Hello…It’s the Economy, Stupid! 2008 Edition, GOP Primer.
Since I profiled the economic proposals of the top three Dems, It’s only fair that I do the same for the red side of the carpet.
Boy is it dismal. Words simply cannot explain the crap that is coming from these fartknockers.
First and foremost, when you click on the “issues” link on each one of their websites, the issue of the Economy is WAY BELOW “Keeping America Safe” rhetoric. What does this tell me? They all believe the biggest issue confronting them is the evil boogie man: terrorism. The Economy has just RECENTLY gained importance and only because a record number of Americans are facing foreclosure which is ultimately destroying their portfolios. That can’t happen, dammit.
It’s virtually impossible for me to highlight anything good about the Republican plans for the US Economy. It’s all the same shit the Bush Administration gave us, just wrapped up in a neato new package! Free market this, Tax cuts that, ownership society, social security needs to be priviatized—BLAH BLAH BLAH.
What I WILL do is highlight the absurdity of the importance of the issues. believe me, this is fucking hilarious. It will also demonstrate how detached they really are from the everyday economic issues of the common middle class family. In order of…well…I don’t like any of them so I’ll order it on who currently has the most delegates. Afterwards, I’ll tell you the order of issues on the website of the Contending em front runner. After I reach an economic issue, I will stop listing them. Recent additions regarding the “Stimulus Plan” are NOT included.
His issues page mentions Jihad, Nuclear and Tyrants right at the top, suggesting that the greatest threats aren’t the fact that most Americans haven’t seen a friken raise in a long time, but some perceived dictators overseas.
In layout order:
Keeping Americans Safe at Home and Abroad
Confronting Radical Jihad
Combating Nuclear Terrorism
Strengthening Latin American Allies and Confronting Tyrants
Winning the Global Economic Competition
Clinton places Strengthening the Middle Class as her number one issue.
Okay–Disclaimer here: McCain DOES address the Economy as the first issue in the form of a “Tax Cut Plan” Typical. Tax cuts DO NOT WORK! McCain, by far, may appeal to the moderate dem who is disheartened by the current front runner.
Obama’s list of issues: Civil Rights, Disabilities, Economy.
This is, by far, the most disturbing. Luckily, the Evangelicals who believe he will bring on the second coming are showing that their group doesn’t encompass most of the GOP base. Knock on wood.
The Secure America Plan
Immigration
Faith and Politics
Sanctity of Life
Veterans’ Bill Of Rights
Education And The Arts
Health Care
Taxes/Economy
To be fair, he does address health care and keeps “marriage” after addressing the economy. Still…can he get anymore wacky????
John Edwards lists the economy first under
Standing Up For Regular Families
So now that I have painstakingly shown you the utter disconnect of the Republican front runners, tell me your thoughts on these fuck knuckles.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
My thoughts on republican economics:
Huckabee is only a viable candidate because the economic elite of the Republican party have relied on the ironically-named “values voters” to win middle class votes while systematically screwing over the middle class. Now that the economic bubble has burst in housing and the middle class are left with shockingly little actual wealth, the candidates don’t have anything, because any real fix will go against the “what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mind” model of their party’s rich folk.
So they’re values voters are revolting and they have nothing to offer them but uselss and patronizing tax cuts.
By the way, one way that would really help free up income and stimulate the economy seems to me to be to put caps on credit card interest rates. But I’m no expert on economic policies…
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Funny you should mention “Values Voters”. I haven’t heard that term repeated like it was in ‘04. I suspect that your take on the whole Value Voters thing is probably correct since they’ve been totally screwed money wise.
As for the CC interest rates, in theory that is an awesome idea but the CC lobby would NEVER allow it to happen. The banks rely on those high interest rates as a huge form of income. If they were smart, they would do this to spur consumer spending and starve off any debt implosion on a mass scale. Unfortunately, CC companies are greedy and unwilling to cap those high rates. Wait for write downs because of CC debt securitization going the way of Subprime mortgages. It will happen.
I don’ t think we have many options in the way of quick fixes like the “stimulus” plan. We’re all going to feel the pain in some way. Typically, the area that I live in very seldom feels a recession too badly because we have the military industrial complex here and the Federal government keeping us afloat and the medical research facilities that locate in the Bal-Wash corridor to stay close to the NIH. (That was told to me a long time ago by my father. He was sooo right)