and somehow, even managing to choke down lunch (although it really wants to come back up).
I'm going to ask a varient of the famous question Ronald Reagan asked Americans in 1980. Are you better off now than you were eight years ago? Or even four years ago? Despite the recent stock market volitility, we are. We have more equity in our home, our diversified investments are hanging in there, and we're doing okay. The economy is a cycle and in order to have up times, there are inevitable downtimes. I've blogged ad nauseum about how the "life should be fair" policies of Democrats caused this particular downturn by forcing lenders to give to unqualified borrowers. Is giving them control of the Legislative and Executive branches of government really the solution? They caused this problem, do you really trust them to solve it?
I believe in capitalism. I believe that the economy will recover if government gets out of its way. Moreover, I don't understand how taking away capital (through higher taxation) from those who create wealth, who create jobs, who create opportunities for others and giving it to others (who don't create wealth, jobs or opportunities for others) is going to stimulate the economy. Take the capital gains tax...Jamie and I often talk of building our dream home on acreage not far from here. But paying a 28% capital gains tax on the sale of this house might be motivation enough to stay put. We love the neighborhood, the house meets our needs and considering everything we've done (and plan to do) to it, that 28% is going to hurt! Building a new house, selling this one--that is exactly the sort of stimulation the economy needs that would be suffocated by increased taxes. Obama isn't telling the truth--first it was higher taxes if you make more than $250K, then $150K, then (courtesy of Biden)$120K. Now, videotape of Obama surfaces and he's saying $80K. The fact of the matter is--no one knows at what income level Obama will raise taxes, but he's going to raise them. He's admitted as much! Herbert Hoover raised taxes--his tax increase has been noted as the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back on a struggling economy and kicked off the Great Depression. Do we really need another Great Depression? Even an economist stumping for Obama on Fox News last week admitted that raising taxes in the current economy would be disasterous.
Last night Janine Turner was on O'Reilly talking about why she's voting for McCain and her response was similar to what I've been saying for months: as a mother, her greatest priority is the safety of her children. Terrorism is still a very real threat, and a leader who takes a stand and won't bow down to our enemies is what this country needs. So much lip service has been paid to change. We haven't had a major terrorist attack since I was pregnant with Chase. Given Bush's record on National Security, we don't need change. We need to stay the course, remain hawkish on defense, and fight our enemies on their turf, not ours.
National polls show the race tightening, but I'm not sure the electorate will come to its senses by Tuesday. If not, I wish it were only the Obama supporters who will reap what they've sown. Unfortunately, it will probably hurt those of us smart enough not to vote for him in the first place the most.
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