Hiya, AAA...I hope you're raking in the dough from the EBAY shorts covering... Anytime is a good time to cut taxes, but only if the budget can support it. Half of the time, I feel like the most fiscally conservative person here, simply because I seem to be the only one who doesn't want to pay for this war, or the reconstruction, or bigger government (it is a fact that government spending has increased in the past couple of years, whether people think it is acceptable or not -- personally, I don't think it's acceptable). Republicans want to cut taxes in a regressive manner. Wealthy people hoard money; poor people spend it. Bottom line. Republicans run up huge deficits. These deficits are a lead balloon to growth. I think taxes are essential to keep the economy running, but I don't want those taxes to get pissed away on an extra air force 1 or expensive and futile "star wars" programs. Above all I want lower taxes, but I do not want these taxes to be wasted on expensive and futile wars. I want the taxes to be spent on public schools and other institutions that will ultimately benefit the American people (aka our economy) directly. I don't want to get mugged by some 14 year old crack dealer, and I consider that to be a far more real threat to my well being than SH or OBL. So I guess there's some misunderstanding on what I think about taxes. Yes, I do think that wealthy people should pay a higher percentage of income in taxes, but I am all for lower taxes, and most of all, less spending. I guess I feel like the Republicans promise all of these great things but deliver the exact opposite while keeping the masses hypnotized with their rhetoric and expensive PR campaigns, and in the process they run up huge budget deficits that the taxpayers end up paying for, while certain segments of the economy, like oil and defense, prosper. Frankly, I'd rather have a democrat with a balanced budget and an open admission of higher taxes and decent foreign policy, than a republican who promises great things but can't or won't deliver any of them, while his friends in his old business mysteriously enjoy windfall profits. The pattern repeats itself over and over again with the Republican party. Huge deficits and unnecessary/questionable wars. And the whole HAL/war profiteering thing makes me want to throw up. It sickens me. I think it's disgusting, shameful, and absolutely despicable. It's been very depressing for me, being a relatively young guy, to sit here and watch all of this play out, and believe me when I say that I find this administration to be an embarassment to the American people. Their shameful antics -- from HAL to the more subtle things -- like when they leaked a story about a Taliban convoy being successfully attacked the day before the last House and Senate election -- are nothing to be proud of. It blows my mind that we are paying to remove SH, when we had to pay to keep him there in the first place, and there is no admission of guilt from the people who put him there, which, incidentally, are the same people who want to remove him.
Also, it's funny to watch the senate hearing right now about analysts... Sen Bennett from Utah is talking about the accountability of stock analysts, and wondering why there is no objective service that keeps track of analysts and their track records, and how accurate their "calls" on stock prices have been. Apparently there should be such a service for politicians; "SH has WMD!" -- well, where are they?? So far, it's 0/1 on that... 1982 --- SH is our friend! 2003 -- SH is not our friend! 1982 -- OBL is our friend! 1995 -- OBL is not our friend! Has the Reagan/Bush/Cheney/Dubya camp ever been right about anything??? Seriously...they're not very good at budgets, the economy, monetary policy, or defense...if you objectively look at their track records, their batting average is pretty low.. And when you look deeper into Dubya's past, you learn that he's never really been good at anything, either...!? So why is he running the country?? Do all of you really like druggie trust fund kids?? Do you aspire to have one yourself?? Do you go to Boulder and search around the streets to find our next president?? WTF??
Bung, Surprise, we seem to agree on a fair amount. I guess where we part company is the relative importance of the deficit versus lower taxes and perhaps spending priorities. I heard Mitch Daniels, head of OMB, on Kudlow and Cramer last night and he had some interesting points. Probably the most important were that 9/11 and its aftermath kind of blew a hole in the budget, as did the stock market decline and recession that Bush inherited. While the economy and market did great for much of Clinton's term, I think you would have to agree that both had turned south before Bush took office in January '01. He also pointed out that Bush's first tax cut had only a minor impact on the deficit, and in fact, one could argue that by juicing the economy a little, it kept the deficit from being bigger. Personally, I would like to see taxes simplified greatly. I know there are trading strategies that I avoid simply because of the recordkeeping. A huge amount of money and resources are wasted on tax recordkeeping, compliance and avoidance, not only by traders but by every business. I know many regard a progressive tax system as a cornerstone of fairness, but I think we are inviting trouble when the system is so progressive that easily half of all taxpayers pay little or nothing in income taxes. It helps for all voters to have their interests more or less aligned. Otherwise, we descend into class warfare and rob Peter to pay Paul schemes. That's one reason the dividend tax cut is such a good idea. Just as widespread home ownership is good for a community, widespread equity ownership will be good for the economy. We will make a Republican out of you yet.
How inspiring was the President's trip to that carrier? Even the media weenies were awed by it. You can't fake the admiration and joy on those sailors' faces when they saw their Commander in Chief. Unlike President Charisma, it was pretty clear that no one had to force them to go down and shake his hand. He's the first president to tailhook on a carrier apparently, but then he's the first president who was a jet fighter pilot himself. Kind of reminds you of Independence Day when the president lead the attack on the aliens. Makes me feel good to know he could do it if necessary and he's not ordering men to do something he wasn't prepared to do himself. Of course, Bush 41 was a combat pilot in WW II.