[OFB Cafe] JOE BIDEN: RIAA STOOGE

[Fred Smith]

On Mon, Sep 1, 2008 at 1:49 AM, Timothy Butler <tbutler at ofb.biz> wrote:
>> \
>> Find yourself on this chart:
>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/09/ST2008060900950.html
>>
>> Chances are your taxes will be lower under Obama than they will under
>> McCain. Effectively, McCain will raise your taxes.
>
>        No he won't. He just isn't offering as much of an additional decrease
> as Obama. But, see, I'm concerned with what I think is just, not what
> beneifts me the most. I would come out better under Obama's plan, but
> I don't think it is right to raid the wealthy to help everyone else. I
> didn't earn that money, they did. They should  keep it.

I'm also concerned with what I think is just, not what benefits me the
most. I come out better under McCain's plan, which would cut my taxes
by approximately $1600 more than Obama's plan would.  I don't consider
myself wealthy, but apparently the rest of the country does, so on
behalf of the wealthy, the people at the bottom of that chart could
use that $1600 more than I could.   I also happen to know several
people in that top category, where McCain and Obama are roughly $1MM
apart, and they're all Obama supporters.

>        Well, given that it is a Democratic congress and a Republican
> presidency, I'd say its bipartisan. The FDIC and friends came into
> existence under a Democratic president, and they are doing their job.
> What exactly do you want instead? Provide a better idea, one that
> actually is grounded in economics too, and not just "well, it'd be
> nice if it wasn't this way."

"well, It'd be nice" if the people demanding fiscal responsibility
from the poor, who pushed some pretty awful bankruptcy legislation
through a few years ago, would be held to their own standards. And the
people who were set to lose money if the bailouts didn't happen should
have been aware of the risks when they put money in a non-insured
investment.

>        You know as well as I do that that quote is out of context. I don't
> believe your so gullible as to really think that is what McCain's
> statement said. Let's debate intelligently by not taking either side
> out of context, shall we? Give McCain a whole sentence and the matter
> evaporates.

Ok, here's the whole sentence from the transcript:

Q: President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years —
(cut off by McCain)

McCAIN: Make it a hundred.


>> The same way that Bush was a fiscal conservative?
>
>        He failed in that point, clearly. I don't see any reason to expect
> McCain to follow suit.

Except that, in 2004, after Bush had clearly failed in his promise to
be a fiscal conservative, you still supported him completely. The fact
that you don't see a reason that McCain, who claims to support Bush's
fiscal policies to this day, would follow in his footsteps isn't
surprising. You're not exactly a good judge of character (or
government policy,) going by your track record.