A look at what Obama and McCain's tax bill would do in 2009

So I wanted to continue a much needed discussion regarding McCain and Obama's economic policies as it started in my post a week ago on the 11th on a completely different topic of foreign affairs.

The economy is a central focus in everybody's minds. I was in NYC this past week with my girlfriend. The first night we were out there we were invited to a dinner party, one of the men who I met there was just coming home from his day at work as an accounting and investments attorney... and yeah we all had a drink or two. It became clear to me how much of the city will be effected by the drop of investor confidence. Finance is the bread and butter of the Big Apple, and the effect which current events on Wall Street and Main Street will have on the nation will last for years. Jobs are vaporizing. Confidence is slipping. We're not quite clear completely what either candidate's plan is yet completely, but details are starting to come in. 

Lets talk about a few things. What are the differences between Obama and McCain's tax bill?

John McCain continues to state that Barack Obama will raise your taxes, but who exactly is he referring to when he says, “your”? Well, according to US Census Bureau data and data from the Tax Plan Center, Yes. Your taxes are going up. If you're among the upper 3% of the working population making more than $227,000. Here is a chart from The Tax Policy Center that shows how the average tax bill could change depending on who is elected.

BREAKING DOWN THE NUMBERS Source: The Tax Policy Center

MCCAIN OBAMA Income Avg. tax bill Avg. tax bill Over $2.9M -$269,364 +$701,885 $603K and up -$45,361 +$115,974 $227K-$603K -$7,871 +$12 $161K-$227K -$4,380 -$2,789 $112K-$161K -$2,614 -$2,204 $66K-$112K -$1,009 -$1,290 $38K-$66K -$319 -$1,042 $19K-$38K -$113 -$892 Under $19K -$19 -$567

Household Income Distribution Source: US Census Bureau, 2006; income statistics for the year 2005
Bottom 10%	Bottom 20%	Bottom 25%	Middle 33%	Middle 20%	Top 25%	Top 20%	Top 5%	Top 1.5%	Top 1%
$0 to $10,500	$0 to $18,500	$0 to $22,500	$30,000 to $62,500	$35,000 to $55,000	$77,500 and up	$92,000 and up	$167,000 and up	$250,000 and up	$350,000 and up

I posted this previously without an explanation and the numbers seemed to bring out an awfully confused reaction, so lets talk about it here.

(ed. found these next two charts today from the washington post which visualize the statistics quite clearly)

What do these charts tell us? They tell us that under Obama's plan, less than 5% of the population will be paying more taxes. The five percent that can afford to pay more to their country in a time of economic distress. They'll be paying twice as much back to the government than this top 5% of the salary bracket would be paying under McCain's plan.

We also can gather that middle-class Americans making under 66k annually will be seeing a much higher tax return under Obama's plan, watering the beds of  innovation and making it easier for the HUGE middle class of this country to be able to contribute to our economy and stimulate competition--without economic barriers.

No, Actually I'm not drinking any kool-aid. I'm an American just like you, who cares about the problems in this country just as you do. I want the candidate with a clear understanding of the sources of the problems that face not only our national security regarding foreign affairs, but also economic issues. 

We don't have all the answers from either of the candidates on how they are going to pay for either of their economic plans, but that among many other important issues are going to be coming up in the debates beginning this Friday. Until then, lets see what McCain has to say about the economy from his own lips...  

Who's a "do nothing Senator"?

A few things strike me. I still hear Obama referred to as a "do-nothing-senator". You'd think people would look this information up before making a complete fool of themselves and try to bolster support for McCain by comparing Senate records.. Lets look at this, shall we?

I was looking at John McCain's Committee membership and see he is a member of only the Committee and subcommittees on Armed Services, Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and he's a member of the Committee on Indian Affairs.

If John McCain is running for president...

Why isn't he a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs??

That's a pretty important Committee. Barack Obama is a member.

Why isn't McCain a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs?? Obama is.
(ed: I'm not making this up, I was TOTALLY blown away to see the disregard in John McCain's judgement in deciding it wasn't worth his time or efforts to join any of these committees during his TWENTY SIX years in senate...)

Why isn't McCain a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, or the subcommittees on either European Affairs, African Affairs, East Asian Affairs or Pacific Affairs?

Guess who is?
Yep, Barack Obama.

(ed: Yes!! I too, feel the need to vomit out of my nose for even having to say any of this. I was STUNNED to find this out while comparing the two candidates... but it does not end there...)

*
McCain has sponsored 537 bills since 1993, a rate of 35.8 bills a year.
Obama has sponsored 136 bills since 2005, a rate of 45.3 bills a year.

McCain has co-sponsored 1232 bills since 1993, a rate of 82.13 bills a year.
Obama has co-sponsored 659 bills since 2005, a rate of 219 bills a year.

Barack Obama missed 301 of 1282 roll call votes (23%) since Jan 6, 2005
John McCain missed 733 of 4099 roll call votes (18%) since Feb 4, 1993

Both of these percentages are quite high, but a look at the missed votes by month for both candidates (McCain, Obama) clearly indicates that their presidential campaign has driven them both to miss more than a majority of votes since 2007. It is staggering to note that when you add up McCain's missed votes since Obama took a seat in the US Senate, McCain has missed 39.7% of roll call votes.

And with that in mind,
John McCain has sponsored 38 pieces of legislation this term.
Barack Obama has sponsored 129 pieces of legislation this term.

Call Obama a do-nothing Senator one more time, McCain. I love watching you try to keep a straight face while you try to detract the country from how you fall short miserably.

*my source for this data is www.govtrack.us and a calculator.

General Election is off...

Well the Republican National Convention is over, so you can lower the tarp from over your head, for now. Make sure to only touch the bottom side and dispose of it in a sealed receptacle promptly.

"Please, please my friends, my dear friends, please don't be diverted by the ground noise and the static"

Don't worry John, your campaign is as transparent as your inability to speak to anyone outside that same rootin tootin base that cheered only a little bit louder for Bush in 2004.

Palin was an effective speaker if a sock puppet can be an effective actor... We'll see how she deals with the media, which has barely scratched the surface of really looking at Sarah Polin's political life.

By the way John and Sarah, welcome to the scrutiny of American media. Despite an apparent wide case of amnesia among Republicans, Sarah Palin's family is not the first politician's family to get thrown into the ring this year. Get used to it.

I was shocked that the party crossed over a certain line by belittling the aspirations of millions of Americans who dedicate their life to cleaning up Washington's mess by volunteering in their cities and communities. I mean, Palin's words speak for themselves.. she doesn't consider the dedication of community organizers an "actual responsibility"?? Slight conflict of interest there Sarah... These are Americans who sacrifice time from their jobs, their families and friends to commit themselves to serving here at home, on our city streets and communities in need... not exactly the class of Americans you'd want to have demanding an apology from you as they are now.

Yeah, I guess Pitbulls aren't really well known for their good judgement.

So, what it comes down it is the question: Did the Republicans convince me at this year's convention that John McCain is well suited to lead this country in the right direction? No, not so much.

They did a great job at diverting from that incapability by focusing on every single thing BUT McCain's (lack of?) solutions, though.

Presidential Forum: caterpillar wings and war stories too!

Just finished watching Obama and McCain share their thoughts in the forum lead by Rev Rick Warren.

I really wish I could find a transcript of the forum, as it was quite interesting. They claim McCain was in a "cone of silence", while Obama went on first. Barack seemed to me to treat every question seriously, looking at tough questions with tough intellectual answers. He was asked some questions that were harder than others "does evil exsist?" to the paradoxaly phrased question "at what point does a baby have human rights?"... to which I would have answered "when does a caterpillar grow wings??"

Obama said a few things I'm sure he'll get grilled for, only due to the honesty and humbleness in his treatment of the forum, and willingness to answer complex questions with complex answers. My fear is the same I had from 2004. We're expecting the majority of our country to be able to look at complex situations and see that there are not always black or white answers to every question. Unfortunately in America we want a quick fix, a quick short answer is easier to sell than a long detailed analysis that complex issues actually demand. Anybody who works in some sort of customer service is familiar with this. Well.. I hope a lot of people have worked in customer service since 2004, which is unlikely seeing that our unemployment rate is at a four year high of 5.7%.

Then came the maverick, John McCain. Oh by the way, I don't think I've told you yet, you see, John McCain and I are friends. he calls me his friend all the time!! It's so reassuring of his trustworthiness!! Let me tell you a story. Back in Nam, him and I played tic tac toe in the sand with a stick. It all started when our captors drew a cross in the sand. I think he was trying to tell us that was going to be our grave, but we used it as an opportunity to convert him to Christianity and then the birds started singing and I cried. Let's go defeat evil, don't worry we wont have to start any more wars. Wars are free anyway. We can make everybody rich, but not spend a dime doing it, and I'm giving everybody $7,000 checks for free, my friend.

Are we going to get back to my being a POW? My friend, Can I tell you another story??

Uhm. Yeah, John McCain is out of his mind.