Obama’s Tax Plan

More interesting read for you all, consider it home work for the week, month, whatever..

A review of Obama’s Tax Plan - Yes, obviously the writer of this article is pro Obama, but he is using studies from the Tax Policy Center. The Center is made up of nationally recognized experts in tax, budget, and social policy who have served at the highest levels of government. The Tax Policy Center ran simulations using Obama’s plan and McCain’s tax plan. The writer of the article simply took that information and evaluated it, for us non-accountant types.

I think the result of those simulations by Tax Policy Center is very telling and is what separates Obama’s plan from McCain’s plan. It’s very very simple, despite the lies that John McCain has been trying to tell the American Public, People making less than 100K will receive a much larger tax cut under Obama’s plan.

Pre-tax income less than $10k: Obama tax cut is $487, McCain’s is $14.

Pre-tax income $10-20k: Obama tax cut is $709, McCain’s is $26.

Pre-tax income $20-30k: Obama tax cut is $896, McCain’s is $89.

Pre-tax income $30-40k: Obama tax cut is $1,039, McCain’s is $178.

Pre-tax income $40-50k: Obama tax cut is $1,124, McCain’s is $232.

Pre-tax income $50-75k: Obama tax cut is $952, McCain’s is $336.

Pre-tax income $75-100k: Obama tax cut is $779, McCain’s is $483.

Pre-tax income $100-200k: Obama tax cut is $407, McCain’s is $847.

The simulations also showed another big difference between the two candidates. John McCain is a continuation of Bush’s policies. He advocates cutting taxes for the rich while Obama wants the rich to pay a larger share of the burden.

Pre-tax $200-500k: Obama raises taxes $3,546, McCain cuts $1,892.

Pre-tax $500-1mil: Obama raises taxes $30,499, McCain cuts $6,825.

Pre-tax $1mil+: Obama raises taxes $262,371, McCain cuts $58,632.

The choice is clear when it comes to tax plans, unless you make $1mil+. If you are for giving the rich more money, vote McCain. If you believe in tax relief for the low and middle class, vote Obama. The choice is yours.

Meet the next POTUS

I think this picture sums up the kind of President Barack Obama will be..

throwing a lei, where he scattered his mother’s ashes

New video for your enjoyment

Catching up…

Thought i catch up on my blog posts today..it’s been a few days since I last ranted on John McCain. However, with Barack on vacation in Hawaii and John McCain being … well.. still old and ignorant, I don’t have much to say about him.

Olympics are on for all of you that care. I am usually not one to follow the opening and closing ceremonies, but I do have to say that China put on a great show. It’s the best example of China flexing his new economic muscle with 400 million dollars reportedly spent on that opening night. I have no doubt that it will be unmatched in the near future. If you don’t have the time to sit through the 4+ hours, just watch the torch lighting sequence. It’s probably the most artistic and creative event that I have seen recently. I wonder how China will close out the Olympics…

One thing I realized from watching the Olympics is that I’m apparently not patriotic enough. I don’t have this overwhelming urge to cheer on the Americans. Of course, I have my favorite American athletes, people like Michael Phelps (the greatest swimmer in US history and the history of the Olympics, hands down) and the American “redemption” basketball team, but I also find myself equally as excited for the Canadian badminton team or the South Korean archery team. To me, the Olympics is not about the medal count or who beat who in a certain event. Olympics is about celebrating the individual athletes, the ones who gave up everything to train for this one moment. A moment where the world is watching, where they get to take the center stage and taste the fruits of their labor. This is their time in life where nothing else mattered, not their ethnic background, not their religion, not their social standing or their personal wealth, not their government and not their country. This is the time and the place where everyone is equal and stand shoulder to shoulder. We need to applaud every single athletes, even the ones from countries that we may not agree with, and recognize them for their hard work and dedication.

Lastly, I’m pretty interested in the conflict between Georgia and Russia. To me, both countries are responsible for this escalation of violence and the deaths of civiilans. They are both at fault and should be embarassed for using the Olympics as a way to distract the world from their actions. The one thing I will say about this conflict is this: the mistakes that President Bush has made in his administration, the illegal war and occupation in Iraq, the authorization of torture and our defiance in the face of international law, gave rise to conflicts like the one we are seeing in Georgia right now. On what authority, either morally or ethically, can we denounce the actions of Russians or Georgians and intervene? What you are seeing from Russia is a direct response to years of Republican foreign policy where flexing our muscles is the main approach. The United States, without a change in policy and stance, will never gain the respect back from the international community. International politics is no longer about who has the biggest guns or who is the toughest talker (are you listening John “Warmonger” McCain?). It’s time that we take a different approach to international affairs, it’s time that we adopt something called “Diplomacy”.

Original Celebrity

I laugh at John McCain’s pathetic attempt to cast Obama as a celebrity. First off, this is the dumbest personal attack ever. The Republicans tried to cast him as an elitist, as foreign, as muslim and now, as a “celebrity”?!?!. Let’s look at the word celebrity..Merriam-Webster defines it as the “state of being celebrated” or “a famous or celebrated person”. Celebrated is defined as “widely known and often referred to.” Let’s see..according to Merriam-Webster, John McCain is as big a celebrity as Barack Obama.

Secondly, this attack is the height of hypocrisy, especially coming out of Republicans mouths. Let’s see..Ronald Reagan and Arnold “I’ll be Back” Schwarzenegger..and let us not forget about John McCain’s own stab at Hollywood and his own claim on the title of Celebrity.

Dirk McQuigley of Dailykos looked at John McCain’s “celebrity” status in more detail on his blog post.

Naturally, this begs the question as to whether the senior Senator from Arizona (He will turn 72 soon) either “forgot” that he hosted Saturday Night Live twice (May, 17 of this year and 2002) or is so delusional that it falls under the ubiqituous category of IOKIYAR .

Of course this is the same ego-driven non celebrity that has appeared in The Wedding Crashers and also as a guest on 24.

Dirk is right on here with his analysis of this whole celebrity attack,

the entire celebrity dig at BHO is based on the fact that McCain resents all the attention Obama is receiving. The fact that Obama’s recent speech in Berlin outdrew Ronald Reagan’s well documented appearance in 1987 on a day that a single reporter met the McCain plane must have been the last straw.

Man..I really do wonder who is running John McCain’s campaign. Are they simply stupid or they truly believe that the American people are so stupid that they will accept everything that come out of their mouths. Another example of how the Republican elitists look down at the general public.

Take action NOW! Updated

UPDATE! LOL..John McIdiot can’t stay on message..after mocking Obama for his tire pressure remark..guess what he said Tuesday at a town hall? LOL, I am sure you can guess it..guess he doesn’t like to be ignorant. He should thank Obama for this tip..

Reuters - “Obama said a couple of days ago says we all should inflate our tires. I don’t disagree with that. The American Automobile Association strongly recommends it,” McCain said.

*********

I find this rather humorous..McCain has been making fun of the idea that inflating your tires properly and getting regular tuneup will help with fuel economy, despite the fact that all the experts agree.

This is from Time Magazine,

Rush Limbaugh is having a field day; and the Republican National Committee is sending tire gauges labeled “Barack Obama’s Energy Plan” to Washington reporters.

But who’s really out of touch? The Bush Administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 bbl. per day by 2030. We use about 20 million bbl. per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone did, we could immediately reduce demand several percentage points. In other words: Obama is right.

So..today, Obama finally hit back hard and mocks the Republicans for embracing ignorance. Speaking in Berera, Ohio, Barack defended his comments and slaps the Republicans.

From Jack Tapper,

“So now the Republicans are going around - this is the kind of thing they do. I don’t understand it! They’re going around, they’re sending like little tire gauges, making fun of this idea as if this is ‘Barack Obama’s energy plan.’

“Now two points, one, they know they’re lying about what my energy plan is, but the other thing is they’re making fun of a step that every expert says would absolutely reduce our oil consumption by 3 to 4 percent. It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant.

“You know, they think it is funny that they are making fun of something that is actually true. They need to do their homework. Because this is serious business. Instead of running ads about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears they should go talk to some energy experts and actually make a difference.”

So..what’s the response from the McCain camp? you won’t believe what came out of their mouths.

From Mark Halperin,

McCain camp responds: “Obama does not have the judgment or experience to understand that Americans aren’t choosing between offshore drilling and inflating their car tires, they’re demanding action now.”

!!!! What? The American people are demanding action now?! Isn’t that what Obama offered as something we can do immediately to help our pocket books? What? I don’t think McCain’s camp thought this through before they fired off their response. Offshore drilling is NOT immediate action. There are little things that we can do RIGHT NOW to help increase efficiency. Another example of the stupidity of John McCain and his camp.

Offshore Drilling - again

I don’t know why Americans are not getting that offshore drilling is a bad idea? If you missed my earlier article on offshore drilling, here it is. Ignorance is not an excuse in my mind, because you can easily access all the information you need. I know it’s painful, we all feel it, but what is wrong is wrong and we can not let it cloud our best judgment. The truth is that offshore drilling will not help ease the pinch on your wallet and it is a bad bad idea in terms of our environment. Even if you are not a conservationist, you must understand the damage that oil spills can do to our coastline. How many time do we have to point out that this is purely pandering by John McCain, trying to appeal to your wallet and not your logic and best judgment? I won’t review some of the other reasons, you can read it for yourself in my earlier blog post, but I feel the need to keep harping on two points: 1. offshore drilling will not have an impact on your wallet. This is not just some crap that I pulled out of nowhere, it is substantiated by government report from the Bush administration! There is a reason why the Bush administration didn’t care about offshore drilling until it is an election year, because even they know that it is not a viable solution. 2. Offshore drilling is a threat to our environment. This is not about overreaction, this is about common sense.

The US Energy Information Administration, part of the Department of Energy, examined the impact of offshore drilling in their Annual Energy Outlook 2007, “Impacts of Increased Access to Oil and Natural Gas Resources in the Lower 48 Federal Outer Continental Shelf“, and the result is not what John McCain is trying to sell you.

The projections in the OCS access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030. Leasing would begin no sooner than 2012, and production would not be expected to start before 2017. Total domestic production of crude oil from 2012 through 2030 in the OCS access case is projected to be 1.6 percent higher than in the reference case, and 3 percent higher in 2030 alone, at 5.6 million barrels per day. For the lower 48 OCS, annual crude oil production in 2030 is projected to be 7 percent higher—2.4 million barrels per day in the OCS access case compared with 2.2 million barrels per day in the reference case (Figure 20). Because oil prices are determined on the international market, however, any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.

Even if we were to start tomorrow instead of 2012, the earliest impact on prices will be in 2026, not tomorrow or next month. Even in 2026, the imact on price is expected to be INSIGNIFICANT. People wake up!!! Allowing big oil companies to drill will not have an impact on fuel prices in the near future.

-A side note: have you all been paying attention to gas prices at the pump? are you aware that crude oil prices have tumbled in recent days? however, are you seeing that saving at the gas pump? Do I have to tell you the story about pandora’s box? This box is now open and we are getting used to the prices. Do you actually believe with oil companies making record profits, that they will lower the cost of fuel at the pump? We will never see gas prices like it was, plain and simple, and no amount of offshore drilling will change that fact. The big oil companies are greedy and they will not intentionally lower their profits just to help us out.

Another commentary: I have to agree with others. This whole offshore drilling debate is offending me. Republicans have always treated the American people with disdain. They think that we are stupid enough to buy whatever they feed us. They know better and we should always do what they want. Unfortunately, Democrats have always given Americans too much credit. We Democrats believe in the people’s ability to reason and ration, and that is the downfall of the party. American people are not dumb, we are simply too lazy to discover the truth for ourselves. We would rather buy the crap that the Republicans are selling because it is easy to blame someone or something for problems instead of looking at the real culprit. We would rather listen to to the five second soundbyte instead of actually processing the whole speech.

err..hum…err..

Watch this new viral video on John McCain and laugh at his major pause and apparently forgetfulness..

This is perhaps the next president? Can you imagine him on the podium at a press conference and hum and err his way through it? how about appearing internationally and hum and err and pause his way through questions?
John McCain is unfit to be the next president and I hope America realizes that..

Are we in preschool?

Clarify this for me..are we voting in November for the next president of the national pre-school? Are we? We are not!?!?! Are you all sure? We are voting for the next president of the United States of America? Man..I couldn’t tell with the recent rash of childish ads from John McCain. I thought I was back in preschool.

John McCain, I thought you tout your age and your experience as a positive. How about acting your age and be an adult? We have problems in this world, but I guess you don’t really understand despite your claims of knowledge and wisdom. Instead of talking about the economy, you would rather talk about Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Instead of talking about the jobless rate, you would rather mock Germans for their support of Barack Obama. I guess the new slogan of your campaign is: “issues..what issues?”

In addition, I thought you had gone to the bottom already, but I guess not. Using religious figure like Moses in your pathetic little attack ad is just simply … sad. I am not Christian and I’m offended. What are you going to do? Compare Barack to the second coming of Jesus Christ? What? Did you guys get advice from a kiddie version of Karl Rove?

I am so glad Obama is staying above this pettiness and slapped you down on your silly little ads.

“It’s downright sad that on a day when we learned that 51,000 Americans lost their jobs, a candidate for the presidency is spending all of his time and the powerful platform he has on these sorts of juvenile antics.  Senator McCain can keep telling everyone how ‘proud’ he is of these political stunts which even his Republican friends and advisors have called ‘childish’, but Barack Obama will continue talking about his plan to jumpstart our economy by giving working families $1,000 of immediate relief,” said Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan.

Man..I can’t believe that Republicans actually want this pathetic little man in office. What, if he doesn’t get his way in office, is he going to release some childish ad attacking the congress or sit on the floor wailing and stomp his feet? Oh wait..no..John McCain will just tell them to go to the corner and wear a dunce hat, because after all, he would be running a preschool, not a nation.

FUCKING GROW UP

OMFG

You have got to be kidding me. Tell me that the Bush Administration isn’t such a loose canon. According to Think Progress and Seymour Hersh,

Seymour Hersh — a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist for The New Yorker — revealed that Bush administration officials held a meeting recently in the Vice President’s office to discuss ways to provoke a war with Iran.

There was a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war. The one that interested me the most was why don’t we build — we in our shipyard — build four or five boats that look like Iranian PT boats. Put Navy seals on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Straits of Hormuz, start a shoot-up. Might cost some lives.

And it was rejected because you can’t have Americans killing Americans. That’s the kind of — that’s the level of stuff we’re talking about. Provocation. But that was rejected.

Thankfully this plan was rejected, but the fact that this was even discussed sickens me. I’m speechless and out for the day