Drew Dowdell

Without even having to look up the charts, I can extrapolate from your statement that currency supply was about $2 trillion dollars at the beginning of Clinton's term (seems low, but we'll work with it). Now, rather than looking at percentages, look at total dollar amounts. Currency increased by $2 trillion dollars under Clinton and $4 trillion under Bush, that's twice as much in the same amount of time. But that's just currency. Starting under Clinton, but really took off under Bush, the credit market exploded. You couldn't let your dog run loose for fear it would come home with a mortgage. Mortgage companies were letting you borrow up to 125% of the value of your home and then make only interest payments. Astonishingly, there are auto lenders that would let you have a loan at 125% of the value of your car.... a depreciating asset!! All of this was "made up" money. It didn't exist, yet companies and individuals got to book it as income. The government taxed that income. This is where the government's increased tax revenue came from..... NOT Bush's tax cuts.

Wholesale gas prices down another nickel to 2.40 a gallon

Ricer, if you've the the centrifuge, I have the uranium! :thumbsup:

Where do you sign up for the RNC talking points email distribution? I can just have it autopost here and save you the time.

Privatizing the profits and socializing the losses.

WaMu has FDIC Insured deposits of $140 billion...... the FDIC has $33 billion in assets........

I would suggest you use this tool to determine if you want to move your funds and where to move them to. I would be especially watchful of WaMu and Wachovia right now.

Some government intervention is fine and necessary. Government intervention for the greed or in the case of stupidity is bad. Mark my words, the only smart thing Clinton did in economic policy was raise taxes during an economic upswing. Everything else was to service the financial elite. Bush 43 has continued this "tradition".

If the judges stuck to what the constitution states, we'd still have slavery. I'm not going to get into an abortion debate, but it's unlikely that Obama could change the over all make up of the court. The next justices to retire are the liberal ones anyway.

John McCain is running against a black man with a middle eastern sounding name and it's still a struggle for him. What does that say about McCain? John Kerry came close to unseating a popular, wartime President. 2004 wasn't the miracle for Bush you think it was. John McCain used to be known for his straight talk... no bs. Now he has resorted to massive, blatant lying... doing anything he can, saying anything he can, to get the Whitehouse.

Many of the largest companies, especially those in finance, won't be paying taxes for some time regardless of if Obama raises the corporate tax.

Bank deregulation, more specifically the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act (loose money policy) Low interest rate, asked for by Clinton, provided by Greenspan (loose money policy) Raised taxes and the minimum wage (not sure which side you're arguing with on this one) Where I'm going with this is, the financial changes made under Clinton and Bush 41 bubbled up, boiled over, and exploded in Bush 43's face. Bush wasn't the cause of the fire, but he's done nothing but add gasoline, with the help of Greenspan, Bernake, and Paulson.

It may work in theory, but we have 80 years of history of it NOT working. Only JFK's tax cut for the rich did anything and because that bracket was at an absurd +90% rate. The crisis we're in right now is one of solvency. Rich people are solvent, poor and middle class people are not. Cutting making sure Paris Hilton's taxes stay low is not going to help the economy in any way. edit: And I have to say thank you... how refreshing it is to debate someone one this in a rational and thought out manner.

That is exactly how we got into this mess in the first place.

I'm not referring to price inflation, I'm referring to inflation of the money supply. Greenspan is initially at fault for it, but the Treasury under Bush bares the brunt of the blame. In 2000 when Bush took office, there was roughly $4 trillion in currency in circulation. In 2008 there is $8 trillion. Add to that the "money" that has been created out of thin air from the loose credit market. When people are buying things with money they don't have (credit cards, mortgages, HELOCS), it drives the economy. Business gets to book that as income, businesses pay their employees with that income, and while government gets to tax all of it.... but the money was created from thin air. The problem is, we've reached Peak Credit and that's why everything is coming apart today.

"Poor" people spend money when they get a bit extra. Rich people save it. I'm not sure I'd call $35k - $111k poor though. There are LOTS of small business owners who fall into that category...... probably most of them. It's not like Harry Hedgefund is going to spend the extra money right now... in fact he's even MORE likely to sock it away due to the terrible market conditions.

Again, incorrect. If they are getting a check from the IRS after they do their taxes, all that means is they filled out their W-4 wrong. A simple adjustment in the HR department will fix that. However it doesn't change their tax bracket, it just causes their tax withholding to reflect their true tax bracket. The numbers in that chart are Adjusted Gross Income numbers... in other words, AFTER all the deductions. My goal every year is to neither owe the IRS nor have them owe me. I have no desire to provide Uncle Sam an interest free loan all year. Quicken and Turbotax can help you determine what your W-4 should look like based on your previous year's taxes. If you're getting a $1,200 refund from the IRS every year, that's $100 more per month you could have in your pocket 12 months prior.

renewable is the keyword. It would be exempt from the gas/diesel tax that I would propose. I'm not saying algae is the only way... just my favorite. I'd make the corn lobby go stand in the corner however.

You understand that your taxes have already been raised, you just haven't gotten the bill yet...... and interest is growing on that bill every day.

I would do that do non-renewable based gasoline/diesel. Algae based ethanol and bio-diesel is the way to go.

Did you read the links I included?

I wouldn't spend the money quite like that. I would spend the money on the R&D to develop more advanced and efficient and safer forms of non-dinosaur based energy. Basic rotor design, basic photovoltaic chemistry, basic reactor design hasn't changed in 30 years. After that, then I would spend the money on installations. To pay for this (because I believe in balancing the budget), I would increase the taxes on non-renewable <not counting nuclear> energy.

No, I'm implying that McCain is using the "Obama is going to raise taxes on everyone!!!121!!!eleventty!!" boogyman to scare middle and lowerclass voters into voting against their interests.

Government to the rescue though. The fed is likely about to kill the dollar with an interest rate cut at the same time foreign currencies are going to be taking interest rate hikes. That'll prop up oil prices.