Monday, October 27, 2008
Who is against regulation?
Many may not know that both Democrats and Repubicans overwhelmingly supported the 1999 banking deregulation act. However, there have been times when Democrats were against regulation while Republicans were for it. Check out this video if you don't believe it.
Obama and the Media
Senator Obama, you said you would be doing better in the polls if not for Fox news. But how would you be doing in the polls if not for CBS, NBC and ABC news?
Sarah Palin had a terrible interview with Katie Couric, and even after that McCain and Palin sat down together for a second interview with her.
Biden had a tough interview the other day and the Obama campaign cancelled a planned upcoming interview with Mrs. Biden and cut off any future access to Senator Obama as a result. Read this news story.
Freedom of the press Mr. Obama? What is your stance? Should the only news stations be the one's that put you higher in the polls?
Sarah Palin had a terrible interview with Katie Couric, and even after that McCain and Palin sat down together for a second interview with her.
Biden had a tough interview the other day and the Obama campaign cancelled a planned upcoming interview with Mrs. Biden and cut off any future access to Senator Obama as a result. Read this news story.
Freedom of the press Mr. Obama? What is your stance? Should the only news stations be the one's that put you higher in the polls?
More about Spreading the Wealth
This is a long held belief for Obama and is tied to the civil rights movement not having done enough. I am all for giving every American an opportunity, and I don't think we all do right now. I think you fix that by improving education and social services for children at risk, not by handing out $500 tax credits to the middle class. A tax credit isn't going to bring someone a better job and better opportunities and the American dream. Something is not right here Senator Obama
Please listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iivL4c_3pck
Please listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iivL4c_3pck
Friday, October 17, 2008
Not just about Joe the Plumber
The appeal of Joe the Plumber is that he puts a face to a tax number. Even if he's really not earning that much or isn't even a plumber. I am married to someone who makes that much and let me try to make the same point from a different perspective because Obama is right, I can afford an increase in my taxes. But first I'd like you to meet Bill, Steve and Jessie. I don't own a business or anything, but I do spend my money (you know, since I'm one of the have's, that's what we do). Obama wanta to spread my wealth around and here's how it will affect 3 people in the middle and lower income brackets.
Bill - Bill is a music school teacher. He does private lessons on the side to make a little extra, in addition to volunteering in a community band. He loves teaching and playing music. He teaches one of our children and we pay him $100/mo.
Steve - Steve works full time doing private music lessons. He has two kids who he pays child support for and he lives on the edge of poverty. Private lessons is his only source of income. We pay for him to instruct three of our children and me every week. We pay him $364/mo.
Jessie - Jessie works full time but became a mom at age 18 yo, has no education past high school and lives near the poverty level. She is on her own being recently divorced. She helps us out once or twice a week, earning $120-$160/mo.
I recalculated Obama's tax proposals and realized it will only cost my family $1,350/mo on average. I can cover almost half of that by cutting my budget back, not hiring the babysitter and doing away with private music lessons (they are luxury items anyway). I'm sure Bill, Steve and Jessie will be glad to know that instead of earning money from my family, they will get $500 refundable tax credit next year under Obama's plan. And maybe even if $300 stimulus check like they got from Bush in the past.
Make less and pay less in tax, that's Obama's plan for the middle class.
Bill - Bill is a music school teacher. He does private lessons on the side to make a little extra, in addition to volunteering in a community band. He loves teaching and playing music. He teaches one of our children and we pay him $100/mo.
Steve - Steve works full time doing private music lessons. He has two kids who he pays child support for and he lives on the edge of poverty. Private lessons is his only source of income. We pay for him to instruct three of our children and me every week. We pay him $364/mo.
Jessie - Jessie works full time but became a mom at age 18 yo, has no education past high school and lives near the poverty level. She is on her own being recently divorced. She helps us out once or twice a week, earning $120-$160/mo.
I recalculated Obama's tax proposals and realized it will only cost my family $1,350/mo on average. I can cover almost half of that by cutting my budget back, not hiring the babysitter and doing away with private music lessons (they are luxury items anyway). I'm sure Bill, Steve and Jessie will be glad to know that instead of earning money from my family, they will get $500 refundable tax credit next year under Obama's plan. And maybe even if $300 stimulus check like they got from Bush in the past.
Make less and pay less in tax, that's Obama's plan for the middle class.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Open Letter to Barack Obama
Dear Senator Obama,
I am a stay-at-home mom living in the over $250k tax bracket. I want to ask you why you feel my family is not doing it's part to share the wealth in this country. Our family does well but we also pay taxes at the highest marginal rate. We do not have millions or the kind of lifestyle that would get us access to tax loopholes. We only get deductions for home mortgage interests, state taxes paid and charitable contributions. Last year those three deductions were capped because the government limits the deductions at our income level. In the past we have been stuck in AMT which ensures we do not underpay our fair share of taxes.
Because of our family's income level, our children will not qualify for student loans or other aid. Therefore we must save entirely for their college. We save as much as we can. In recent weeks lost 30% of those savings as well as a decent amount of our retirement savings and the few mutual fund investments we have are under water. The only other asset we have is our family home. We only have one. It would be really tough to sell it in this market, we've lost a large chunk of our equity.
We have never received a stimulus check, yet we do our part to donate to charities we believe in, invest in the market and spend to keep the economy going. And we pay our taxes. There is no question that the opportunities in this great country have allowed us to achieve the American Dream. For that I am grateful.
Your proposals will take an additional 12% out of our annual family budget by increasing the marginal tax rate and increasing payroll taxes. We aren't struggling yet but we will be if your tax proposals pass. We will have to stop or severely limit college savings, with one child only 3.5 years from college and the savings down 30%. Last year we paid enough in Federal Taxes to supply 240 individuals with a Bush stimulus check, similar to the stimulus plan you propose if you are elected (I guess that continuation of the same Bush economic polices is good). I have no doubt that some of what we paid went to wasteful government projects and earmark spending that did not help any struggling families. You say $18 billion in earmarks is not a lot of money to you but 12% of my family budget is a lot to me and my children. I do not begrudge what we already give the government, but I will argue that we are doing our share. I argue we are patriotic and we are neighborly.
We are upper middle class, we are not like your friends, Oprah and Warren Buffet. Our priorities are saving for our retirement, our kids college and paying off our house. We can comfortably do those three things now, though we are worried about the economy like everyone else.
I am a registered Democrat and have always believed in social programs for those who need them. I still believe in them. But I do not understand why when you speak that it sounds as though my family is getting something over on this country. That we aren't doing our part. That we don't pay enough tax. That we don't do enough to lift others up. I say we are doing a lot by not asking anything from the government. I say it is the government that is letting the American people down, not us.
If this economy gets worse my husbands job will be at risk. We could lose our home along with the remainder of our savings. The only good news I see coming from the Democrats is that maybe then we can have the government contribute to our children's college education, we'll get a tax cut and might finally see one of those stimulus checks. Then you'd finally get your chance to lift my family up.
I am a stay-at-home mom living in the over $250k tax bracket. I want to ask you why you feel my family is not doing it's part to share the wealth in this country. Our family does well but we also pay taxes at the highest marginal rate. We do not have millions or the kind of lifestyle that would get us access to tax loopholes. We only get deductions for home mortgage interests, state taxes paid and charitable contributions. Last year those three deductions were capped because the government limits the deductions at our income level. In the past we have been stuck in AMT which ensures we do not underpay our fair share of taxes.
Because of our family's income level, our children will not qualify for student loans or other aid. Therefore we must save entirely for their college. We save as much as we can. In recent weeks lost 30% of those savings as well as a decent amount of our retirement savings and the few mutual fund investments we have are under water. The only other asset we have is our family home. We only have one. It would be really tough to sell it in this market, we've lost a large chunk of our equity.
We have never received a stimulus check, yet we do our part to donate to charities we believe in, invest in the market and spend to keep the economy going. And we pay our taxes. There is no question that the opportunities in this great country have allowed us to achieve the American Dream. For that I am grateful.
Your proposals will take an additional 12% out of our annual family budget by increasing the marginal tax rate and increasing payroll taxes. We aren't struggling yet but we will be if your tax proposals pass. We will have to stop or severely limit college savings, with one child only 3.5 years from college and the savings down 30%. Last year we paid enough in Federal Taxes to supply 240 individuals with a Bush stimulus check, similar to the stimulus plan you propose if you are elected (I guess that continuation of the same Bush economic polices is good). I have no doubt that some of what we paid went to wasteful government projects and earmark spending that did not help any struggling families. You say $18 billion in earmarks is not a lot of money to you but 12% of my family budget is a lot to me and my children. I do not begrudge what we already give the government, but I will argue that we are doing our share. I argue we are patriotic and we are neighborly.
We are upper middle class, we are not like your friends, Oprah and Warren Buffet. Our priorities are saving for our retirement, our kids college and paying off our house. We can comfortably do those three things now, though we are worried about the economy like everyone else.
I am a registered Democrat and have always believed in social programs for those who need them. I still believe in them. But I do not understand why when you speak that it sounds as though my family is getting something over on this country. That we aren't doing our part. That we don't pay enough tax. That we don't do enough to lift others up. I say we are doing a lot by not asking anything from the government. I say it is the government that is letting the American people down, not us.
If this economy gets worse my husbands job will be at risk. We could lose our home along with the remainder of our savings. The only good news I see coming from the Democrats is that maybe then we can have the government contribute to our children's college education, we'll get a tax cut and might finally see one of those stimulus checks. Then you'd finally get your chance to lift my family up.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Analysis of the third debate
I watched the debate tonight and was disappointed. Here is why.
Healthcare:
I care about healthcare and being a Democrat I always believed we should all have it. I have read both candidates plans and read many expert analysis. Obama brought up two women he spoke with who had just lost their jobs and lost their employer provided healthcare. Obama's plan will do nothing for those two women. They are unemployed and uninsured. Obama will offer them the chance to buy insurance from the government, being unemployed that is going to be difficult. He'll give a credit to small businesses for providing insurance, but these women are not employed. He will fine them if they do not find and buy insurance for their children.
By contrast, McCain's plan will give these women $2,500 toward the purchase of a healthcare policy. Obama kept saying how McCain will tax benefits, but if you are unemployed and uninsured you aren't getting tax-free benefits in the first place. This is one area were we should say the employed with insurance can pay a little more to help the uninsured. If McCain can help us buy insurance outside of our employers then maybe we can hold onto that insurance when we change jobs. Maybe we'll have more than 1 or 2 options too.
In the second debate Obama said healthcare is a right. But under his plan anyone working for a small business, anyone unemployed, students and stay-at-home parents are still stuck buying it. Large companies are incented to provide coverage, but large companies already do. And Obama's plan will require employers contribute to the cost of employee coverage, that does not mean they have to offer a good plan, an affordable plan, or offer a plan that covers spouses and children.
Personal attacks:
Obama rightly brought up the negative comments made by people at Palin's rally's. But McCain did not mention the attacks Palin has been under herself. As a woman I am deeply troubled at people in my own party who feel it's appropriate to attack Palin by circulating pictures of someone else in a bikini with her head on it, someone painting a nude picture of her and hanging it in a bar, someone making a porno movie with a Palin look-a-like, telling her she should stay at home with her kids, and the violation of her personal email account. It's interesting to me to watch the same party who claims to be for equal pay for equal work, to be bashing Palin for being a stay-at-work mom.
Taxes:
Read my open letter for why I have a problem with Obama's tax plan. But it's more than me and my family. It's the long-view that you can penalize the upper middle class to lift up the lower middle class. I keep hearing Obama say the gap is widening, there are too many wealthy. But people earning over $300k are in the top 1% of Americans. $300k is still upper middle class. Over 99% of people are in the middle or lower class so where is the wide gap?
My concern is that we are making more people dependant on the government. They aren't going to take $1 from me and give $1 to someone who needs it. They are going to take $1 from me and spend $0.60 paying people to figure out who needs it, funnel $0.20 to special interests and unnecessary projects and if we are lucky the remaining $0.20 goes to someone in need. That's big government. So now I have $1 less to spend and invest and get the economy going and someone desperately in need has twenty cents.
Obama has also complained the tax code is too complicated. But he wants to raise taxes on small businesses, raise payroll taxes, then give a credit for creating jobs, and a credit for offering health insurance. This is going to simplify the tax code? How about the additional cost to small businesses for documenting and reporting which jobs qualify as new and proving you actually hired a person in that new job? And all this is to not penalize small business. Why not just leave the tax rates where they are?
Healthcare:
I care about healthcare and being a Democrat I always believed we should all have it. I have read both candidates plans and read many expert analysis. Obama brought up two women he spoke with who had just lost their jobs and lost their employer provided healthcare. Obama's plan will do nothing for those two women. They are unemployed and uninsured. Obama will offer them the chance to buy insurance from the government, being unemployed that is going to be difficult. He'll give a credit to small businesses for providing insurance, but these women are not employed. He will fine them if they do not find and buy insurance for their children.
By contrast, McCain's plan will give these women $2,500 toward the purchase of a healthcare policy. Obama kept saying how McCain will tax benefits, but if you are unemployed and uninsured you aren't getting tax-free benefits in the first place. This is one area were we should say the employed with insurance can pay a little more to help the uninsured. If McCain can help us buy insurance outside of our employers then maybe we can hold onto that insurance when we change jobs. Maybe we'll have more than 1 or 2 options too.
In the second debate Obama said healthcare is a right. But under his plan anyone working for a small business, anyone unemployed, students and stay-at-home parents are still stuck buying it. Large companies are incented to provide coverage, but large companies already do. And Obama's plan will require employers contribute to the cost of employee coverage, that does not mean they have to offer a good plan, an affordable plan, or offer a plan that covers spouses and children.
Personal attacks:
Obama rightly brought up the negative comments made by people at Palin's rally's. But McCain did not mention the attacks Palin has been under herself. As a woman I am deeply troubled at people in my own party who feel it's appropriate to attack Palin by circulating pictures of someone else in a bikini with her head on it, someone painting a nude picture of her and hanging it in a bar, someone making a porno movie with a Palin look-a-like, telling her she should stay at home with her kids, and the violation of her personal email account. It's interesting to me to watch the same party who claims to be for equal pay for equal work, to be bashing Palin for being a stay-at-work mom.
Taxes:
Read my open letter for why I have a problem with Obama's tax plan. But it's more than me and my family. It's the long-view that you can penalize the upper middle class to lift up the lower middle class. I keep hearing Obama say the gap is widening, there are too many wealthy. But people earning over $300k are in the top 1% of Americans. $300k is still upper middle class. Over 99% of people are in the middle or lower class so where is the wide gap?
My concern is that we are making more people dependant on the government. They aren't going to take $1 from me and give $1 to someone who needs it. They are going to take $1 from me and spend $0.60 paying people to figure out who needs it, funnel $0.20 to special interests and unnecessary projects and if we are lucky the remaining $0.20 goes to someone in need. That's big government. So now I have $1 less to spend and invest and get the economy going and someone desperately in need has twenty cents.
Obama has also complained the tax code is too complicated. But he wants to raise taxes on small businesses, raise payroll taxes, then give a credit for creating jobs, and a credit for offering health insurance. This is going to simplify the tax code? How about the additional cost to small businesses for documenting and reporting which jobs qualify as new and proving you actually hired a person in that new job? And all this is to not penalize small business. Why not just leave the tax rates where they are?
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