Hey folks – I’ve been overseas for the past few weeks so I haven’t been totally on top of things on this side of the pond. Still, I can say for sure is that over there, they’re generally rooting for Obama to win the election.
Unfortunately, electioneering brings out some of the whackiest, most populist, and thus must economically-deranged policy proposals from otherwise intelligent candidates. Obama – for all his credits – shows that he’s not immune to the bug; this time taking on outsourcing –
Barack Obama on Monday made an aggressive pitch at Ohio’s blue-collar workers by proposing a “Patriot Employers” plan that would lower corporate taxes for companies that did not ship jobs overseas.…Mr Obama’s plan would lower the corporate tax rate for companies that met criteria including maintaining their headquarters in the US, maintaining or increasing their US workforce relative to their overseas workforce, holding a neutral position in union drives among their employees and providing decent healthcare.
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p> Democrat economists rightly ridicule the idea –
…”I would say that this plan is borderline unimplementable,” said a Democratic economist in Washington. “It is also puzzling. Normally presidential candidates only come up with plans that are unrealistic when they are losing. But Obama is now the favourite.”
There are a bunch of reasons lotsa Desis are gaga over Obama ranging from shared policy positions on Iraq and healthcare, to his JFK-esque charisma, and perhaps at the fringe, dare I say, a vague sort of non-white racial solidarity.
It’s worth noting, however, that in the last quarter century few things have impacted real lives back on the Desh more dramatically than the global embrace of free trade – contributing to an estimated 100M lifted from poverty in India alone. And for all the inconsistencies in execution, the US has been the driving force in this global revolution. Unfortunately, penalizing corporations and backtracking on NAFTA / WTO, while perhaps mere election rhetoric over here, create dangerous precedents in other countries that are far more sensitive to populist swings.
Yeah, I’ve heard that and it’s a poor reason to not vote Democrat 45 years on.
Oh, they can stoke their flames of resentment with the memory of Elian.
I think the actual debate transcript says that there’s really not much difference between the two on Cuba. But whom are we kidding? Cuba really has very little international strategic importance, and there is no domestic percentage to be had from actually changing the status quo. And these are both smart politicians – I’d be willing to bet that neither of them is likely to do anything substantive on Cuba unless something dramatic happens.
I loved the first comment on this post: Cool, now the right-wing bloggers searching for pro-Castro posts won’t come up empty-handed.. But who knows? Maybe you are on to something?
LOL–I guessed you would get a kick out of that! 😉 The rest of the comments are pretty interesting too, though.
101 · Rahul said
well, opposing Castro is their civil rights movement…hell its their abolitionist movement.
7 · Not so FOB_DBD_MTA said
right now corporations get taxbreaks for sending jobs overseas. obama wants to stimulate the market from the bottom-up by encouraging corps to stay within borders and create jobs for the working class again.
Am I the only idiot who thinks Obama is not against outsourcing. He is against tax break for outsourcers.
I personally I am against tax breaks for all large corporations anyway… tax breaks should be given to the entities that make best use of that capital.. and large corporations are full of ineffecient old school management.
ow. ow. ow. i feel little red ants crawling and biting through my skin, over my eyes, nostrils.
it’s ok to support your guy, dude – but I am very skeptical about your comment. if you are bothered about executive compensation, I would agree that there are some examples [e.g. home depot] that stand out. but … inefficient, old school mgmt…!! Well, could you please explain what you mean. I hate to sidetrack but may be you have a strong case in your support of Sen. obama. pray elaborate.
Rahul, Just to be clear here–I think you are conflating two points (or, maybe I am guilty of same)–but–at any rate, I’m not arguing that Jindal is insincere in converting to Catholicism–the details you mention seem to argue that he is pretty sincere–what I’m calling “pandering” is going from Catholicism to his advocacy of teaching “Intelligent Design”-I don’t think the latter has much to do with Catholicism (see, e.g., Italy, or New England). So, I don’t think Jindal is pandering when he says he’s a Catholic Christian, but I do think when he says the schools should teach Intelligent Design as an alternative to evolution (to the extent he does say that) that it’s just pandering–he doesn’t really believe that (I’m asserting).
Let me see if I am understanding this correctly about Mr. Obama…………….
HIS FATHER WAS A KENYAN, MOSLEM, BLACK- WE HAVE SEEN PICTURES OF HIS AFRICAN “FAMILY
HIS MOTHER IS A KANSAN, AN ATHIEST, AND IS WHITE-
WHERE ARE THE PICTURES OF HIS KANSAN, WHITE MOTHER AND HIS WHITE GRANDPARENTS WHO RAISED HIM?
HIS FATHER DESERTED HIS MOTHER AND HIM WHEN HE WAS VERY YOUNG AND WENT BACK TO HIS FAMILY IN KENYA
HIS MOTHER MARRIED AN INDONESIAN MOSLEM AND TOOK HIM TO JAKARTA WHERE HE WAS SCHOOLED IN A MOSLEM SCHOOL
HIS MOTHER RETURNED TO HAWAII AND HE WAS RAISED BY HIS WHITE KANSAN GRANDPARENTS
HE LATER WENT TO THE BEST HIGH DOLLAR SCHOOLS, HOW?
HE LIVES IN A $1.4 MILLION DOLLAR HOUSE THAT HE ACQUIRED THROUGH A DEAL WITH A WEALTHY FUND RAISER. HOW?
HE “WORKED” AS A CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST IN CHICAGO- HAS NEVER HELD A PRODUCTIVE JOB. THE PRESIDENCY IS NOT A CIVIL RIGHTS POST
NOR IS IT SUBJECT TO AFFIRMATIVE ACTION SET ASIDES
HE ENTERED POLITICS AT THE STATE LEVEL AND THEN THE NATIONAL LEVEL WHERE HE HAS MINIMAL EXPERIENCE
HE IS PROUD OF HIS “AFRICAN HERITAGE” BUT IT SEEMS THAT HIS ONLY AFRICAN CONNECTION WAS THAT HIS AFRICAN FATHER GOT A WHITE GIRL PREGNANT AND DESERTED HER. I DIDN’T KNOW THAT SPERM CARRIED A “CULTURAL” GENE.WHERE IS THE PRIDE IN HIS WHITE CULTURE?
HE ATTENDS A “AFROCENTRIC” CHURCH THAT HATES WHITES, HATES JEWS, AND BLAMES AMERICA FOR ALL THE WORLDS PERCEIVED FAULTS AND THEN REPEATEDLY COVERS UP FOR THE PASTOR AND THE CHURCH
HE CLAIMS THAT HE COULD NOT CONFRONT HIS PASTOR BUT HE WANTS US TO BELIEVE THAT HE CAN CONFRONT NORTH KOREA AND IRAN, RIGHT!!!
YEAH, I THINK I SEE HOW HE COULD BE A UNITER AND BRING US TOGETHER, I THINK THE HOPE IS THAT HE HOPES NO ONE WILL PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER.