Why I might vote for Barack

Thunderdog


(Quote from Pa(b)st Prime:

You're a Canadian cock sucking communist who couldn't name more than 7 U.S. Presidents without looking them up. Correct? )



I can name more than 7 US presidents. However, the answer is "No" to the first part of your question. Sorry to disappoint.



What you are not Canadian? Or communist?
 
Quote from Cutten:

Since US monetary policy is the preserve of the Fed, not the Presidency, what makes you hold Carter responsible for that?
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It seems that Presidents are always evaluated in part by the performance of the economy during their tenure. Certainly in this election I hear that evaluation constantly...don't you?

Nevertheless, in this case, Carter appointed a guy named G William Miller as Federal Reserve Chairman. He was the first appointee, and only appointee, who came from an industry background. He was CEO of Textron. This was a fairly controversial appointment at the time.

Once he took over the Fed, he pumped the money supply, and strongly resisted raising interest rates. What ensued was that the dollar collapsed, gold exploded. It was our first big run from around $200 eventually to $800. This guy was an absolute disaster....again, appointed by Carter.

Eventually, when the economy had turned into a complete disaster, Carter got rid of him and appointed Paul Volker. But he then moved G William Miller over the Secretary of Treasury.

Tell ya what Cutten, you look over the economic performance and blame it on whoever you would like. I think Carter was directly responsible for damn near bringing this country to its knees, starting with an appointment of an ill-qualified Fed Chairman.

OldTrader
 
Quote from bigdavediode:

If you use the same calculations to calculate inflation and unemployment today that were used under Carter, the misery index is currently about 20.
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OK, you got me....what are you referring to? Provide a link. Obviously the combination of inflation and unemployment right now are somewhere around 9% I would say.

OldTrader
 
Quote from Cutten:

Obama and Palin are *inexperienced*. That is entirely different to unqualified.

Apart from that, they have nothing in common. Obama is intelligent and has an excellent educational and academic record. He writes his own (generally good) speeches, has an excellent grasp of policy, is a good listener and picks good quality advisors. He is clearly a competent, intelligent man who would be more than capable of acting on the world stage and being taken seriously. If he wasn't in politics he would be a credible CEO or social leader. Palin is, quite frankly, thick. Her academic record is atrocious. The idea of her in any substantive role in society, outside her home state, is laughable. She might be a nice person, and I prefer her policy instincts to Obama, but quite frankly she is way out of her depth even as VP *candidate*. The thought of an ignoramus amateur like her as president is quite frankly terrifying to any sane person.

Palin is all style, no substance. She was picked as an image/soundbite candidate. If McCain was 10 years younger, it would have been a genius move. At his current age and mental/physical condition, it is enough to make even die-hard right-wingers cross their fingers for the Omabomba.
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I see nothing here other than personal traits. I would think you'd want to evaluate a prospective President on what their polices are, what their ideas are. Obama is a big government believer. And with that will follow higher taxes, and higher inflation rates. If I recall correctly, he has the highest liberal rating in the Senate.

By the way, you might want to notify Jon Favreau, Obamas chief speech writer, that he has been fired. LOL. Ben Rhodes and Adam Frankel are also on the speech writing team.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/fashion/20speechwriter.htm
 
Quote from John_Wensink:

I do like that Barry has injected some optimism into american politics.

He's woefully unqualified as well and will probably do a poor job as well.
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What qualifications do you need to be a puppet and a yes man?
 
Quote from OldTrader:

OK, you got me....what are you referring to? Provide a link. Obviously the combination of inflation and unemployment right now are somewhere around 9% I would say.

OldTrader
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This site allows direct comparison across timeframes for inflation and unemployment. Reagan changed the calculation of inflation and so "solved" it.

Inflation is running at about 13% right now, using 1980 methods of calculation that were used under Carter:

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data

Unemployment is between 11 and 15% adjusted for the discourage worker definitions which were removed previously.

http://www.shadowstats.com/

So you might not want to bring up the misery index anymore.
 
Quote from OldTrader:

I see nothing here other than personal traits. I would think you'd want to evaluate a prospective President on what their polices are, what their ideas are. Obama is a big government believer.
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From Businessweek:

"Obama calls current policy "the most fiscally irresponsible in our history"

(snip)

"Using that assumption as a baseline, the Tax Policy Center looked at the impact of all the changes in tax law that each of the candidates has proposed. If McCain's proposed tax changes were put into effect, the Treasury would lose $3.7 trillion in revenue for the 10-year period between 2009 and 2018, compared with what it would take in under current law. If all of Barack Obama's tax plans were put into effect, the loss to the Treasury would be $2.7 trillion in revenues."

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jun2008/db20080611_220050_page_2.htm
 
although i hate political discussions on et because they tend to dissolve into so much namecalling, rhetoric, and hyper-emotional opining, i will add a few cents here.

has anyone noticed how obama in this speaches of late is giving a nod to the market, market makers, and all those involved in wall street by stating how he intends to increase consumer discretionary money and therefore retail sales and corporate wealth? it's interesting to me that what he is saying to wall street in essence is, "don't worry about me. if i get in, the market will go up."

i believe this for two reasons: 1. democrats tend to take the market up far more than republicans, who give us recessions ala bush and others (before you start whining at me over this one, look up the stats) and 2. if he smart enough and subtle enough to keep throwing these cues to wall street, then he knows which side his bread is buttered on and will keep the wall streeters happy or at least try.


one more thought before i leave: does it ever strike anyone how they did the rah rah for this bailout initially and now seem to be turning? almost like they wanted public sentiment to be against bailout from the get go....

oh, and about this ban on shortselling. they've engineered it so the shortsellers look like villians, purposeful ne'er-do-wells who WANT the market to fail...some chick i talked to in the gym the other night was saying how she heard on the news that the "terrorists" are behind the short selling. not one shred of proof or even evidence, but a ridiculous speculation is all it takes to get the masses going. unbelievable....

well, as a friend of mine always says, "the masses are asses".
 
I am probably going to vote Obama too. (That was the original subject of this thread before it morphed into a discussion of Carter's presidency).

I had intended to vote for McCain based on his statements of extending the Bush tax cuts. All traders here on ET are concerned about their cap gains tax, right? :D

But then when California's prop 8 was making headlines McCain said that he supported prop 8. Prop 8 is an amendment to the California constitution that would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, effectively banning same sex marriage. While I can certainly understand someone disagreeing with same sex marriage, actively trying to ban it is another matter. Nobody has a reason to deny marriage to same sex couples. So McCain has lost my vote. And anybody stupid enough to get married should be allowed to.

Now, Obama's statements on taxation are changing. He has most recently said that no one who makes under $250K a year will get a tax increase. I make under $250K per year, so I should be safe from any tax increases. But this also means he must scale the capital gains tax for over and under $250K as well, and I haven't heard any specifics on that.

I do not want to sit out an election out by not voting. I consider it my duty to vote. So as of right now, my vote will be for Obama. However, if I feel like my taxpaying pocket will be picked in an Obama presidency, then I will have no choice but to sit this election out. No, I'm not going to write in some third party crank. And I'm not writing in Ron Paul either. I'd rather sit out an election than make my vote a joke.

One other thing about Obama, and I'm sure many are tired of hearing it, but I like the guy. He seems like someone I could sit down to lunch with and have a great time. I couldn't do that with McCain.
 
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