Holy Friggin' Moly

504 points. The Dow is down 504 points today. The economy is doing so badly that it took oil down with it. Over the past several months, oil prices were part of the reason the stocks would get hammered as it meant everything would cost more, thus hurting companies' bottom-lines. And when oil would drop, stocks would go up. But now, we are so royally screwed that oil dropping has no effect on the stock market. In fact, oil is dropping because we are screwed. Oil is not the reason we are in somewhat dire financial straits. Enough with the drill here, drill now bull-shit.

I am scared to think about my 401k. Thankfully I am not close to retirement and likely, we will recover from this valley in 5 years or so. I can't even imagine if I was looking to retire in 5-10 years, I'd be in a bit of a freak out, at this point. I mean, 4.4% loss in one single day is BAD. To put it in perspective, the last time we had a drop this large in the DOW was the September 17, 2001. The first day the markets opened after 9/11. Yeah. And how 'bout this:

"Art Hogan, chief market strategist for Jefferies & Co., said the magnitude of the financial industry fallout is unprecedented, and could only be compared to the Great Depression of the 1930s or the railroad bankruptcies of the 1800s."
Source: http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/11/news/economy/candidates_taxproposals_tpc/index.htm

Hmm. Fundamentals are strong, Mr. McCain? Right. I don't think so. But that's what he said today, while the markets were taking a dump all over the place. Sure, we'll recover. Eventually. But I hardly equate that to "strong fundamentals of our economy." And how many Americans will get burned in the process is another question.

And, so, here comes my shpiel of why John McCain is a bad choice for President, when it comes to the economy:

  1. McCain, like most Republicans, doesn't believe in governmental oversight of financial sectors. Well, folks, one of the primary reasons we are in this mess right now is the mortgage industry running amok. They had little to no rules to follow, and therefore, did whatever their greedy hearts desired. Sure, hindsight is 20-20, but had there been a bit more oversight, perhaps this situation might not be so severe or perhaps we'd have recognized the warning signs much sooner. Instead, it was the Wild West of mortgage lending and securitization. Unless McCain wants to prove he's a "maverick," it's likely he'll follow suit with the Republican cronies in favor of little to no regulation, which, clearly, has some major issues in practice.
  2. He will not get us out of Iraq quickly. If we take both of them for what they say (which, yes, that is difficult as they are politicians), Obama will get us out faster. This means less money borrowed from China, less money added to the deficit. Less SPENDING! I tend to think that the US Dollar is negatively impacted by the fact that we have to borrow like irresponsible credit card owners in order to pay for this war, thereby, taking on more and more risk, and things that are risky, tend to be cheaper (like our dollar).
  3. And, the most important tor me when it comes to economic policy, is that McCain will continue to give tax breaks to the rich. Obama's plan will give more money to people making less than 121K. This is most of the country. These are the people that will take that money and maybe spend it at Target, Wal-mart, the local mall, etc. Allowing the HUGE lower and middle class to have more money will likely let them spend more, thus bolstering our economy. I keep hearing that recessions are created by consumers not spending. Well, maybe, if you gave the VAST MAJORITY of consumers a little more money, they'd spend it. Giving most of the money to the rich is POINTLESS. I'm not even rich, but certainly, we make more than 112K and if you give me extra money you can bet your ass it won't be spent. It will be saved, because we are not deprived of anything. We are not living paycheck to paycheck. People making 30K or less, living paycheck to paycheck, they probably aren't buying things that I would have no issue buying. They can't get a latte at Starbucks once or twice a week, like I can. But, give them a little more money, maybe they'll buy some stuff that they couldn't before, instead of handing the money to the rich so they can just invest it offshore somewhere. Trickle down doesn't work! It's nice in theory, but after eight years of trickle down from Dubya, can you say that it's been working?

And in case you are curious, here are the two tax plans from both campaigns. So when you hear from McCain, that Obama will raise your taxes, unless your yearly income is more than 227K, he won't. It's a lie. And unless you make 600K or more, you likely won't notice the additional $12 tax increase under Obama.


MCCAIN OBAMA
Income Avg. tax bill Avg. tax bill
Over $2.9M -$269,364 +$701,885
$603K and up -$45,361 +$115,974
$227K-$603K -$7,871 +$12
$161K-$227K -$4,380 -$2,789
$112K-$161K -$2,614 -$2,204
$66K-$112K -$1,009 -$1,290
$38K-$66K -$319 -$1,042
$19K-$38K -$113 -$892
Under $19K -$19 -$567

Source:The Tax Policy Center

It's time for America to stop thinking of themselves and start thinking about the good of the country. I look at the table above, and I see that McCain will give me an nearly $1600 more per year than Obama will. But then, I look at the people making less than 19K, and John McCain will give them 19 whole dollars. Wow. So generous. Obama will give them $567. Guess what? Who do you think needs it more? Me or the poor schmuck making less than $19,000? I know what's right for the country, and it isn't for me to be selfish and want the money McCain promises to give me. I won't spend it. I'll just save it. I won't help the economy like the people living paycheck to paycheck will if they had this extra money. So, though McCain talks about "Country First", this sounds more like "Rich People First, Country Second."

Comments

  1. You are so thorough and well read it is scary! I am glad you do the research! One nice thing about the hurricane...I had no knowledge of how much money we were losing! I keep saying that anyone who has watched HGTV long enough knew this recession was coming...housing couldn't keep going the way it was! I hope whoever takes office has the attention now to make the necessary changes.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts