Voting records speak for themselves, page 2

BUDGET AND ECONOMY

Barrack Obama:

…we can't deliver on the kinds of health care reforms that Clinton and I are looking for. McCain is willing to have these troops over there for 100 years. The notion that we would sustain that kind of effort and neglect not only making us more secure here at home, more competitive here at home, allow our economy to sink.

Pure political drivel! His pretending to have not understood what McCain meant is evidence that he is more of the same. I’m as opposed to having yet another spin-meister in the White House as I am to continuing the war. To try and somehow connect the health care issue to the war is spin at its highest level. The sub-prime fiasco and the price of oil are the cause of our current state of affairs and I believe he knows this. That means he is nothing new and just another Bozo on the Political Bus.

Obama proposes the following:
*Create a Credit Card Rating System to Improve Disclosure.
*Establish a Credit Card Bill of Rights to Protect Consumers.
*Cap Outlandish Interest Rates on Payday Loans and Improve Disclosure.

A GIANT YES on this one. This issue hit’s a home run with me. My only issue would be that the interest cap of 36% he proposes should be closer to 25%. It is time usury was dealt with.

Here is a great example of the problem I see with Obama and his attempting to be on more than one side of issues or to back up his stances with his votes –

***Obama did vote against--and Clinton voted for--an amendment that would have placed a 30% cap on the interest rate that could be charged…
…Obama was standing next to Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-MD, the senior Democrat on the banking committee and the leader of those opposing the landmark bill….

… Sen. Mark Dayton of Minnesota, sponsor of the amendment, said on the Senate floor that such a cap "is still consumer abuse" but is much better than rates of more than 300%, which he said were being charged by some loan operations in the country.***

So is he for or against this usury by the banks? His vote says he is on the banks side and his rhetoric says the opposite. More of the same old beltway spin he claims to oppose?

…I two years ago introduced a provision that would eliminate predatory lending, something that I had already helped to get passed at the state level.

If he believes this, then again I have to ask, why did he vote against a helpful measure when he had the opportunity and why did he support the banks interests instead of those of the consumers?

Right now we've got a whole host of corporate loopholes and tax havens. There's a building in the Cayman Islands that houses supposedly 12,000 US-based corporations. That's either the biggest building in the world or the biggest tax scam in the world, and we know which one it is.

Sounds good in print, but it does not reflect his real intentions or the reality of our system. Any tax burden placed on business will be immediately added to the price the consumer pays and he seems to have no interest in protecting small businesses operating as sole-proprietorships. The effect of his eliminating the Bush Tax Cuts would not harm the so called Big Business, but it would hurt small business owners and make it even more difficult for others to realize the American Dream by starting their own business. If he intended on excluding small business from this Robin Hood scheme, he would say so openly. He knows rescinding the tax cuts will only harm the poor and those struggling to start their own businesses. It is truly a shame so many of our voters are so naïve about economic affairs.

Sometimes markets fail, and that's when labor laws and government regulation are necessary correctives.

When has government ever got involved with the market that it has not made matters worse than they already are. Let us not forget that the Democratic Party controlled Congress for 40 YEARS under this tired, failed view of economics that Obama wrongly presents as something new.

We can restore a law that was in place during the Clinton presidency--called Paygo--that prohibits money from leaving the treasury without some way of compensating for the lost revenue.

Once again, more proof he wants to return to the tired, old idea’s of yesteryear and truly does not have any intention of this “change” he constantly talks about.

Our rural communities are the backbone of Illinois. Yet, factories have closed, jobs have disappeared, and homes and farms have been foreclosed upon. Effective federal programs are necessary to protect the rural economy.

Pure political pandering with no substance. Tell them what they want to hear, seems to his mantra.

Obama adopted the CBC principles:

The CBC is focused on economic empowerment issues including:
New Markets and Small and Minority Business Development. The CBC will seek to increase opportunities for minority and small and disadvantaged businesses by expanding contracting opportunities in the public and private sectors, increasing access to capital, creating tax incentives for capital improvements, removing outdated and restrictive regulatory barriers, and streamlining and enhancing procurement tools to encourage minority and small business utilization.
Trade and Global Economic Empowerment. The CBC will work to ensure that the benefits of the dynamic global marketplace extend to minority businesses, and Africa and developing countries. To this end, the CBC will propose and support trade and investment initiatives designed to bridge the global digital divide, create jobs, improve infrastructure, promote sustainable development, and raise living and work standards for people of color around the globe. Moreover, the CBC will work to ensure that America’s international trade agenda and priorities also meet these goals.
Increasing Affordable Housing Opportunities. The CBC’s goal is to increase the nation’s homeownership rates. Home ownership is one of the best wealth creation vehicles for minority families. We will work with lending institutions and community organizations to ensure that minorities are afforded every opportunity to realize the dream of owning a home.
Source: Congressional Black Caucus press release 01-CBC10 on Jan 6, 2001

Whatever happened to the concept of equal rights under the law? What about equal opportunity regardless of race, religion or social class? Pandering for the minority vote? You betcha!
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John McCain:

On the issue of Bear Stearns, every financial expert I know says that if it had failed, it would have rippled throughout the entire financial community and would have caused greater problems which eventually would have come down on the average citizen if our economy continues to decline the way that it's been doing.

Wrong! All business should stand or fail based on merit or performance. It is the heart of Capitalism and the nature of the beast that businesses that make bad choices should learn to change or fail based on those choices.

Of course there's a role for government, but it's not to reward greedy speculators. It is not to reward people who misbehave…

Now he is back on track, however this contradicts his view on Bear Stearns.

You could argue that Americans overall are better off, because we have had a pretty good prosperous time, with low unemployment and low inflation and a lot of good things have happened. A lot of jobs have been created. But let's have some straight talk. Things are tough right now.

Seems to be an honest assessment, that is based in reality.

We need to make the Bush tax cuts permanent

Yes, we do.

I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated…
….Actually, I don't know where you got that quote from. I'm very well-versed in economics.

Evidence that saying what people want to hear is ingrained in the psyche of the candidates on both sides of the aisle.

Of course, any nation that no longer has economic strength sooner or later will lose its military strength, so it's a national security issue..
…If oil reaches $100 a barrel, which many people think it may, $400 billion of America treasure will go to oil-producing countries. Some of those monies will go to terrorist organizations….

So where is the evidence he has made any attempt to address this issue while serving in the Senate?

As president of the United States, I'd take an old veto pen that Ronald Reagan gave me, and I'd veto every single pork barrel bill that comes across my desk. quote]

Yes, please do!

Here is one I know about 
The lie –

$233 million for a bridge to nowhere.

The truth-

McCain's TV ad cites "$233 million for a bridge to nowhere," calling the cost "outrageous." Funding for the "bridge to nowhere," also known as the Gravina Island bridge in Alaska, was tacked on to a 2005 transportation bill.
Whether it was truly a "bridge to nowhere" is debatable: Gravina Island, while it has almost no permanent population, is also home to the Ketchikan International Airport, which processes about 200,000 passengers a year. Alaskan officials hoped that the bridge would simplify airport access and allow development on Gravina. The bridge was not the only or the most expensive project attached to the transportation bill, and it may not have been the most frivolous. But it became a symbol for government pork.

In light of the furor over the "bridge to nowhere," Alaska's governor opted to use the money for other pursuits. The bridge was never built, but McCain has been using it as his prime pork example since 2005.

Source: FactCheck.org: AdWatch of 2007 campaign ad, "Outrageous" Nov 20, 2007

Another example of how most politicians will even turn on their own and resort to spin (lies or exaggerations) if they feel it will get them elected. Alaska and its needs are often misrepresented by both sides due to the fact they don’t see Alaska as being relevant to their own political futures.

***Note:
I can see that to truly do this in all honesty would require many more posts. I’ve barely scratched the surface of the reasons I can’t bring myself to vote for either Obama or McCain. I think I’ll leave it at my thoughts on these two issues for the moment.