Election 2008: RESULTS

[Maitre D]

I wish you were right JLB, and I agree with your points.  But I'm afraid it just ain't so.  Tax cuts invariably lead to increased spending, not lowered:

The data crunched by Niskanen (cited by both Bartlett and Rauch) suggests that tax cuts cause government spending to go up, and tax increases cause government spending to go down. Rauch writes:

Niskanen recently analyzed data from 1981 to 2005 and found his hunch strongly confirmed. When he performed a statistical regression that controlled for unemployment (which independently influences spending and taxes), he found, he says, “no sign that deficits have ever acted as a constraint on spending.” To the contrary: judging by the last twenty-five years (plenty of time for a fair test), a tax cut of 1 percent of the GDP increases the rate of spending growth by about 0.15 percent of the GDP a year. A comparable tax hike reduces spending growth by the same amount.

Again looking at 1981 to 2005, Niskanen then asked at what level taxes neither increase nor decrease spending. The answer: about 19 percent of the GDP. In other words, taxation above that level shrinks government, and taxation below it makes government grow. Thanks to the Bush tax cuts, revenues have been well below 19 percent since 2002 (17.8 percent last year). Perhaps not surprisingly, government spending has risen under Bush.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/20 ... -is-nixon/

[KCKev]

  At some point you have to raise taxes on enough people to revolt against the entitlement culture.  I think this will be Obama's greatest problem.  He has made so many promises without any idea of how to pay for them.  During the next four years either he will disappoint the entitlement crowd, or he will disappoint the 95% of voters he promised a tax cut to.  If it is the latter he loses a landslide either for Dems in 2010 or both in 2012.

When we get out of the made up Republican WAR in Iraq, Lots of Money will become available..

Yes We Can !

[NDTeve]

Tell Biden and Hilary about that REPUBLICAN War.

[jlbomega]

I think the timeframe of 1981 to 2005 is a bit narrow.  You had tax cutters for much of that time in the Oval Office that fought three wars (one by proxy with the USSR).  The main differnece between Reagan and Bush was W decided to increase entitlement spending by an astounding rate while he was waging war.  Sooner rather than later we will not have the access necessary to borrowing money to service our needs.  

If Obama wants to pursue a liberal agenda by increasing entitlements on top of his aggressive energy plan it will force him to raise taxes on everyone that actually pays taxes, not just the "rich".  Once this happens people will throw the Dems out so fast they will never know what hit them.  

[KCKev]

Has George found them WMD's yet? Wasn't that his excuse for getting in to the war? Or was it he cared so much for the People sitting on all that Oil?

[Beermo]

you heard about the call that dubya made to obama didn't you? he congratulated him and said "why wait for january, you can move in this weekend".

[Maitre D]

As pointed out earlier today, the gay marriage ban in liberal CA narrowly passed 52-48.    Whites actually voted it down, but blacks went 70-30 for it.


So: you libs like to talk 'schisms' in the GOP base.   I ask you this:  how much longer can gays tolerate black bigotry from within the DNC?

[KCKev]

As pointed out earlier today, the gay marriage ban in liberal CA narrowly passed 52-48.    Whites actually voted it down, but blacks went 70-30 for it.


So: you libs like to talk 'schisms' in the GOP base.  I ask you this:  how much longer can gays tolerate black bigotry from within the DNC?

I'd guess as long as there is freedom of speech?

[jlbomega]

I'd guess as long as there is freedom of speech?

FYI... Obama and Biden voted for the Patriot Act

[grovester]

As pointed out earlier today, the gay marriage ban in liberal CA narrowly passed 52-48.    Whites actually voted it down, but blacks went 70-30 for it.


So: you libs like to talk 'schisms' in the GOP base.   I ask you this:  how much longer can gays tolerate black bigotry from within the DNC?

damn it's going to be a long 4 years

[IraGlacialis]

I may be fairly conservative, but I offer my sincerest congratulations towards Obama and hope that he will prove to be a strong and capable leader.

However, I will anticipate the wave of disappointment that crashes upon his supporters. It will be so delicious.
Oh and before someone gets upon me, I will anticipate the same thing if some conservative with an equivalent cult following gets elected.
Hey, I'm a cynical pragmatist.

[warwickland]

I may be fairly conservative, but I offer my sincerest congratulations towards Obama and hope that he will prove to be a strong and capable leader.

However, I will anticipate the wave of disappointment that crashes upon his supporters. It will be so delicious.
Oh and before someone gets upon me, I will anticipate the same thing if some conservative with an equivalent cult following gets elected.
Hey, I'm a cynical pragmatist.

your problem is youre jealous of cult followings. but being someone who voted in highly rural missouri precincts in 2000 and 2004...i've already seen a conservative cult following...and after nearly a decade, it's off the road and in the ditch on fire. i won't quite call it delicious, though. 

[KCKev]

I'd just say to everyone.. Take care of YOUR doings and stop worrying about what others do. You can only control YOUR actions not someone else.

[IraGlacialis]

but being someone who voted in highly rural missouri precincts in 2000 and 2004...i've already seen a conservative cult following...and after nearly a decade, it's off the road and in the ditch on fire. i won't quite call it delicious, though.

Point taken.
Though I just haven't seen this much "hope" and **** put into a single candidate, and if he disappoints them (even if he is a great leader; he just didn't give his constituents what he wanted), I will lap up the waves of crushed dreams. Yes, I made peace with the fact that I one sick puppy.
Then again, I probably won't get my wish because what will most likely happen, if he disappoints, is that they will act like they never even voted for him and hang him out to dry. Because the American public has the attention span of a damn goldfish.  

your problem is youre jealous of cult followings.

IMHO, a better term is "extremely suspicious".
Hey, I may like the candidate, but completely loathe the rabid mass that panders around him/her. Same as I may dislike a candidate, but find the equally rabid insult-throwing appalling (some of the statuses on Facebook from purely anti-Obama folks are sad yet amusing).
Oh, both "Change" and "Maverick" equally made me cringe during this election.

[warwickland]

i'll just move my dramatic rant from "transportation" wherein it didn't really apply-

what a bittersweet election...Obama wins, but Missouri loosing its bellwether status bothers me, as if we are a state off in the ditch, out of it, for good. and the hard blows to urban areas on both sides saddens me.

damn it...i feel like a son of missouri, having lived every aspect you possibly can in this state-from a major suburb to an isolated farm to a small town/city to the deep core of both its major cities. today, i'm incredibly happy, but crushed as well.

i had a naive vision of the future of this state.

[ComandanteCero]

well, there still are 7,000 provisional ballots to be counted....

[IraGlacialis]

what a bittersweet election...Obama wins, but Missouri loosing its bellwether status bothers me, as if we are a state off in the ditch, out of it, for good. and the hard blows to urban areas on both sides saddens me.

I do have to admit that was highly disappointing.
Though the closeness of the result was quite impressive with almost an even 50/50 (or 49/49) split.

And there are always exceptions to a rule. This may just be a hickup (like what happened in '56), and it may get it's reputation back come next election. 50-year-intervals.

[Beermo]

i'll just move my dramatic rant from "transportation" wherein it didn't really apply-

what a bittersweet election...Obama wins, but Missouri loosing its bellwether status bothers me, as if we are a state off in the ditch, out of it, for good. and the hard blows to urban areas on both sides saddens me.

damn it...i feel like a son of missouri, having lived every aspect you possibly can in this state-from a major suburb to an isolated farm to a small town/city to the deep core of both its major cities. today, i'm incredibly happy, but crushed as well.

i had a naive vision of the future of this state.

a letter in todays paper says thank god for rural missouri. he's always considered the west side (kansas city) and east side (st louis) as pimples on both sides of a nice face of missouri.

[Highlander]

i'll just move my dramatic rant from "transportation" wherein it didn't really apply-

what a bittersweet election...Obama wins, but Missouri loosing its bellwether status bothers me, as if we are a state off in the ditch, out of it, for good. and the hard blows to urban areas on both sides saddens me.

damn it...i feel like a son of missouri, having lived every aspect you possibly can in this state-from a major suburb to an isolated farm to a small town/city to the deep core of both its major cities. today, i'm incredibly happy, but crushed as well.

i had a naive vision of the future of this state.

I think it is inmaterial who Missouri voted for in the election.  It has no tangible impact on anybody in the state except maybe the state will not be in the public eye as much as a baromter for the next election.  People tend to forget that support for the loser (McCain) was widespread.  Afterall, nearly 47% of the people in the nation thought he was the better choice.

In any event, I am far more concerned about the light rail vote.  That says something about KC.  Furthermore, I fear young educated people seeking a vibrant urban environment (which I think KC can offer) are going to start to lose patience with KC.  I'm 50 and wanting to move back to KC in the next 5 years and this vote even has me rethinking.  What is worse is that when educated younger people start to leave for bigger and better climes, it is kind of like separating the wheat from the chaff leaving a larger proportion of insular people as the majority who will become an even greater impediment for progressing the city.  The fractionation of the city with the majority of wealth residing in another state is an equally large impediment that will forever loom over KC.   In the future (and it's already started) corporations are starting to realize that to attract the qualified and educated, they need to be in places that offer them some semblance of what they are seeking.  KC really stands to be left out in the cold here.    I know at least one oil company that is starting to abandon Houston for that very reason; it's easier to attract educated people to Denver (and a host of other cities that are taking the steps to create a desirable urban environment).

[NDTeve]

Why would you want Obama to fail or laugh when he does? How is that good for our country?