The Only Things Certain Are Death & Texas

In a little more than 48 hours, we'll (hopefully) know who will be the next President of the United States. That's barring any miscounts in any southern states (I'm looking at you, Florida) and any confusion in our electoral process (I'm looking at you, popular vote vs. electoral vote). In North Carolina alone, more than 2.5 million people have already voted in early voting. By comparison, about 3 million people voted in the state in the 2004 election. And we haven't even HIT Election Day yet! It's such a big election and it's the topic of many conversations at home, on the street and in the workplace. Seriously...listen in public for any conversations that drift toward the left, then count how long it takes for someone to ask the people to shut up or to insert their own View-hosting, hair-bleaching, McCain-loving, anti-Obama-Kool-Aid opinions. It's funny to see how upset the conservatives are...and know that they would be MORE than happy to brag about the Republican party if McCain were leading in more polls.

I digress. In the waning hours before this landmark election, we're hearing a lot of talk about Joe the Plumber, "Godless Americans," and Marxism. If you are able to filter through all that bullshit, you'll also hear some talk about the ECONOMY. Wow, what a novel idea...talking about something that AFFECTS AMERICANS. So, the contrite response from the McCain campaign is that Obama wants to tax people and, in some cases, raise taxes. The Republicans are all upset about this, all up in arms and wagging their fingers at Obama...but don't they realize he's trying to clean up THEIR mess???

Let's go all the way back to the Clinton administration. Sure, it's a tarnished, even "stained", administration. And some might argue it won't be the ONLY Clinton administration we'll ever see. But I want to go back to February 2000. The last year Bill Clinton would present a budget proposal to Congress. The price tag on that budget? A whopping $1.84 TRILLION! That seems like a lot, but America was experiencing a budget surplus at that time. In fact, the budget proposal was laid out as a blueprint that would ELIMINATE the national debt by 2013. Debt...gone. Adios, bon voyage. Not only that, but the plan ALSO called for increasing spending on the military, education and health care. In fact, the administration projected a budget surplus of $2.9 trillion over the next ten years (this was 8 years ago). Clinton also proposed in the plan $351 billion in tax cuts aimed at low-income and moderate-income families. You know how he planned to do it? With $96 billion in new taxes (including the $.25 per pack tax on cigarettes) and closing corporate loopholes. Wait, he planned to help people by raising taxes? Wow, if only we had a presidential candidate now with enough economic savvy to suggest he could do THAT...

Now, don't think for a second he was skimping on the military spending. Clinton proposed $291 billion in spending for the 2001 fiscal year. That's up from previous years. At the time, CNN quoted then-presidential candidate John McCain (seriously, will this guy EVER die???) as saying he supported increased military spending, "Not since Pearl Harbor has our investment in national defense been so low as a percentage of our gross national product." Well, times have changed, haven't they?

A report also by CNN (by the way, if you're going to attack my source as "liberal elite" or some other bullshit argument, I'm pulling facts from the stories, not any editorial associated with them. Just numbers and quotes.) from June 2008 shows the War in Iraq is expected to reach $2.7 trillion by the time it's all over...whenever THAT is. It makes me think of George W. as Jane Jetson. You know, when the show starts, George Jetson is dropping the family off and drops off Jane at the mall. He pulls some amount of cartoon money out of his wallet...and Jane grabs the wallet and flies off. Chances are good Jane spent it all...and her husband was left with little more than grocery money.

So, the war itself is set to cost $2.7 trillion (according to Congressional testimony...if you can believe THOSE people). The national deficit has found its way up to more than $10.5 trillion (according to the National Debt Clock, which might be a little skewed...but it doesn't just pull those numbers out of nowhere). Not sure where the other $7.8 tril has gone, but still...

So, let's take a moment for an economics lesson. Does anyone in class today know where money DOESN'T come from? That's right, little Ahmed, it DOESN'T come from trees. Does anyone know who IS responsible for paying for things like military, education and health care? That's right, little Joe, WE do through taxes...now put your plunger down. So, if the national deficit has gone up because of this war (which...WHY are we still in the middle of it? Did Nazis invade Baghdad and I didn't hear about it? We're talking suicide bombers with IEDs who were there BEFORE we invaded...oh, sorry, LIBERATED...Iraq. So what's the problem?), and people pay taxes to pay for things like the military, can anyone tell me WHY the Republican party is so appalled that Barack Obama would suggest raising taxes? Anyone?

It's a fact of life. We're going to pay taxes. Some years more, some years less. Based largely on our income. That's why homeless people don't pay many taxes and people making, say, $250,000 a year are asked to pay more. Sure, they're paying for health care and education that others might be using more than they do. But they're also paying for the military. And I have yet to hear ANY right-wingers bitching about paying higher taxes because all their "hard-earned" money is going to a bunch of undeserving "soldiers" who are "defending freedom" in Iraq.

Any questions?
-B-