Northwest Indiana Discussion

I have been reading this board for a couple of years now and the times board for 4 years. As some of you can guess...I am a registered Democrat.

Everyday on this board I see the left going after the right and the right going after the left. Sometimes it is very funny and sometimes it is just plain ridiculous. I am not thrilled with either candidate.

The talk on this board 4 years ago or even 8 years ago from the Rep. would have been no different. George Bush was their man. Do you really all still feel the same way? Are you happy with what is happening in this country now after 8 years of George Bush?

All I know for sure is gas is close to $4.00 per gallon, jobs have been lost, the housing market is in the toilet, grocery prices are at an all time high and Bin Laden has still not been caught.

My common sense tells me something is VERY wrong with Washington. What has our President done to cause these problems or what has he not done. Some of you may say, "It's not the president, it's congress" Well.... wasn't it a Rep. congress just 4 years ago, maybe less? Trickle down economics didn't help most of us then either. It seems to me that every time a Rep. is in office the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Are all of you rich and that's why you want another Rep. in?

Obama said he would lower taxes for 95% of us. If he said it it must be true?

McCain said he would change the way things are done in Washington. If he said it it must be true?

So who the hell do we believe? Guess what? Ya can't believe any of them! Tell me why I shouldn't go with what I know to be true. Gas is too high, my house is not worth what it was a year ago. My grocery bill has gone up at least $50. per week. My neighbors are worried about paying their mortgage because they have been laid off. And that little weasel Bin Laden is still running free. And we have a Rep. in office.

Why should I continue to keep a Rep. in office? Convince me. I am one of those many undecided voters.

Sure you are. Just vote Democrat. You'll be fine.

Thank Pelosi

I should thank Pelosi but not the oil man that is in office? Hmmmmm....I don't think so. Try again.

This is a report on the Obama tax cuts by a NON-partisan group.....

Obama missing chance to campaign as a tax cutter
Commentary: Few people know that they'd get more under Democrats

By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
Last Update: 11:50 AM ET Jun 18, 2008

That bears repeating: Obama would cut taxes for ordinary people more than McCain would.

According to the Tax Policy Center's analysis of the two candidates' tax plans, 80% of taxpayers would get more from Obama's cuts than from McCain's. About 95% of taxpayers would pay less under Obama than under current law (which ends many of the tax breaks passed in the past decade).

You might not know this if you've been reading the business press or watching cable news. The coverage has tended to focus on Obama's plan to raise the tax on capital gains, rather than on his $500 across-the-board tax credit, or his proposal to extend the mortgage interest deduction to more taxpayers.

The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts were tilted heavily toward the rich, who were supposed to return the favor by creating more jobs and investing in America's productive capacity. Unfortunately, the main impact of the tax cuts was to further widen the gap between the richest Americans and the rest of us. Job growth was extremely weak, as was capital spending.

Doing nothing on taxes isn't really an option for the next president and the Congress he'll work with. Most of the tax breaks passed in 2001 were designed to self-destruct over the next few years. If Congress and the president don't act, taxes will go up for almost everyone.

The question now is whether to just extend the earlier laws, or do something else.
A closer look at the proposals

McCain's proposed tax cuts would give the top 0.1% of taxpayers (those earning more than $2.8 million a year) a tax break averaging $678,000. Obama, by contrast, would raise taxes on that group by an average of $300,100. For the bottom 20% of taxpayers who make less than $19,740 a year, McCain would cut taxes by an average of $101, while Obama would cut their taxes by an average of $698.

Obama has not made taxes an issue so far, maybe because it isn't a big deal in Democratic primaries, or maybe it's because his views are too complicated to put on a bumper sticker, or maybe he fails to realize how much he has to gain from touting his plans.

Democrats have let Republicans walk all over them on taxes. Even when Democrats deliver lower taxes for working Americans, they let Republicans take the credit. That's just dumb, and it's probably a sign that even Democrats have bought into the Republicans' constant refrain that Democrats love to tax.

In 2001, Democrats in the Senate forced President Bush to accept bigger and quicker tax cuts for poor and middle-income taxpayers, but then the party threw away any goodwill it could have gained by demonizing the whole package as "the Bush tax cuts."

Obama could break that pattern by advertising himself as a tax-cutter. Of course, McCain is proposing to cut taxes even more than Obama is. Under Obama's plan, tax receipts would fall by $2.7 trillion over the next 10 years, while McCain would cut taxes by $3.7 trillion, compared with current law.

As a share of gross domestic product, tax receipts would fall from 18.8% currently to 18.5% by the end of his first term under Obama's plan, while McCain would lower receipts to 17.6% of GDP.

But Obama can't cut taxes too much, because there are many jobs he wants Washington to accomplish, such as universal health care, affordable college, and research on promising new energy sources.

If he doesn't want to be pigeon-holed as a tax-and-spender, Obama will have to start telling the story about his tax cuts.
http://www.marketwatch.com/m/Story/654c ... 6135323425
---------reply to above post
The two candidates' plans would have sharply different distributional effects. Senator McCain's tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes, almost all of whom would receive large tax cuts that would, on average, raise their after-tax incomes by more than twice the average for all households. Many fewer households at the bottom of the income distribution would get tax cuts and those whose taxes fall would, on average, see their after-tax income rise much less. In marked contrast, Senator Obama offers much larger tax breaks to low- and middle-income taxpayers and would increase taxes on high-income taxpayers. The largest tax cuts, as a share of income, would go to those at the bottom of the income distribution, while taxpayers with the highest income would see their taxes rise.

Who We Are

The Tax Policy Center is a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution. The Center is made up of nationally recognized experts in tax, budget, and social policy who have served at the highest levels of government.
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publicat ... ?ID=411693

There you go, party42....

As I said, Vote Democrat. Stupid is as Stupid does.

Carry on.

I still fail to see why that is so stupid, as you call it, when the republicans have had it their way for 8 years now and this country is in the worst shape it has been in decades. How can we justify giving the "white haired dude" a chance when he seems to be just like Bush?

There you go. You are no longer undecided. Well done.

Vote Democrat and all will be well in your little world.

Carry on.

Notice how the puppet marine never refutes what I posted.

Party - I think you have something here.
I watched both the Dem and Rep conventions. Listened to the "key speakers".
I think O'bama has some great ideas, even downloaded his blue print for change. The problem with all those ideas/policies etc. is, what happened in Illinois? If he is such a change magnet, why didn't it happen here? If he couldn't do it in his hometown state, with his hometown fellow democrats, how can he do it in Washington? All the things he is campaigning for now are the same things he campaigned for in IL for his senate seat. It's like a never ending repeat of talk. I'm not sure he can make the tough decisions. ps, I think Biden sucks.
As for McCain, he too could have/should have done more up until now. But, I think that he is the person who can reach across party lines and make things happen. I certainly feel he is ready to lead the country. I feel that his VP selection was a good one, new, fresh, non Washington as usual. Together I think they can shake up Washington. My decision is not finalized yet, I look forward to the debates for more information.

Finally, I am sick of the stupid mudslinging on these message boards. Sick of the photoshop pictures the references to the National Inquirer, etc. Sick of the cutting and pasting of other peoples writings. Sick of people not being able to admit when the are wrong or stupid. The candidates are more civilized. Thank you party42, I think you comments were honest and straigtforward and from YOU.

What I really notice more is that those on here that usually have so much to say in defense of the republicans and Bush can now only come up with their cute little one liners. They have absolutely nothing to say here. Kinda sounds like the "nothing" I heard lastnight from McBush.

BWWWWWHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAAHHAHAAHAHHAHAHHA

See...? You aren't undecided anymore.

That was easy.

Ah, just when I thought I was making a friend, you pull the McBush crap.

There is no open minded thinking going on.

There is no debate here.

There is no one willing to say, hey I'm a democrat and looking at this Rep candidate as someone who might work with me across party lines, which is the way govt is supposed to work.

There is no one willing to say, hey I'm a republican and I think O'bama may have an economic policy that might work, lets run these numbers.

There is no one willing to post anything with out a McBush or Osama Bin Obama or whatever.
The problems of our country today are b/c of closed minded thinkers like you.

So now you are a mind reader? I really haven't desided yet who I will vote for. I only call McCain McBush because his policies seem the same as Bush's. I would never write on here what I call Obama.