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By Vickie Echols

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Wow, as I read a story in the Longview News-Journal — “Greenspan: Tough decisions await in Lehman case” — I felt really alarmed by the words of the former Federal Reserve chairman who offered a woeful outlook on America's economic situation: “Let's recognize that this is a once-in-a-half-century, probably once-in-a-century type of event.”

Greenspan said it was the worst “by far” in his career.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Greenspan argued that the country couldn't afford the tax cuts being proposed by John McCain without an equally massive reduction in spending. Caren Bohan states in an article published by Reuters, that McCain has pledged to keep in place the tax cuts pushed by President George W. Bush. Obama has proposed rolling back the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans while offering middle-class families a tax cut.

“People are frightened by these events,'' McCain told supporters this week. “The fundamentals of our economy are strong, but these are very, very, difficult'' times.

I agree with Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, who told supporters in Michigan that only McCain thinks great progress has been made under the Bush administration. “Ladies and gentlemen, I could walk from here to Lansing, and I wouldn't run into a single person who thought our economy was doing well, unless I ran into John McCain,'' Biden said.

I don't think McCain gets it.

Think about it. he not only supports a continued cut in corporate taxes, but also a multi-million dollar nation building project in Iraq and the willingness to start another war with Russia. Where is this extra money coming from when we have so many needs right here at home? We need a candidate who will focus on rebuilding our nation and cleaning up our own backyard.

Bush campaigned on reforming the Republican Party and look where we are today. McCain's promises of reform will be more of the same. Instead of just watching false ads or reading misleading e-mails, take a look at the details of Obama's economic plan at his Web site.

Don't take McCain's word for it. McCain's attacks on Obama's plans have been grossly misleading — according to Fact.Check.com

McCain claimed that Obama's health care plan would “force small businesses to cut jobs” and would put “a bureaucrat . . . between you and your doctor.” In fact, the plan exempts small businesses, and those who have insurance now could keep the coverage they have.

McCain attacked Obama for voting for “corporate welfare” for oil companies. In fact, the bill Obama voted for raised taxes on oil companies by $300 million over 11 years while providing $5.8 billion in subsidies for renewable energy, energy efficiency and alternative fuels. McCain himself proposes to cut the corporate rate for all companies — oil included — and that would result in an estimated $4 billion cut for the five largest U.S.-based oil companies, according to the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Obama, on the other hand, is promising that he'll strip oil companies of “tax breaks.”

McCain said oil imports send “$700 billion a year to countries that don't like us very much.” But the U.S. is on track to import a total of only $536 billion worth of oil at current prices, and close to a third of that comes from Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

He promised to increase use of “wind, tide [and] solar” energy, though his actual plan contains no new money for renewable energy. He has said elsewhere that renewable sources won't produce as much as people think.

He called for “reducing government spending and getting rid of failed programs,” but as in the past failed to cite a single program that he would eliminate or reduce.

He said Obama would “close” markets to trade. In fact, Obama, though he once said he wanted to “renegotiate” the North American Free Trade Agreement, now says he simply wants to try to strengthen environmental and labor provisions in it.

Fact Check.org also calls McCain out on his repeated vague promise to make spending cuts:

McCain: “Reducing government spending and getting rid of failed programs will let you keep more of your own money to save, spend and invest as you see fit.”

McCain has not said which programs he considers to be “failed programs.” He thus makes the spending cuts sound less painful than they will be should he fulfill his previously stated promise to balance the federal budget by 2013 while also making all Bush tax cuts permanent and adding new cuts of his own.

McCain repeated his promise to eliminate “earmarks” from federal spending bills, saying, “The first big-spending pork-barrel earmark bill that comes across my desk, I will veto it.” That drew applause, but the fact is that earmarks amount to only $16.9 billion in the current fiscal year, according to the Office of Management and Budget. Meanwhile, the deficit is expected to be more than $200 billion in 2009. John Young of the Waco Tribune-Herald points out that the total income for cutting earmarks from the budget is equivalent to two months' occupation in Iraq. “Regarding fiscal outrages, we are seeing a surge in rhetoric that's not matched by reality,” says Young.

And McCain's tax cuts will add billions more to future deficits unless offset by spending cuts, which he so far has not been willing to identify. What would he cut?

So, I agree with Stephen Wayne, a government professor at Georgetown University in Washington, who said in a Bloomberg News article, that the recent corporate meltdown will be linked to Bush, the Republicans and McCain's support of Republican philosophies.

“It is Obama's turn to bat,'' Wayne said. “Even if he misses, he fans the fires of economic discontent and generates support for the need to change. He may, however, have to change his slogan from `Yes, we can' to `Yes, we must!'''

I believe that Americans are far too intelligent to waste a vote on four more years of the same policies that McCain has supported over 90 percent of the time in office and if elected, will most certainly continue toward an even more woeful outlook for our country.

It's interesting reading these comments from a week ago. My oh my how time flies in the political world.

if THINKING was the criteria, Bush would never have been mentioned as a possible canidate.

Looking at her record, Palin Produces Partisanship. Wedges. Division.
Don't, however, dismiss her. She has many many similarities with Bush, including insightful political acumen.