Can We Gain Without Pain?
by Efin Advisor | November 3, 2008
America’s next president, and its newly elected congressional representatives from all fifty states, will soon confront the challenges of a daunting financial crisis, the likes of which we have not seen since the Great Depression. The odd part of the campaign trail leading up to Election Day is that the candidates for political office have been rather soft-spoken about remedying the problem. Campaign pronouncements have been muffled and candidates adverse to describe how each of us will need to exact some degree of personal sacrifice during these trying times. The implications that have been made during this political season suggest that merely a minor change will make a major difference.
Over the past several years, the federal government has cut taxes in the wealthiest percentiles, financed two wars, and recently authorized vast investitures to shore up our financial system. The “make good” on these commitments has seemingly been passed along to future generations to handle, even while modern “baby boomers” have Social Security and Medicare entitlements coming due.
Tax cuts alone will not stimulate the necessary solution. Nor will tax rollbacks, or even closing tax loopholes. A new sense of purpose and a new sense of urgency seem warranted. Across the nation, divided Americans will need to exert their will and marshal their efforts as Americans united. What shall our government ask of each of us and what must we ask of ourselves?
Why won’t tax cuts help the situation? We cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans and corporations, and in turn they are in a position to create new jobs that the poor can take to earn a living. The only alternative to job creation is welfare and we do not want to become a welfare state. People can work for their money and companies can be more productive by having more workers and more revenues. I don’t see why tax cuts aren’t the answer to getting us out of this crisis.
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This is exactly what has been bothering me about all the candidates lately. In at least one of the debates, they were asked what they would cut back on and neither McCain or Obama gave a straight answer. I know they did this because it would be politically disadvantageous, but we need politicians who will give it straight to the american people. John Mccain’s Straight Talk Express would be appreciated but is a relic of 2000. Americans also need to be able to take news better. Hopefully, after tomorrow, we will hear more concrete plans for America’s future
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The problem is politicians are not out to lead, just give the impression of leadership. All they care about is being reelected. We need to take the economy out of their hands. Their promises tend not to be fulfilled, and whomever we elect tomorrow will probably screw things up or not be responsible for what happens at all. If we let businesses deal with the problems they will be able to fix things. They have incentives to get people to spend and to make money, which will result in a stronger economy.
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The President does not matter at all. Economies go through cycles of boom and bust and it has been that way since the foundations of modern markets. Presidents cannot be blamed for the good or bad during their term because everything is predetermined by economic incidents from a long time ago.
We should only really care about foreign policy as a result. The economy may be hurting, but it doesn’t matter who is in office because they will not be able to do anything to fix it.
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Just wanted to take the time to remind everybody of the importance of voting today. As this post says, this election will essentially determine our economic future. Whether you’re voting for Obama or McCain, make the choice that you believe will get our economy back on track and put our nation back on the road to greatness. Please make an informed choice, as this election is far too important to be decided based on race, or on political party, or on lies spread by the candidates, or by jokes in the media. Obama is a skilled leader, Biden is a foreign policy expert, McCain is a thoroughly experienced senator, and Palin has shown the ability to draw vast revenues without being in the pockets of corporations. All of these people are very qualified for the job; it’s up to you to decide who gets to do it.
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It seems obvious that those aforementioned two wars are a huge part of the reason we’re mired so deep in this financial crisis. Mind you, of course, I am not saying these wars are bad or good either way, but I will say that they have been costly no matter what you think of them and that you certainly have to give up certain things to get certain things in this world. I’d love to stay and finish the job in Iraq but the reality is that we need that money more at home, for the American people, and the American people are the first responsibility of this government.
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I do think this country is ready for a true paradigm shift. We cannot keep operating the way we do and spending the way we spend without getting ourselves into this kind of trouble, and we cannot continue to deregulate private enterprise at the expense of periodic recessions like this one. If we don’t change the way we run the economy soon, this will become a yearly occurrence, as businesses try to make money for themselves and sell out the rest of society in the process. Will it be easy? No, of course not. But it will be necessary and I think our next president, whoever that is, will need to do it or face the fact that he will have one of the most disappointing presidential terms in U.S. history.
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This is exactly why everyone needs to get out and vote today. The next president will shape the world in a very memorable way. With all the challenges the next president will face, its not a surprise that this is considered the most important election in modern american history. This is why i support Mccain: he has shown the leadership necessary to get us through the next 4 and potentially 8 years. We need to bring a leader that will help us as much tomorrow as they have yesterday
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I think America made the right choice yesterday. John McCain had the experience, but Barack Obama is truly a once-in-a-lifetime candidate who might do something about this financial crisis that no one else would be willing to. I’m confident that Obama will do the right thing for America and get us out of this economic crisis without bending to the will of big corporations, lobbyists, or his own financial interest. I pray to God he doesn’t prove me wrong on those counts, but as I said, I am confident he will be a great leader and will be the catalyst for change necessary to fix this situation and get us back on track.
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I think that it is great how less than 24 hours after the election was called they are already talking about the economic team for the Obama administration. It shows that the economy is a huge issue for the new administration and that they are going to take it seriously. If nothing else, this bold move will increase business confidence around the country, and the world. I think that even if the election was a purely symbolic change, it can have a lot of positive effects between now and January 20th when Obama gets sworn in, due to the perception that the economy will improve.
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I think that President Obama should cut taxes. It is very simple, if I have more money to spend, then I will spend more in the economy, and it will fix its self. If the government keeps taking all of my money, soon I won’t be able to buy food for my family. What we need is for the government to get out of the way so that free enterprise and business can do their jobs. That is what this country is founded on.
I think that we have the opportunity for some real financial conservatism now. Over the past 8 years the Republicans have tried to avoid conservative spending, now it is time for the Democrats to try it. It can help our economy, and our citizens grow and rebuild.
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Yay! Obama won. I think the american people mad ethe right decision and have finally realized that we need more involvement in the economy and not less. Its almost a sad time for Obama though, because he has a lot of tough work ahead of him. I think his speech last night demonstrated that hey has the strength to lead and captivate the Americna people. He will hopefully inspire Wall Street as much as he has inspired Main Street adn we will be able to get out of this economic snafu.
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If what this article says is true, then yes, Obama was the right choice. I think tax cuts are a great thing, but they’re not the only thing. And while I know Obama is going to raise taxes, I think he’ll also close corporate loopholes to augment our tax income and set better standards to regulate companies who could potentially kill our economy like they have now. McCain would have done a fine job too, but now that Obama’s our man, it’s time to start hoping for the kind of positive change he promised and pray that whatever he does saves us from the path we’re currently going down.
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The government is going to be asking far too much of us in the future. I disagree with what JFK said years ago: the government is meant to serve us, not us serve it. They should be making the worl dbetter for us without us having to sacrafice too much. Obama is the paradigm of not doing this. He will end up raising our taxes overwhelmingly and he is going to spread the wealth. I’m more worried today about our economy than I have been in months past. How can i have confidence in an economy when those who run it are going to be taking money away from me?
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I hate to be so negative, but I doubt if things will really change. I think that the way our political system is set up, we will continue to see gridlock in Washington. Despite all of the calls for change and differing policies, the United States’ economy is like a gigantic ship. No matter how hard the president pulls on the tiller, the ship is going to keep going with its momentum.
As much as I would truly like to see significant changes in tax policy, and regulations, economic oversight, and rules- I think that one of the features of our government which has served us well is a certain rigidity in our power structure. It takes a lot of will power and executive force to change anything, which ensures we don’t actually let any one bad decision tank our economic policies. If, however, a series of bad policies are compounded- it can be quite difficult to save the sinking ship, which is what we see happening now.
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Sacrifice is going to be the word of the day for a long time. We need to give more taxes to fund programs and the bailout. We need to give more money to pay for oil (Obama is going to stop drilling in some regions via executive order) and we are going to have to sacrifice any new projects since we will not be able to get loans. Hopefully at the end of the sacrifice we will be back in a strong economy.
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