Drip
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- October
- 17
Other than the robotic, sycophantic and incessant mention of the “Joe the plumber”, the most memorable line from McCain’s debate performance on Wednesday was (loosely paraphrased) “Senator Obama, If you wanted to run against George Bush, you should have run for President four years ago.” Very witty, but what’s grindingly obvious is that John McCain’s entire policy chassis is exactly the same as Dubyas. His economic policy is to cut taxes on the wealthiest (like Dubya did) and then magically watch the economy grow, healthily and sustainably (like it did under Dubya…)
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on Friday, October 17th, 2008 at 8:49 am by Matt Davies.
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Instead, raise taxes on the economy, and then magically watch it grow.
The economy pays taxes?
Yes. Unless you think, for example, windfall profit tax on gas companies affect only gas companies. The costs, or taxes, would be spread throughout the economy.
It was Reagan’s economic policy, too. He cut the social safety net, education, Pell grants, CETA and other job training programs, and increased funding for the military, the B-1 bomber, and SDI. A whole generation grew up less educated as a result. Republican votership increased. Coincidence?
Windfall profits tax sounds nice, but Carter tried that. Gas prices went up. The oil companies weren’t hurt, but consumers were.
Agree on windfall profits tax. It’s a gimmick that hurts the people it was intended to help – Sort of like McCain’s attack ads.
Matt =I saw a great HBO documentary focusing on the criminal lending practices of the major banks. College students who committed suicide out of guilt for wracking up expenses they couldn’t pay for. A functionally illiterate clearly simple man whose family was receiving a low interest subsidized mortgage, was talked into accepting a replacement that drove the family to the brink of bankruptcy. There is even an idea out there for a credit card which could be used to draw upon a pension fund. we are hearing about municipalities that can’t take out bonds because te ihe interest rates are too high. How are the banks sharing the pain???? Bloody vampires, in my view.
H
Thanks. I heard about that. I also heard an NPR piece about six months ago on an entry level mortgage broker (read: telephone salesman) who was making thirty thousand a month in commissions on mortgages that he said he knew were questionable and destined to default. But credit was flowing easily, and he was making thirty thousand a month, you know? For some, that anesthetizes the conscience. I’ll see if I can find the link and post it.
Matt,
I am doing an analytical paper on one of your cartoons. I do think that your cartoons are very effective in getting your message across. I know that political cartoons are meant to be slanted to one side or another otherwise they would just be cartoons. I have two questions for you though. I have noticed that it seems all your current works (don’t know about your past) are very negative of the republican party (Bush and McCain in particular). Do you not believe that there is anything that you can draw about Obama or the democrats that would be good? And do you not think that not only are both democrats and republicans responsible for the mess that we are in, but the american public also plays a role in it all. I think we as a people, no matter our background or affiliations, do not have enough accountability anymore. We are always looking for someone to blame for the messes we find ourselves in. In this situation we blame everyone but ourselves but the reality is no one held a gun to our heads and made us live above our means, we my friends, did that to ourselves. The ones who can look in the mirror and say that they have little to no responsibility for the crisis we find ourselves in is the ones who have no debt and are not living above their means just to keep up with the Jones’.
K,
Do you count those who have student debt as being part of the cause of the credit meltdown? I owe student debt that was amassed trying to get an excellent education (at a public university). So does quality education for those whose parents cannot pay for it count as being above one’s means?
Toaster,
I am talking about the people who have material things that they don’t need, whether it be more house than they could afford, the fancy car, the inground pool in their back yard and so on. I know of people who have filed a form of bankruptcy going on three times and yet some how are still able and do get credit. Yes, that is the creditors faults for giving it to them but the person who keeps doing this needs to take ownership in the problem too. There are many people out there who make enough money to meet their needs and yet they buy things that are materialistic that they have no need for but because their neighbor, friend or coworker and so on has it they get it in order to “keep up”. We have become a society obsesed with immediate gratification and having to have what everyone else has. That’s fine if you can afford it but if you can only afford it by going into debt there is something wrong with that. If it is a real need I understand, but if it’s that xbox 360 so your kids are able to fit in with their friends…Of course those of us who are in debt and making the payments on time and arent’ defaulting aren’t as guilty as the ones who are, but we do play a role in it. Our grandparents before us learned to live with in their means because they lived through the great depression and they knew the benefits of not getting things they couldn’t afford. Education is on a seperate level. You are spending the money as an investment so that you can make more money and be more productive. That fits into the need category. Buying the Dooney and Burke purse that costs 500 dollars when you could have bought a 50 dollar one that would have served the same purpose is not a need. Again if you have the money in your account to go buy it by all means do, if not wait until you do or don’t buy it. We have become a society of entitlement instead of what we have earned. Now if you default on your loans because you don’t feel you should have to pay them back then by all means you belong in the category of guilt. Don’t get me wrong I am not innocent in all this, I am just saying there aren’t very many who are. We all need to assess our own responsibility and not just point fingers at others and say well if they hadn’t offered me the credit I wouldn’t be in debt.
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K
If you do some research, you will find that I have been tough on Dems over the years.
The Clintons (who are local readers with multiple subscriptions to The Journal News) won’t even speak to me.
It’s just that right now, the GOP has lost its marbles. I find the tenor of 21st Century Republican orthodoxy to be so shrill, unkind and devoid of honesty that it’s hard to pay attention to anything else right now. I genuinely wish it was otherwise.
As to your point about personal fiscal responsibility – I couldn’t agree more.
Matt—I’ve been posting that link all over the internet. It was the best explanation for the meltdown I had heard. It also proved to be a good rebuttal against the right-wing nuts who insisted that The Community Reinvestment Act was what destroyed the world’s financial institutions. Nothing like poor folks and their throttle-hold on the economy to mess things up
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=355
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=365
Some perspective please. Yes, $500 on a purse is crazy, but so is $50! I mean, if you are going to carry around thousands of dollars, maybe a $500 dollar purse is justified, but only if it protects you from muggers too! And perhaps makes a nice cup of tea…
“The Clintons won’t speak to me…”
any idea which cartoon(s) prompted the silent treatment?
(And I’m sure K would appreciate a link post for his ‘research’)
Just wondered if you have many people that comment and do you answer them.