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Voting is today

For anyone who missed SNL last night

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One of the funniest SNL shows I have watched in a while... Sorry that they dragged Scranton PA through the mudd though.
 
Enough of Tina Faye playing Sarah Palin... Enough. Give it a little rest.

Funniest part of SNL last night (I only watched until Weekend Update) was that short film with the leisure competitions. Oh yea, and The Killers rock as always.
 
A preview of tomorrow's debate:

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Ah. The more things change...
 
Woody, that clip is shockingly similar to McCain-Obama debate ;)

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I don't want an ordinary joe six-pack to be in charge of the country. I want an *extra-ordinary* person.

She said *nucular.* Is this the republican litmus test or something?

I really wanted to think of something satirical, funny, absurd to say. But reality is far more asinine than anything I can make up.

Okay, enough Palin bashing for now. This stuff is much better in person, after 3-4 drinks. Obama will win this one unless something drastic happens in the next five weeks.

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Just doubt how much influence a VP could have. But, sorry, I don't want an increase of my tax rate...too much.

Under O's plan, it's reasonable to rip people earning >$250,000. What's wrong with the household earning that amount? It's also hard and honest money.
 
Just doubt how much influence a VP could have.

Well, in a worst case scenario, the 72-year-old (and statistically likely to have a recurrence of melanoma) John McCain could find himself, for any number of reasons, unable to complete his first term. This would make Sarah Palin the President of the United States. I'd say that's quite a bit of influence.

In a slightly less worse case, just look at the kind of influence Dick Cheney has had over George Bush these past eight years. Our current VP was practically running the government during the first four years of the Bush administration, and Palin herself, when asked about Cheney during the VP debate, said she wanted the VP to have even MORE power.
 
Under O's plan, it's reasonable to rip people earning >$250,000. What's wrong with the household earning that amount? It's also hard and honest money.
There is nothing wrong with making 250K a year. Majority of household makes less than that a year. In fact, according to his tax plan, 95% will not see tax raise.
Even most Quantnet members working on Wall Street will not make that much money during their first few years. Another four years, another election, another tax plan and who knows which tax bracket you will fall into at that time.
Or you prefer McSame's tax plan?
 
:) Andy, how much what these candidates promise now would realize later on is still a problem. Yes, one MFE alum alone in the first 1-2 years graduation may not impact by O's plan. But think about household with double income. It's very easy to get hit by this plan.

Adam, understand. Woman-in-power is very dangerous ;) Demanding woman in a family is a disaster, not to say a country....
 
A household with double income does not get taxed like a household with single income. One person earning 125k won't get a tax raise. Now if two people each earning 125k get married, they are a single household with a 250k income. Filing jointly, they will not get a tax raise, either. It is no easier for a two-income family to get "hit" by the Obama tax plan than it is for a single earner to get "hit".

But then, I don't really vote on tax policy. My main concerns at the moment are making sure our country doesn't start any more pointless costly wars based on cooked intelligence, and making sure that our government isn't staffed by incompetent cronies who let entire cities drown. Also, I'd like my country not to torture people anymore. If that means that, in the event that I end up making a lot of money, I have to end up paying a slightly higher marginal tax rate, the same tax rate I would have paid under Ronald Reagan, then so be it. The quality of government is like the quality of anything else in this world: "You get what you pay for."
 
Well said, Adam. In this current market condition, people are more concerned about keeping their jobs and making ends meet for the next few years. I wouldn't mind get taxed more if that means I'm making well over 250K for the next four years. That would be the least of my problem.
For once, I like to see the White House is occupied by a working-class, well educated, smart person, not by someone who graduated 894 out of 899 of his class and his Rovian friends. Mavericks, my you-know-what.

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I do mind, if the guy stay two terms, we will have to pay $7871 more tax each year under his policy, for least 4-years! Yet the "well-educated" one somehow hasn't persuade me how can he assure we can stay safe in our current job.
 
If congress does nothing, taxes will go back up to where they were before Bush took office. Those tax cuts are temporary. (Someone correct me in case this is not completely accurate.) So no matter who is elected, the tax policy will likely be the same because the Democratic congress will send a tax plan similar to Obama's, which has been proposed a few times before, and McCain cannot veto a tax cut. The plan will at the very least extend the current rates for people who earn < 250k and let the others go back to the pre-Bush rates. Last I saw, people earning >250k did very well before Bush's presidency.

But, let's be honest, I would rather keep more of my income too. If energy and health costs can come down, perhaps I will. Gas going from $1 to $3-4 takes money out of the economy, money that would otherwise be spent by the middle class, which means the investment class would be making more money. (Incidentally, the low tax argument from the other side says that investors make more if we cut taxes on the middle class, who spend money, increasing revenues for businesses, who hire more people.)
 
It's some ancient paper ballot system from at least the 1960s. I don't think there's a computer involved in the entire process. (But I would be interested to learn more about NY's balloting!)
 
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