Media efforts to minimize the differences notwithstanding, Barack Obama and John McCain couldn’t be much more different, especially on the issues of taxes.
The irony is, McCain, after his last presidential election, thought Bush’s trickle-down, class-warfare-style tax plan was ridiculous. “I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle-class Americans who most need tax relief,” McCain said in 2001.
Now, however, McCain is anxious to do precisely what he couldn’t in good conscience do before. Obama, meanwhile, is prepared to deliver for middle-class families and those at the lower end of the scale. The Washington-based Tax Policy Center crunched the numbers.
Both John McCain and Barack Obama promise to cut taxes for the majority of Americans. But an Obama administration would redistribute income toward lower- and middle-class households, while a McCain White House would steer the bulk of the benefits to the wealthiest families, according to a nonpartisan analysis of the still-evolving tax plans of the presidential candidates.
Kevin Drum summarized the bottom line nicely: “If you’re really rich and think that George Bush’s tax cuts for the rich didn’t go nearly far enough, John McCain is your man.”
This CNN clip, by way of TPM, was actually pretty good:
Filed Under: Barack Obama, Education, Election 08, John McCain, Taxes
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Can Jerri just report with out adding the emotional “If you’re super wealthy in this country Obama is going to sock you with more taxes of more than $700,000″
Thankfullu John is there to give some balance.
hmmmmm, I wonder where Jerri’s income lies on this scale
This election is so important. The wealthy have gotten away with bloody murder since the dawn of time. The middle class has to vote for Obama, or were doomed.
“You would expect the Democrats to raise taxes on lots of folks …”
Oh, really? We’ve been complaining about the anti-progressive Bush tax cuts for years. I’d expect them to raise taxes on the wealthy only.
You know what America?
When you max out the Country’s credit card eventually the Tax bill needs to come in.
If you don’t pay the bill you loose your credit and go bankrupt when they put a lein on you.
You can’t keep voting for people who tell you they won’t make you pay the bill.
You already voted for people who maxed out the card. You were dumb. You made a bad decision with your finances.
Time to pay the bill and stop whining that it’s too high.
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OK Repugnicants make up yer minds..
‘Perpetual War’ or ‘No Taxes for the Rich’.
One or the other, you can’t have it both ways.
Jerry, like the rest of the talking heads, make a fortune compared to us. Just listening to the hosts of MSNBC business channel, you can hear the distain they have for the working class. If there was justice, all the fat cats should lose their money and have to survive the real world.
Theres always a brights to everything, Chimpy has 200 days left in office, then off to the Hague for a well earned vacation,
McCain on the other hand is most likely to be replaced in September 2008, a mere 70 odd days away,
hes flipflopped and driven the Republican election hopes down so far, it would be funny if it was a Hollywood farce.
So who will the RNC replace McFlipflop with in September, one thing to be sure whoever it is, they are a McCain reject with the Retards voters.
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McCain will win the Presidential Election this November.
You know why?
He is for every side of every issue. American people cannot distinguish timeframe, so they hear what they want to hear. If they heard an opinion or policy of McCain’s from 2001 and it is what they want to hear, then in their mind, that is his policy. If they hear his latest pandering and they want to believe that, that is what they believe. What a beautiful approach. McCain knows that by him being the darling of the MSM, he will never be held accountable. They would never point out what is accurate or his flip flopping or what a hypocrite he is.
Ha, ha, ha! Watch the puppets step on eggshells as they mouth the words “level that playing field.” Network TV is fun again!
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kerplunk @ 10:
Can McCain walk and talk unaided now, I cant recall seeing him in motion recently or without a personal voice in his ear correcting his every utterance and blooper.
Wow, if only I could earn $38,000 a year, that would be sweet. Since I make only about $25,000 I suppose I’m like a homeless veteran, nobody knows I exist.
cnn was one of the strongest advocates of the ‘new economy’, along with the rest of the msm.
privatization, union busting, deregulation, tax cuts for the rich, tax havens for corporations, etc.–what has left america in the shape it now finds itself–were advocated, trumpeted, and pushed on the american public by the news whores at cnn, and other infotainment outlets.
i am not surprised that a channel as piss poor as cnn would continue to spread the market fundamentalist lie.
I sure wish people would wake up to the facts about how Reagan, Bush 1 and Bush 2 have used the United State’s credit card to pay off their friends and transfer power and wealth to the already rich and powerful. Stop saying that we need to cut government spending and not raise taxes. We need to pay our bills. the national debt is $9,431,262,012,150. We can end the BS occupation in Iraq, and balance that with an increase in investing in the national infrastructure and that would be somewhat a wash and the right thing to do. That still leaves about $31,000. of dept for every man woman and child in the united states. I don’t want to hear about tax cuts until a full 1/3 of the budget is not interest on the debt. It is time for those who have made so much from the commons to give back to the commons.
The TV seems to be very craft with their editing of footage of McElderly, they dont seem to show him in motion much.
Its like watching a decrepit D*sney animatron just before its pulled from the front to languish in the repair depot / scrap room.
Hey guys, you might want to give this forum a read to see where some people stand on taxes this election year. It boggles the mind where these people live and what century they live in:
http://www.eham.net/forums/Misc/7922
RayC @ 16:
I wonder if the holders of the Federal employee issued credit cards will also pay back the 41% they stole from the taxpayers.
A little matter of 5.74 billion dollars in 2007 spent on laptops ipods and similar consumer junk.
Rich people and the Republicans who serve them seem to forget that it is the taxes paid by the rest of the country that provided the infrastructure that made individuals rich and businesses successful.
Were Ford and Rockefeller self made men or did they have a little help from those ROADS AND HIGHWAYS that American taxpayers built? What about Exxon and the fast bastard that just retired with that massive retirement package. Did he benefit at all from those roads and bridges that we maintain?
It seems like the attitude among Republicans is that the rich people made their money all by themselves in a vaccume and the American treasury and the taxpayers that fill it deserve no credit or compensation for sponsoring their efforts.
How many here would turn down a job that paid a salary of $2 million/ year if it came with a preconditional tax of 60%. Anyone?
It still leaves $800,000 on the table.
Throught the virtue of hard work and sound investing I think a person making that kind of coin will be okay.
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Sam @ 18:
Theres one person there with a brain and the ability to listen to sane people.
Plisko@20: “Were Ford and Rockefeller self made men or did they have a little help from those ROADS AND HIGHWAYS that American taxpayers built”
thanks for that, it is a crucial point that is rarely brought up. and is one reason why there is no such thing as a “free” market. the roads, ports, bridges, etc. that are vital to commerce were not, are not and will not be “free”.
ferrofluid (Obama 08) @ 17:
When you say above ” The TV seems to be very craft ” are you using the word CRAFT in the meaning “Can’t Remember A Fucking Thing” (like old CIA hacks do)?
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Hey - I think something is finally trickling down on me from the Reagan years of tax cuts to the wealthy….unfortunately, it’s brown and smells pretty bad….
Sam @ 18:
Of course the typical Republican radio amatuer is mostly likely of a certain age and ex mil, and current or ex corparate,
so they prob have good paid for health care.
Which is pretty much the stereotypical Retard out there, they are fine, screw everybody else.
(until the big one bankrupts them, then they blame the libruls and scream for gov assistance and bailouts)
Bingo for Obama–I like his going after higher incomes to keep paying social security taxes, too.
Talking head says, “You would expect the Democrats to raise taxes across all income brackets…”
Huh?! Since when do Dems want to tax the poor?
‘low income people’ >> $38-66,000
she has no fucking clue.
Samson- @ 24:
Exactly. If they want a real free market then lets start charging every business in the country a “service fee” on behalf of Americans for the use of our infrastructure
Yea, I know. That’s what taxes are supposed to be but when you call it a “service charge” it sounds more like capitalism and how can they argue with a free market where the citizens can charge for their services too?
the sad thing is poor southerners will still think mccain is better for them then obama
ferrofluid (Obama 08)@23
I tell them we will have to wait in long lines, and they say “not here we don’t”.
no. fucking. doubt.
3 weeks ago my g/f and i had to go to the emergency room in CC philly. we got there at 6pm…. and then we waited.
and waited.
and waited.
and waited.
when it got close to midnight we started to ask the hospital employees if we could expect to see a doctor soon. and we were told that they have no idea when that might, but probably close to 3am. and, again, we got there at 6pm.
so, after waiting almost 6 hours we had to go (long story, had to do w/nature of injury), and not only couldn’t we get reimbursed for the $50 charge, we were sent a bill for an add’l $250.
fuck our healthcare system. the msm, the health field, the govt, and anyone who uses the term ’socialized’ medicine is lying. we are paying out the nose for a crumbling, failing and awful healthcare system.
anyway, it should be called christianized healthcare.
cut the bloated war budget and help the citizens.
Avenger @ 30:
They would expect that because it’s what the republicans constantly spew. “The evil Democrats will raise your taxes” and the poor and uninformed believe it. Hope those voters watched this clip.
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♠Bangkok-Bob♠ in Chiang Mai @ 25:
I meant crafty as in slick editing to remove McCains feeble movements on camera, his doctors claim he is decades younger than his years (HAHHAHHA)
Yes we all believe that an ex USAF pilot that ejected several times, badly beaten and mangled, spent five years as a POW is AOK.
Of course he collects 100% disability pension, after being put back into flight duty as 100% fit in the 70s, makes sense in the Repug poltical world.
One rule for them, bad rules and Reagan style trickle down welfare for the rest of us.
Mickxotic @ 27:
Ha!
Soooo funny.
People are so desperate to think that Obama is somehow different, that he is working for the interests of the average American. It is going to be really interesting to see how despondent people get after — say — the Democrats sweep both houses and the presidency and then, as always, the average American worker continues to get pounded and abused and his wishes blatantly ignored.
The truth is Obama is no different from McCain in substance. Obama’s grovelling before AIPAC is proof enough of that, as is the presence of Trilateral Commission co-founder Brezinski (misspelt, my apologies) as his foreign policy advisor which, along with the Council on Foreign Relations, is dedicated to the destruction of the United States in favour of a more “globalist” outlook.
You don’t become a major candidate for president of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party unless you are already owned and compromised by the Powers that Be, which the average American not only isn’t a part of but barely even knows exists. And those PTB run the US government literally from the shadows and not only own both political parties outright but also the media.
Real change in America will only happen when people open their minds and their hearts and really start examining how this whole system is designed to enslave and intimidate us. We are months away from what will be, a second Great Depression, this one far more devastating than the last, and Americans are really clueless about what is coming.
Stop watching the TV for news, it isn’t news, its entertainment, and Obama is just the Punch and Judy Democrat doll designed to distract you from what is coming. And virtually all incumbent Democrats and Republicans need to be ousted from office next election or this country is done, done, done.
Samson- @ 34:
I had the misfortune and luck to be admitted to a British NHS hospital 3am one sunday morning with a very bad asthma attack.
Got seen within minutes, then treated with oxygen and nebulizer for the next seven hours,
also got a free floor show of the doctors and nurses treating the various injured drunks too as they came in and got patched up.
It was the worst time and day of the week, yet everybody got seen and treated quickly.
kerplunk @ 10:
Don’t know if he’ll win, but your comment about Americans not being able to distinguish timeframe is dead-on.
They don’t remember history, and neither does McCain. Commonality of fools.
“Were Ford and Rockefeller self made men or did they have a little help from those ROADS AND HIGHWAYS that American taxpayers built?”
I, personally, think it goes beyond us socializing the costs of infrastructure though. Rockefeller is a good example as to why there is no such thing as self made billionaires, it always involves stealing wealth from people who produced something for society. The existence of people so rich is a flaw in the system, why people accept it is beyond me. If I invest in the market and make a return I increase my wealth and don’t work one bit. I increase my wealth by monopolizing the work of someone else. Someone else produced something of value, or a financial institution or a central bank created wealth out of thin air by simply creating debt, and I step in and, because I already have money beyond what I need (the more I steal from the work of others the more I’ll have to invest and I’ll have even more than what I need as far as basic necessities), invest and take whatever they produce.
What they produce is worth a certain amount and wages are then reduced as much as possible, so the difference between what is earned on the market after what is produced is sold and the wage being paid to who produced it is as large as possible. That’s why Adam Smith said that profits were highest in the countries going quickest to ruin.
In the 20th century working people fought against this idea, now it’s common place amongst workers in the developed world. We’re all just happy as long as we get a cut of the action, which also explains why poverty (especially in other countries) is so often ignored. Truly caring about the poor and the working poor means objecting to this set up.
David @39
Me thinks you’re a concern troll.
David @ 39: