Comments on: $300 Billion

By: John

John — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:12:31 +0000

I agree that Obama is more fiscally responsible than McCain and the Bushies – I’d never dispute that. But Andrew’s specific claim was about spending, and Obama’s definitely a hiker on that front. And yes – I have to admit that at this point if I had the chance to influence a Senate election, I’d probably vote Republican, which really is saying something.

Your suggestion for a refund request sounds good to me …

By: JL Wall

JL Wall — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:54:16 +0000

Of course, things get more complicated when you start looking at how they plan to finance their respective spending increases — at which point, from what I’ve seen, Obama begins to look more responsible. So from a debt perspective, Andrew’s probably right. But it’s numbers like those that have me torn about whether to vote for McConnell for re-election now (I can’t stand the man, and there’s a chance to get rid of him that I’d otherwise jump at, but a 60-vote majority terrifies me a little).

Do you think that if I write a very nice letter detailing which government services I no longer wish the benefit of, they’ll send me some money back?

By: John

John — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 04:45:19 +0000

I think the NTU figures do include defense and homeland security, and they have Obama as proposing significant cuts there (which surprised me, since he does plan to increase the size of the military). It’s possible that the supplemental/emergency/whatever Iraq stuff isn’t included, though I’d be a bit surprised if the NTU let that slide.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 04:28:52 +0000

Don’t spending figures usually not include “emergency” DoD spending? Such as, the entire war on terror? Cutting spending there could easily change up those numbers. Skimming through the NTU reports, I saw nothing about such “emergency” spending. Spending on Iraq in the last year alone was over $100 billion. Granted, Obama or McCain could easily spend more than what is currently being spent, but if we do begin a pull-out soon, that spending could quickly begin decreasing each year rather than increasing.

But then, I don’t know enough about economics to actually have any authority on this. It just seems like there is a really large wild card here that no one is talking about.

By: John

John — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:33:39 +0000

Tell it to the Dow, Peter. Tell it to the Dow.

By: Peter W.

Peter W. — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:29:00 +0000

Statements that when uttered are always false #648:

“Well, whatever happens it couldn’t be any worse than this.”