I just got done perusing the section of John McCain's website dedicated to the economy. It sounds great:- Make gas cheaper
- Make gas cheaper
- Make gas cheaper
- Save mortgages
What is John McCain's plan for this? I'm supposed to say something witty here, but there's nothing to say. The problem is, he doesn't have any actual viable solutions for making gas cheaper. If you read his site, you get the impression that being the president gives you a magic wand to cast spells on OPEC. Unfortunately, some people are actually buying it.
I understand the willingness to succumb to a hope that a candidate can magically accomplish things, I really do. But I've never seen a more obvious attempt at pandering in my entire life.
The painful reality of John McCain's economic plan is that he has no idea how to pay for anything. His website says the following (I've made all quotes red, sort of like the Unites States' check register):
John McCain Will Help Americans Hurting From High Gasoline And Food Costs. Americans need relief right now from high gas prices. John McCain will act immediately to reduce the pain of high gas prices.
That sounds great but, how? How are we, who have a flagging dollar, supposed to make this reduction in gas prices. Better yet, how do YOU, John McCain, plan on making that happen?
From his site:
John McCain Will Stop Filling The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) To Reduce Demand. International demand for oil is bolstered by federal purchases for the SPR. There is no reason to fill it when oil is so expensive; the overall SPR is of adequate size, and when it places further upward pressure on prices.
So what he is saying is, we are already at the mercy of countries that hate us, but we should stop stockpiling reserves. What happens in a real war? What happens if OPEC finally decides to really start price gouging? Then we are at the complete mercy of their whims. I am by no means a protectionist, but I am also pessimistic about our relations with the largest oil producing countries.
By stopping the filling of our reserves, McCain's plan serves to increase our potential reliance on foreign oil. It is a classic pandering band-aid plan. Its sole purpose is to win an election. If we are to reduce gas prices, we must reduce demand, which will succeed in giving us more bargaining power.
McCain also proposes a "gas tax holiday" which is another shiny gimmick to get votes, but will do more harm than good according to every major economist in America. It's like giving away a free toaster with the purchase of a Mercedes Benz, it's a crude ruse to get your vote.
Check it out here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN3038243520080430
John McCain has even more plans to get votes:
John McCain Is Proposing A New "HOME Plan" To Provide Robust, Timely And Targeted Help To Those Hurt By The Housing Crisis. Under his HOME Plan, every deserving American family or homeowner will be afforded the opportunity to trade a burdensome mortgage for a manageable loan that reflects their home's market value.
So we're going to save families' homes by bailing them out with federal funding. It sounds great. How does John McCain plan on paying for it? This genius idea:
John McCain Will Cut Taxes For Middle Class Families. John McCain will permanently repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) – a tax that will be paid nearly exclusively by 25 million middle class families. Repealing this onerous tax will save middle class families nearly $60 billion in a single year. Under McCain's plan, a middle class family with children set to pay the AMT will save an average of over $2,700 – a real tax cut for working families.
I'm confused. We're going to keep Bush's tax cuts, eliminate the AMT, and lower coprorate taxes by 10%, right? So now the question becomes, where does McCain plan on getting the money to bail out homeowners? Better yet, where does McCain plan on getting funding for the military to keep us in Iraq for 5-100 years?
Cutting taxes sounds great to the average American, but what's the point of having a little more coin in your pocket if the dollar isn't worth anything? Is it worth sacrificing our education, roads, and military just to save the middle class a small amount? The lost benefit to the nation as a whole far outweighs the immediate benefit to the middle class. Simply put, I'd rather pay a little more in taxes in exchange for armed forces that are actually properly equipped.
All that John McCain proposes to do is spend money and cut taxes. I have a news flash, you plunge us into ever increasing national debt by continuing to spend without paying for it. It's no wonder that our nation is credit-sick, our government leads the way!
We have soldiers in Iraq with no body armor, and John McCain wants to cut taxes? We are trying teach our citizens to be credit-smart.....by raising the national debt? It just doesn't make any sense. John McCain has a bunch of great-sounding ideas, but no concrete way of making them come true. He's like a 15 year old with an American Express. He wants to spend with no plan on paying it back.
How about being fiscally responsible for once? If we can't afford a war, get out of it! McCain calls Obama a "tax and spender." I'd rather have a "tax and spender" than a "spend and spend and spender."
4 comments:
I want cheap gas too. I am also sick of relying on a foreign country for our oil. Unfortunately Obama does not feel that way. He feels that drilling cannot possibly help us now and it will take ten years for us to notice a difference. Ten years can be debated. What cannot is the fact that it would help us for our long term future. Which Obama seems to forget when he makes this statement at the same appearance:
"My job is not to look at the polls but to tell the American people the truth about WHAT'S GOING TO WORK WHEN IT COMES TO OUR LONG-TERM ENERGY FUTURE and how we can provide some short-term relief," Obama said.(http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2008/06/20/0620obama.html)
Ten years seems long term to me and it seems that he admits it will work. So why oppose it now? Simple, although he beleives it is the right thing to do he simply cannot agree with McCain on an issue, he would lose too many voters that will simply vote for him because he is not McCain (or Bush). It's sad but it is true.
It's clear that the majority of Americans agree with John McCain on the biggest issue facing our economy today (In a poll run by Zogby International 90% of Republicans, 75% of Independents, and 58% of Democrats agree with drilling in the US(http://www.naplesnews.com/photos/2008/jun/26/70039/)) yet, Obama says no and the only reason is that it will take ten years to benefit us.
Quite a weak stance on the most vital economic problem facing this country since the Great Depression.
I don't want cheap gas. I want cars that run without it. And no, 10 years doesn't seem like a long term to me. Ten years seems like a drop in a bucket, time that could be spent reducing our dependence not just on foreign oil, but on OIL AS A WHOLE. Americans may think that drilling is a good idea, but the fact is that we are all just desperate for some relief, and will cling to any sliver of hope, no matter the feasibility of it. The fact of the matter is, we cannot afford oil because it's traded on the dollar, and the dollar isn't worth squat. So the idea then is not to try to drill and refine our own oil, but to build up our independence from oil altogether, which will in turn strengthen our economy.
Along with drilling for our own oil (and decreasing our dependency, allowing us to export more) the dollar can strengthen. As of 2006 we were already the 3rd largest oil producer (too bad we are not a major exporter) in the world and we haven't come close to tapping into all of our resources. The problem is we are still using more than we are ALLOWED (by our own government) to produce. We are then forced to rely, heavily, on imports and foreign dependency which, I don't have to tell you, decreases the value of our dollar.
While we MUST reduce our thirst for gasoline, to think that we will be able to rid our dependence of oil all together is simply ludacris. Petroleum is used to make just about everything these days including the plastics that would be used in the gasoline-free vehicles we have but somehow cannot buy (that's another subject).
As a country we need to begin to see the light. We need to utilize all of the resources we have available to us (nuclear, coal, hydro, wind, & petro). I remember listening to what the breakdown was, but cannot seem to find anything now, I will have it later. I do agree this is our one and only wake up call and drilling in the homeland should not be viewed as a fix-all. That would be a SERIOUS mistake.
Please don't deny that it would help and it should be done.
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