Current Political Scene
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OBAMA MUST FORSAKE CAP GAINS TAX HIKE TO STABILIZE MARKETS
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
"Wall Street is engaged in a test of wills with President-elect Barack Obama. The market, which dropped one thousand points last week, is not going to recover until the next president forswears his plans to raise the capital gains tax. In our book Fleeced we predicted that the Dow would crash after an Obama election because of fears that he will raise taxes, particularly the tax on capital gains.
As we argued in Fleeced, even an unsophisticated investor realizes that if he sells now, he will only have to give the government 15% of his profits whereas if he waits until Obama takes office, he may have to fork over an additional five to fifteen percent of the profits to Washington. Any moron can tell it makes sense to sell before the tax hike kicks in. And since these increases are usually retroactive, investors will take care to sell ASAP rather than wait.
So Obama is in the position of asking people to have confidence in the markets, even though he proposes to as much as double their taxes should they succeed.
The collision course between Obama's leftist ideology and the reality of the markets could not be more striking. The president-elect is surrounded by economic advisors who want to raise capital gains taxes, as much because of their ideology as for any practical benefit. Dick recalls vividly his meeting with Bob Rubin when he was Treasury Secretary under Clinton. Rubin opposed any cut in the capital gains tax even though he admitted that a cut in the tax would not cut, but might even augment, government revenues. Obama, himself, defended an increase as a matter of social fairness in the campaign debates when he was asked whether he favored increasing the tax even though history showed that a higher tax did not generate increased revenues.
Now Obama will have to choose between ideology and reality. Unless and until he pledges to abandon his plans for higher taxes, he will find nothing but bad news in the business sections of the nation's newspapers. He can claim all he wants that the crash is due to Bush's policies, but the fact is that the market advanced during the last week of the campaign when it looked like McCain was gaining and then fell sharply in the two days after Obama's victory.
Depressingly, many of the predictions in Fleeced are now likely to come true, from the overloading of our health care system and the resulting rationing of health care to the weakening of the Patriot Act. We will report on these as they unfold, hoping to generate a climate of moderation and pragmatism in Washington. LOL."
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
"Wall Street is engaged in a test of wills with President-elect Barack Obama. The market, which dropped one thousand points last week, is not going to recover until the next president forswears his plans to raise the capital gains tax. In our book Fleeced we predicted that the Dow would crash after an Obama election because of fears that he will raise taxes, particularly the tax on capital gains.
As we argued in Fleeced, even an unsophisticated investor realizes that if he sells now, he will only have to give the government 15% of his profits whereas if he waits until Obama takes office, he may have to fork over an additional five to fifteen percent of the profits to Washington. Any moron can tell it makes sense to sell before the tax hike kicks in. And since these increases are usually retroactive, investors will take care to sell ASAP rather than wait.
So Obama is in the position of asking people to have confidence in the markets, even though he proposes to as much as double their taxes should they succeed.
The collision course between Obama's leftist ideology and the reality of the markets could not be more striking. The president-elect is surrounded by economic advisors who want to raise capital gains taxes, as much because of their ideology as for any practical benefit. Dick recalls vividly his meeting with Bob Rubin when he was Treasury Secretary under Clinton. Rubin opposed any cut in the capital gains tax even though he admitted that a cut in the tax would not cut, but might even augment, government revenues. Obama, himself, defended an increase as a matter of social fairness in the campaign debates when he was asked whether he favored increasing the tax even though history showed that a higher tax did not generate increased revenues.
Now Obama will have to choose between ideology and reality. Unless and until he pledges to abandon his plans for higher taxes, he will find nothing but bad news in the business sections of the nation's newspapers. He can claim all he wants that the crash is due to Bush's policies, but the fact is that the market advanced during the last week of the campaign when it looked like McCain was gaining and then fell sharply in the two days after Obama's victory.
Depressingly, many of the predictions in Fleeced are now likely to come true, from the overloading of our health care system and the resulting rationing of health care to the weakening of the Patriot Act. We will report on these as they unfold, hoping to generate a climate of moderation and pragmatism in Washington. LOL."
C'mon, lighten up, there's some important info here, read up and smile.Quote from oddiduro:
I admire your tenacity. An electoral blowout and you are still here posting. Carry on Don Quioxte
Btw, yes, I'm getting ready for 2012. You guessed correctly, Cervantes is one of my favorite super story tellers who had a lot of important things to say. The main story was taken from the Moores and the funny, farcical stuff were the cover he needed for the Inquisition that was running rampant at the time.
His message was how to keep one's spirit alive and not give up easily... which is what those of us who love our country, study our politics and enjoy the friendly competition of the election process should never forget. And since we are talking about writing, it's actually spelled "Don Quixote" or, in Spanish, "Don Quijote"
Palinâs Appeal Proves Durable
By Sarah Wheaton - New York Times
"As she seeks to recover politically from her failed election bid on Senator John McCainâs ticket, the big question for Gov. Sarah Palin has been whether her backers would remain enthusiastic over the long run.
As it turns out, over the past few days, about 1,000 people have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Our Country Deserves Better, a political action committee that is planning a pro-Palin advertisement later this month.
âWe thought it would be appropriate to have the thank-you ad run around Thanksgiving,â said Joe Wiezbicki, the PACâs coordinator. The group expects to shoot on Monday and raise âa couple hundred thousand dollarsâ to buy airtime nationally.
Our Country Deserves Better, based in Sacramento, was founded during the campaign to draw contrasts between Senator Barack Obama and John McCain, holding a cross-country, 40-stop tour and even running a pro-Palin commercial. Ms. Palinâs nomination brought praise from conservatives, and she drew large, enthusiastic crowds.
But now, Mr. Wierzbicki said, there has been âan absence of a pro-Palin cohort.â
âThis womanâs reputation is going to be so damaged that she can never be a national political figure,â he added. So the goal of the ad is to âpreserve her options.â
Mr. Wierzbicki said he was âsurprisedâ by the response so far, which he called a âtestament to herâ, given typical post-election fatigue, especially on the losing side.
âI donât think we wouldâve seen the same level of responseâ if the planned spot were to defend Mr. McCain, he said."
By Sarah Wheaton - New York Times
"As she seeks to recover politically from her failed election bid on Senator John McCainâs ticket, the big question for Gov. Sarah Palin has been whether her backers would remain enthusiastic over the long run.
As it turns out, over the past few days, about 1,000 people have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Our Country Deserves Better, a political action committee that is planning a pro-Palin advertisement later this month.
âWe thought it would be appropriate to have the thank-you ad run around Thanksgiving,â said Joe Wiezbicki, the PACâs coordinator. The group expects to shoot on Monday and raise âa couple hundred thousand dollarsâ to buy airtime nationally.
Our Country Deserves Better, based in Sacramento, was founded during the campaign to draw contrasts between Senator Barack Obama and John McCain, holding a cross-country, 40-stop tour and even running a pro-Palin commercial. Ms. Palinâs nomination brought praise from conservatives, and she drew large, enthusiastic crowds.
But now, Mr. Wierzbicki said, there has been âan absence of a pro-Palin cohort.â
âThis womanâs reputation is going to be so damaged that she can never be a national political figure,â he added. So the goal of the ad is to âpreserve her options.â
Mr. Wierzbicki said he was âsurprisedâ by the response so far, which he called a âtestament to herâ, given typical post-election fatigue, especially on the losing side.
âI donât think we wouldâve seen the same level of responseâ if the planned spot were to defend Mr. McCain, he said."