of video and television! Handsome, cute and above all..... Photogenic!

Wait, the same thing was mentioned with Gore and Edwards too?? I never noticed any talk of it.

 

[stacylynne]

I think their both terrible. McCain is a 71 year old man w/ health prob. already & Obama doesn't have the international exp.

I have no clue who i'm voting for yet.
This is very scary decision, who will run the USA.

 

[red]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stacylynne I think their both terrible. McCain is a 71 year old man w/ health prob. already & Obama doesn't have the international exp. I have no clue who i'm voting for yet. This is very scary decision, who will run the USA.

that's the reason Hilary was the better candidate