Obama's Speech In Berlin

[fatman 1]

probably a rich guy

Try President Abe Lincoln

[CaneBrain 95]

Try President Abe Lincoln

What does a log cabin go for?I am not for out of control entitlement spending either. I just dont think there is anything wrong with asking the rich to pay a slightly higher percentage for income taxes.edit: to be clear, I have a problem with the neo-con agenda. Not the republican agenda. They are two very different things.

[chelsea 0]

Hi, I`m from germany and whatched his speach on TV last evening. I think most of the german people and the german politicans like him and all are hoping that he gets the new president. It would be better for the partnership between our countrys.(sorry for my english, think its not perfect at all...)

[copernicus 0]

Yeah, I am pretty sure Gore and Kerry were better than C students. You may be pretty sure but you are wrong. Bush's 77 average was higher than Kerry's and Gore's Not even sure what you are trying to say there. If you want to say he has done a great job by only allowing one terrorist attack then great. HE didnt allow one terroristr attack. He had 8 months, too soon to reverse the failed policies of an administration that treated terrorism as a criminal issue, not a military one.Thats your standard. I dont give presidents a free pass on allowing terrorist attacks by making up bullshit like after his policies went into effect. Maybe if he spent a little more time in the office and a little less on the ranch proving what an everyman he is......those policies would have been put in place faster. It is astonishing how Bush's few remaining supporters on this planet are able to rationalize everything that has gone wrong in the last 8 years.And if in hindsight you think the Iraq War was a good idea.....I mean wow. I dont even know what to say to that. It is hard to argue with someone who is not really on Planet Earth.

It is hard to debate with someone who is willfully ignorant and does no more thinking for himself than reading moveon.org. My first FCP ignore, it only took 4 years!

[copernicus 0]

What does a log cabin go for?I am not for out of control entitlement spending either. I just dont think there is anything wrong with asking the rich to pay a slightly higher percentage for income taxes.edit: to be clear, I have a problem with the neo-con agenda. Not the republican agenda. They are two very different things.

so, the top 1% of wage earners already pay 39% of all taxes....when will it be enough for you...when they have no incentive to earn anything?

[CaneBrain 95]

It is hard to debate with someone who is willfully ignorant and does no more thinking for himself than reading moveon.org. My first FCP ignore, it only took 4 years!

I hate Moveon.org. You couldnt be farther off. I am glad you put me on ignore.....saves me the agita.

[El Guapo 8]

Exactly, it wont do too much. Neither president has a revolutionary tax policy. As always it will be the spending that determines our fate.....and Bush was like a teenage girl at the mall on allowance day. And no one is suggesting we tax the rich at a ridiculous rate....just a small bump. Think of it as the rich paying a small premium to counterbalance the fact that it is the children of the poor and middle class doing the actual fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.My point wasnt that Obama has some genius tax policy.....it's that nothing he has said suggests he will raise taxes on the poor or middle class. Now, if you believe either Obama or McCain will raise taxes across the board.....that may be true. Whoever is elected has quite the mess to clean up.

There is more likely a chance of no to less tax hikes with McCain. He has been very vocal about government spending for 10+ years. It is almost certain Obama will raise taxes, and it will be on everyone. I'll give you an example of why the bottom tax payers pay the most tax, and its not because they are poor. Most of our clients are senior citizens, the have pensions and social security, most are in the 10-15% federal tax bracket, a few jump into the next level at 25% tax bracket. Most of them have net worths of over 1 million dollars. Just because you are in a low tax bracket, it does not mean you are poor. It just means that a lot of your money is tax deferred and you are taking it as needed.Also I agree with you that the Bush administration has spent out of control, it is the main reason I am feel so disconnected with Republicans right now. The whole basis of my political belief lies in fiscal responsibility.The fact that we aid and give money away to other countries the way we do is a joke. 20 billion to India for the Chick that got killed (cant remember her name). All the money that went to the "no Student Left behind" which is a terrible program that neither republicans or democrats like.As far as Clinton balancing the budget (don't remember who cited that) he did it bu cutting the military in half. A lot of the early spending in the Bush Administration was rebuilding our military. Ahhh, this it really tilting me right now.

[CaneBrain 95]

so, the top 1% of wage earners already pay 39% of all taxes....when will it be enough for you...when they have no incentive to earn anything?

you have a funny way of ignoring people.

[El Guapo 8]

so, the top 1% of wage earners already pay 39% of all taxes....when will it be enough for you...when they have no incentive to earn anything?

Actually they don't.

[CaneBrain 95]

There is more likely a chance of no to less tax hikes with McCain. He has been very vocal about government spending for 10+ years. It is almost certain Obama will raise taxes, and it will be on everyone. I'll give you an example of why the bottom tax payers pay the most tax, and its not because they are poor. Most of our clients are senior citizens, the have pensions and social security, most are in the 10-15% federal tax bracket, a few jump into the next level at 25% tax bracket. Most of them have net worths of over 1 million dollars. Just because you are in a low tax bracket, it does not mean you are poor. It just means that a lot of your money is tax deferred and you are taking it as needed.Also I agree with you that the Bush administration has spent out of control, it is the main reason I am feel so disconnected with Republicans right now. The whole basis of my political belief lies in fiscal responsibility.The fact that we aid and give money away to other countries the way we do is a joke. 20 billion to India for the Chick that got killed (cant remember her name). All the money that went to the "no Student Left behind" which is a terrible program that neither republicans or democrats like.As far as Clinton balancing the budget (don't remember who cited that) he did it bu cutting the military in half. A lot of the early spending in the Bush Administration was rebuilding our military. Ahhh, this it really tilting me right now.

my only point is that taxes are taxes. Moving the % a couple points either way is not what really matters......it's the spending.

[El Guapo 8]

Hi, I`m from germany and whatched his speach on TV last evening. I think most of the german people and the german politicans like him and all are hoping that he gets the new president. It would be better for the partnership between our countrys.(sorry for my english, think its not perfect at all...)

No offense, but most Americans really don't care if other countries residents "like" our president. It has zero bearing on anything at all, ever.

[CaneBrain 95]

No offense, but most Americans really don't care if other countries residents "like" our president. It has zero bearing on anything at all, ever.

For a smart guy, I think you are really being obtuse on this subject. The President is the first ambassador for America to the rest of the world. It is always preferable that the rest of the world likes and respects our president.The fact that most Americans dont care is probably true but only shows that we have gotten way too full of ourselves.

[El Guapo 8]

my only point is that taxes are taxes. Moving the % a couple points either way is not what really matters......it's the spending.

I agree with you, my point was that Obama CANNOT do what he is promising. It is impossible. So either he is naive and has bad information, or he is flat out lying, I don't think he is necessarily lying, I just don't think he has any real clue on the tax make up of America.And BTW Obama has already stated he wants to increase spending on School, Social Security, and Health Care. The only place to cut is Military and Government wages, and you know government wages aren't getting cut. Then we will just repeat the cycle.

[El Guapo 8]

For a smart guy, I think you are really being obtuse on this subject. The President is the first ambassador for America to the rest of the world. It is always preferable that the rest of the world likes and respects our president.The fact that most Americans dont care is probably true but only shows that we have gotten way too full of ourselves.

I don't think so. And you may be missing the point I am making. I DO think that our president has to get along with other world leaders, but what the citizens of other countries think of our president really does not matter. Yes, sometimes it goes hand in hand. For instance Tony Blair and Bush got along fantastically, but I am sure there are a lot of Brits who hate Bush.Also I wont ever let you forget you called me smart!

[CaneBrain 95]

I agree with you, my point was that Obama CANNOT do what he is promising. It is impossible. So either he is naive and has bad information, or he is flat out lying, I don't think he is necessarily lying, I just don't think he has any real clue on the tax make up of America.And BTW Obama has already stated he wants to increase spending on School, Social Security, and Health Care. The only place to cut is Military and Government wages, and you know government wages aren't getting cut. Then we will just repeat the cycle.

We need to spend more on schools. Our school system is not befitting the greatest nation on earth. Where that money will come from....I dont know. There arent any great answers. I am not that optimistic about our future no matter who wins this election. It kind of seems like we have plateaued as a country.As much smack as I talk about Bush, I recognize that he faced an incredibly challenging 8 years. There were not a lot of good options.....now I believe Bush took many bad options......and I think the created some new problems by being asleep at the wheel now and again (Katrina being a good example of this). But yeah....it is only fair as a left leaner to admit that no one would have been able to navigate the last 8 years with ease.

[CaneBrain 95]

I don't think so. And you may be missing the point I am making. I DO think that our president has to get along with other world leaders, but what the citizens of other countries think of our president really does not matter. Yes, sometimes it goes hand in hand. For instance Tony Blair and Bush got along fantastically, but I am sure there are a lot of Brits who hate Bush.Also I wont ever let you forget you called me smart!

You're clearly smart. And I really dont disagree with you or Republicans on so many things. And public opinion in other countries can have a direct effect on how much their government feels like pitching in on the war on terror. To paraphrase the religious people/pascals wager.....there is nothing but upside to having other countries like and respect our president and us.lunch time. see you all later.

[fatman 1]

We need to spend more on schools. Our school system is not befitting the greatest nation on earth. Where that money will come from....I dont know. There arent any great answers. I am not that optimistic about our future no matter who wins this election. It kind of seems like we have plateaued as a country.

We spend way to much on failed education programs as it is. Every year we keep putting more and more money into federal education programs that reap the same failed results. Maybe instead of spending more money on programs that don't work we should look at why public education as a whole doesn't work as well as it should and try to fix it.

[Loismustdie 0]

sure the media has continually asked them to be accountable.....but the Bush admin has never once admitted fault about anything. It's a culture built around toeing the line. Loyalty over competence. Thats how we ended up with Rummy, and a horse show expert running FEMA and god know what else. Sure 6 years in they wised up a bit and put Petraeus (a smart general who has done a good job in an impossible situation) in charge.again, I am 100% behind any effort to encourage Europe to like us more and work with us more. We need all the hearts and minds we can get. This xenophobia on conservatives part is maddening and amusing. Republicans pay lip service to the idea that we need international cooperation to defeat terrorists....Obama is actually going over there and planting the seeds now. And you rip him. And again, he has said over and over that he will not raise taxes on the middle class or poor. You choose to ignore that and that is fine. If I was a Republican and I had been listening to my guy Bush lie and deceive for 8 years I would assume that any other candidate for president is a liar too.

Repealing the bush tax cuts, which he is for, is in effect a tax hike one both the poor and middle class. Simple as that. I wonder if Guapo experiences what I do. In our line of business, and I assume it would be the same for him, it's about 9 out of 10 people that I talk to, clients, that do not like Obama, mostly because of what he means to money and the making of it. The taxes he is planning to raise is nothing short of insane. A 25% tax across the board on home sale profits. What this means is, if you are a retiree, and you sell you home to trade down, hand 25% back to the Government. Right now the tax is zero if your profit is under 500.000. Capital gains tax possibly as high as 39%. What? What? Actually, I don't really rip on Obama, I get it. It's the ****ing presidency and it's history, and you are the media elect- oh, my God, why wouldn't you go for it? The problem and I have said this for the past year, is whenever he starts talking unscripted. It's a serious issue when he has commanded so much press the past 2 weeks and not even a noticeable bump in approval. Read: Americans aren't that stupid. Neither is the media- look at some of the media lately who have been asking him tougher questions and the reaction by Obama is funny as hell. Even Katie Couric asking,"Look, why the change?" Which isn't really the question- she should be asking here employers,"Why the change? Why have we not been reporting about how the surge has worked/been working?" That would get her fired within 12 hours. I watch all media, all of the time, as much as possible, and here both sides, and when you do that, everyone I know that does that, comes to one conclusion- Obama, as a candidate, is one of the largest attempted media stunts ever. Interestingly enough, guess whos profits are down insane amounts? Liberal media.

[illgottendollars 0]

Hmmmmmm.....my history may be off but wasn't the balanced budget a result of the contract with America and Newt not letting Bill and Hilary spend like they wanted to.

Alan Greenspan, who hardly considers himself a liberal, stated in his book that Clinton closely consulted with him on developing a plan to balance the budget, and that it was a priority of the administration from the initial days of his first term. Greenspan also writes that the Bush administration was one of the most fiscally irresponsible presidencies he worked with during his public service. He is especially critical of the tax cuts, in particular their contribution to the deficit without any accompanying reduction in spending. Note that this deficit developed under the legislative dominion of the republican party. Perhaps it is time to stop speaking in absolutes about the spending practices of liberals and conservatives as there is a world of difference between the Clinton and Bush policies when it comes to fiscal responsibility.

[illgottendollars 0]

We spend way to much on failed education programs as it is. Every year we keep putting more and more money into federal education programs that reap the same failed results. Maybe instead of spending more money on programs that don't work we should look at why public education as a whole doesn't work as well as it should and try to fix it.

[El Guapo 8]

We need to spend more on schools. Our school system is not befitting the greatest nation on earth. Where that money will come from....I dont know. There arent any great answers. I am not that optimistic about our future no matter who wins this election. It kind of seems like we have plateaued as a country.As much smack as I talk about Bush, I recognize that he faced an incredibly challenging 8 years. There were not a lot of good options.....now I believe Bush took many bad options......and I think the created some new problems by being asleep at the wheel now and again (Katrina being a good example of this). But yeah....it is only fair as a left leaner to admit that no one would have been able to navigate the last 8 years with ease.

Here is a little tidbit of information for you on school systems. Our state budget in CA was roughly 105-110 Billion dollars last year. 60% of that went to the school system. That is a staggering number, and they still did not have enough money. The problem is not the lack of money it is where is going and how it is being used. I will give you two examples that I know of specifically of why there is a problem there.1. Our local superintendent, a nice guy, in the middle of a recent teacher labor strike, gave the teachers a 2% raise (most teachers make 50-60K a year around me, depending on years in service) That was half of the 4% they wanted. At the exact same time, he gave himself a $36K (to almost 250K a year total) a year raise in his last year in service, to bump up his pension numbers. Totally unethical and corrupt, but the buck stopped with him.2. Completely opposite of that, one of my clients who was in the corporate world an retired, decided to go back to work for fun and is the secretary of the president of a middle school in the largest NoCAl school system. In 3 months she had there budget balanced and they have their schedule all caught up into next school year, and with a surplus. So the problem is not the money, it is the people handling it, that are either corrupt or don't know what they are doing. They superintendent was dumbfounded that they got that done, because ZERO of the other school in the district had ever done that in the 10 years he had been there.Now if one lady with a business background can fix a middle school working part time in less than 3 months, what would happen if we hired others with business background and ran these government agencies on strict budgets like they were businesses and without the state worker attitude of show up 10 minutes late, leave 10 minutes early, take long breaks and lunches, because hey its the government, they wont do anything.

You're clearly smart. And I really dont disagree with you or Republicans on so many things. And public opinion in other countries can have a direct effect on how much their government feels like pitching in on the war on terror. To paraphrase the religious people/pascals wager.....there is nothing but upside to having other countries like and respect our president and us.lunch time. see you all later.

OK, I don't disagree with this.

[illgottendollars 0]

I wonder if Guapo experiences what I do. In our line of business, and I assume it would be the same for him, it's about 9 out of 10 people that I talk to, clients, that do not like Obama, mostly because of what he means to money and the making of it. The taxes he is planning to raise is nothing short of insane. A 25% tax across the board on home sale profits. What this means is, if you are a retiree, and you sell you home to trade down, hand 25% back to the Government. Right now the tax is zero if your profit is under 500.000. Capital gains tax possibly as high as 39%. What? What?

I am interested to read about his stance on taxes. If you have a link (preferably one from a respected news source, not Fox, Drudge or the Weekly Standard), I would appreciate it.

[rjkdb8 1]

The taxes he is planning to raise is nothing short of insane. A 25% tax across the board on home sale profits. What this means is, if you are a retiree, and you sell you home to trade down, hand 25% back to the Government. Right now the tax is zero if your profit is under 500.000. Capital gains tax possibly as high as 39%. What? What?

The notion that he will institute a 25% tax across the board on home sale profits is false. Both candidates' proposals would leave intact the existing capital gains exemption for the first $500K per household of profit from the sale of a primary residence.You talking points make me suspect that you citing figures from one of the many false mass emails about Obama's tax plan.http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/taxes.asp

[El Guapo 8]

Repealing the bush tax cuts, which he is for, is in effect a tax hike one both the poor and middle class. Simple as that. I wonder if Guapo experiences what I do. In our line of business, and I assume it would be the same for him, it's about 9 out of 10 people that I talk to, clients, that do not like Obama, mostly because of what he means to money and the making of it. The taxes he is planning to raise is nothing short of insane. A 25% tax across the board on home sale profits. What this means is, if you are a retiree, and you sell you home to trade down, hand 25% back to the Government. Right now the tax is zero if your profit is under 500.000. Capital gains tax possibly as high as 39%. What? What?

Maybe 8/10 but yeah same/same.The repealing of tax cuts, but more importantly the addition and increase of capital gains will cripple capital markets. Mutual Funds will not have the flexibilty to make short term moves if everyone is going to chop 40% of their profits away. Senior Citizens will not be able access their brokerage accounts in the same fashion. Money will scream to tax free bonds like you have never seen. Because a 4% ror is essentially a 7&+ ror.Such a bad idea. It punishes more than just rich people, is punishes all people and locks money up.

[Loismustdie 0]

The notion that he will institute a 25% tax across the board on home sale profits is false. Both candidates' proposals would leave intact the existing capital gains exemption for the first $500K per household of profit from the sale of a primary residence.You talking points make me suspect that you citing figures from one of the many false mass emails about Obama's tax plan.http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/taxes.asp

Fine. You got me on one. I guess everything else is just peachy keen, then. Wait, no, that's not true at all. See Guapo above. He very smart.