On the economy

I'm listening to the rhetoric on the economy with a great deal of confusion. Fred says it will take care of itself. Rudy just harks back to when he was mayor of New York City. The economy is clearly not McClain's strong suit. Who is left ... oh, yeah ... there's Ron Paul and his stance on the economy is as incoherent as his stance on anything else. And then there's Mitt. When I listened to him speaking in Michigan and again in South Carolina, I thought I was listening to a Democrat. He's going to single-handedly bring back the auto industry and the textile industry?

Mike Huckabee just published a 5-point Fair Deal for All Americans plan which seems like a reasonable response. It would be nice if some of the others would put their plans on the table.

Spitting Tacks

I listened to Mitt on Larry King tonight ... it was a big mistake! After hearing him state that he has said often that he is concerned for the economy (when? was I not listening? or did he get concerned on the plane to Michigan?) he again began talking about relief for the middle class. He was touting his plan to allow the middle class, which he defines as those earning under $200,000/year, to earn interest on their savings tax free. ARGH!

Thanks, Mitt. I challenge that on a bunch of levels, the first being how you define middle class. If he had said under $100,000, it might have been closer. But most of those people are two earner families and they need every penny they have to live. Most don't have savings, so Mitt's proposal is useless. Moreover, because they are two earner families, they pay a higher tax than a single earner would.

Get a clue, Mitt

Scary Scenario

It's one thing to "know" that our financial markets and balance of trade are a mess. It's quite another to see it spelled out as it is in the following video. I have "known" for quite a while that the boom of the 90s was consumption based and that more economies were needed. I have "known" that the economic policies of the Bush administration were taking us deeper and deeper into shark infested waters ... now I want to KNOW who will rescue us from the sharks?