Last Nights debate.
Well the 2 candidates squared off against each other in another debate last night, and in my opinion Obama was the better of the 2 at answering the questions put forth to them.
But since I wasn't invited to the Debate I thought for fun I would answer the questions as I would if I was running for president.
Question #1: With the economy on the Downturn & retired and older citizens and workers losing their incomes, whats the fastest solution you have to bail these people out of the economic ruin.
Answer: First of all we all need to understand that we didn't get into this position overnight. The current crises is the result of years of bad leadership and failure to protect the public's interests. It's a case of putting profits before people, which our stated policy says we would have never allow to happen and we wouldn't have.
Now with that being said, what can we do to help people out immediately that hasn't already been done. We've already passed a stimulus package which didn't do anything but add to the debt, which means China had to loan us more money, and since most people took that money and shopped at Wal-Mart, and Target a lot of that money went to China's economy not ours. This is just another example of poor leadership.
The First thing I would do is tell congress to make sure this doesn't happen again by putting back into place the regulations that were repealed (Glass-Steagall Act) back into law. This would at least insure the public that we weren't going to let it happen again.
Secondly, even though we passed the bail-out which I was against, we have to understand that this isn't a silver bullet. There is plenty of economic hardships ahead for Average Americans.
So after I got Congress to put the Glass Steagall Act back into place, I would then repeal the Bankruptcy overhaul laws of 2005, so that Americans who were going to be faced with losing their jobs, because of the mismanagement of these firms, which caused this crises could at least get relief in bankruptcy court.
Mind you that this isn't letting the consumer off the hook, they still pay a heavy price in that it hurts their credit rating. However by allowing them to write off their credit card debt and medical debt, they could maybe afford to keep their homes. This wouldn't require the Government to have to buy up all these bad loans costing the taxpayers more money, Like John McCain Proposes.
Instead it puts some of the losses on the backs of the of the Lending Institutions who were responsible for this mess. They should share in the pain since they were the beneficiaries of the bail out plan paid for by the taxpayers.
This would also help the lending institutions, and banks by stopping the number of foreclosures. This would help stop the decline of housing values also, which would help Americans also.
This should make the recession a lot less severe allowing us to get America back on it's feet and Americans back to work, without losing their homes in the process.
Question #2: Who would you appoint to be your Treasury Secretary?
Answer: That's easy, Jim Cramer. Jim Understands the markets better than anyone else does and has demonstrated so, by getting out ahead of this crises and calling for action a year ago, before anyone in our Government Acted. So I would look for someone like Jim Cramer, and if not Jim Cramer I would probably ask Warren Buffett.
But whoever I chose, they would know that we weren't going to do business as usual, that the American Taxpayer and Consumer come first and all of our Policies would be tailored around that belief.
We must restore America's trust in it's Government.
Question #3: What is in this Bail Out Package that is going to help out the people who are having a rough time right now?
Answer: This package was designed to keep the flow of credit going so that our markets wouldn't lock up, causing a total economic collapse, so in that sense it helps everyone, by preventing them from losing their life savings, and their jobs.
But we must do more to help out the people who are hurting the most, which is the Middle Class, by adopting a sound economic policy that pays off the debt, and cuts taxes for the Middle Class.
We hear all the time about Corporate Taxes being to high, and how we need to cut taxes for the Corporations. Well, the truth of the matter is they don't pay the rates that everyone says they do. No in fact they get out of paying those taxes by putting their money in offshore Tax Shelters.
2/3rds of ALL economic spending comes from the consumer, that's people like yourself. That means that 1/3rd comes from Business. Actually less than a 1/3rd comes from business, as Government Spending accounts for about half of that 1/3rd, so Business Spending accounts for less than 1/3rd of all economic spending, yet they are the ones enjoying all the benefits of the tax cuts.
Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand who would create more economic growth given a tax cut. The consumer who accounts for 2/3rds of all economic spending, or the less than 1/3rd of all economic spending created by business. Obviously the 2/3rds would, and that's who my economic plan and tax cuts target.
It gives 139 million Americans a Tax cut of $3,800 after we pay off the debt. By Paying off the debt we increase the value of the dollar which makes purchasing goods from abroad cheaper, which is like getting a raise, cause your dollar can buy more. So this also helps Americans.
By letting Americans Keep more of their hard earned money, they will in turn take that money and spend it in our economy creating even more jobs. This along with my other proposals would create as much as 10% economic growth year over year under my plan, putting us right up there with China.
But remember what I said at the outset, this all didn't happen overnight, and it's gonna take us a little time to get out of the mess we are in, all I'm asking is that you stick with me, and I promise you all that your lives will be better at the end of my Presidency. I promise you that! I would not be standing here before you, if I didn't believe I could do this with your help of course.
But we will all be better off by following my plan which returns us to a lender nation and grows the economy by 10% a year after the debt is paid off, and puts more money back into the pockets of the consumer.
Question #4: How can we trust either of you with our Money, when both parties are responsible for getting us into this Global Economic crises?
Answer: I'm glad you asked that question, cause you know what? That's what I want to know too.
This is why we are the party of change. This is what our party stands for restoring the trust of the Americans in their Government.
By voting for someone from our Party you are voting for someone who has taken a pledge, to put Country before Party, People Before Profits, and to Practice Politics of Hope, not hate.
I wouldn't trust either one of the other 2 parties. By voting for them you are just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
And as George Bush so eloquently put it, Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice........well you know how it goes, even if George Didn't.
So I wouldn't trust either one of these 2 parties. But I promise you we will not compromise the trust of the American People for the promise of Campaign donations from lobbyists.
Question #5 In your first year, what is going to be your first priority from this list. Health Care, Energy, and Entitlement reform, in what order will you work on them?
Well, I think we have to tackle the one issue that is affecting Americans the most right now and that's the energy issue.
In my proposal we move towards breaking our dependence on Foreign Oil by reducing our demand for it. We reduce demand by investing in alternative forms of energy, which will create jobs. But the biggest thing we can do to reduce demand is offer tax incentives to the consumer to buy electric, or hydrogen cars or hybrids.
This is where most of our Oil Consumption comes from so we must tackle it first. By reducing demand prices will fall. This will help the economy by letting consumers spend their money on goods and services instead of gas.
We Give Corporations Like Wal-Mart Tax Incentives to Go green, by equipping their Buildings with Solar Energy. This will lower the cost of solar panels, making it more economically feasible for the average American to outfit their homes with solar energy. Thus reducing our demand even more while making it cheaper for Americans at the same time to do so.
But actually you left something out, you left out paying off the debt. In my proposal I make paying off the debt my top priority. Cause under my plan we have to do that first before we can do any of the other 2 in that list. We have to make paying off the debt and our dependency on foreign oil the top 2 priorities.
Then once we accomplish that we would go to work on putting in place my National Health Care Plan. Which is designed to control costs, and give top rated care for all Americans, by offering a alternative to private care, it creates competition. Competition is good in a capitalistic society in that it tends to drive down costs.
Plus it gives Americans another choice, which means more freedom. Plus my plan will create more economic growth as it lets Americans keep even more of their money, by not having to pay out of their pockets for health care premiums. This could mean as much as $3,000 to $6,000 dollars a year more for families to spend on themselves instead of giving it to a insurance company. Plus it reduces the cost of doing business in this country, which drives jobs overseas. So my Health Care Plan will control costs, create economic growth, and give our bright kids opportunity by paying for their education when they agree to serve in a Government Hospital for 7 years after completing their education.
Last would be Entitlement reform. Because we have to look at it once we are in a fiscally better position, which we will be, after we pay off the debt to see how much we has to still be done in order to either save the current plan or how we can reform it.
Question 6: What sacrifices will you ask of Americans to help us get out of the economic mess we are in?
Answer: Well, even though I think Americans have sacrificed enough already over the past 28 years, I would ask them to sacrifice with me just 7 more, so that we could have a better tomorrow.
We would return to the tax rates we had under Clinton which would allow us to pay off the debt quicker. These Tax rates coupled with Budget Cuts, and closing of off shore tax Shelters will allow me to pay off the debt in 7 years.
At which time we would become a lender nation. By returning us to a lender nation, we would start collecting interest payments from other countries instead of paying them out like we are now.
This is like getting other countries to pay for our Government, or our Health Care and Military, which is exactly what we would do with the money we get from those loans. This would allow me to cut taxes even further once we paid off the debt.
So I would tell Americans if you'll stick by me for 7 years, and we don't have any new spending, and we pay off the debt, I promise you, I will cut your taxes, and we will all have Free Health Care, and a stronger economy, and a stronger Military, which means we will have a stronger country.