Last night was the last presidential debate. So, now we need to make a decision and pick a president. I’m very glad that it will be over soon. Being in Florida, we’re a so-called “battle ground state”, which means we get bombarded with commercial after commercial about who is a bigger idiot. I watched most of the debate, and it was definitely the best of the three. Bob Schieffer knows what he’s doing as a moderator unlike Tom Brokaw. He kept the dialogue flowing and he didn’t freak out if they candidates wen over a few seconds on their answers. Nonetheless, here are my reactions, for what their worth.
Taxes
Okay, this is McCain all the way, and I know many of you will disagree with me. But, the fact is that Obama does this class warfare stuff to get votes, and his plan will ultimately hurt the lower-middle class even though on paper he says that it will not hurt them. When you tax the wealthy and large corporations, those taxes get passed on to the consumer. If Obama raises the already obscene corporate tax rate of 35% to 40%, corporations will merely increase the price of their goods and services by 5% to the consumer. bush is not running for president, but let me clarify that the people who say that the Bush tax cuts only benefited the wealthy are simply wrong. His tax cuts brought the lowest tax bracket from 15% to 10%, and if Obama does not support those tax cuts to be permanent, then that number will go BACK to 15% which IS a raise in the lowest middle class taxes. Also, he says that 95% of the people in his tax plan will not get a tax raise, but 40% of those people don’t pay a dime of federal income tax. I’ve stated on this blog in the past that I didn’t pay a dime in federal incoe taxes last year, because we received a huge tax credit for the tuition we paid for my wife’s graduate school work, and we made over $40,000 last year. McCain might not have the perfect policy at this point, but he has the better philosophy about it.
Health Insurance
If Obama does what he says he’s going to do with his health insurance plan, then I think he wins on this issue, because McCain’s plan just doesn’t make sense. Whoever advised him on this was dumb, and they should have told him to push government assistance to help uninsured Americans set up an HSA account with a tax credit to go into the HSA account, not their pocket. Obama says he’ll let you keep your current employer sponsored health care plan, but if you are without insurance, you can opt to pay for the federal government’s insurance policy, which is a sweet deal. This is a better alternative then wiping the slate clean and trying to put forth a government run health care plan that won’t work, will go bankrupt, and will produce horrible, unreliable care. However, I think McCain is right that Obama could start mandating small business owners to offer health insurance or they will be penalized, and that’s not right. But, Obama wins because McCain’s idea about the $5,000 tax credit and then taxing your health insurance premium is not a good plan.
Free Trade
I would call this one a draw, because it seems like neither one has a clear plan about how they will handle foreign trade. I’m afraid that Obama will trade with countries that we shouldn’t be trading with to appease them, and I’m afraid that McCain won’t trade with enough countries in an effort to punish them. The fact is that we need to keep trade open with South America, because it’s cheaper and they don’t hate us as much as the Middle East.
So, there’s my take. Feel free to comment, destroy, rape, and pillage my opinions. All that I ask is that you comment with intelligence.
