Start of 2008
Welcome to 2008 and the first blog for this year. There are many political and economic cross currents going on that need to be commented on. In the political arena, I never expected Obama to be running away with the Democrat choice over Hillary. Much of his rhetoric, which is low on substance illustrates the point that Obama is more liberal than Ted Kennedy. He opposed the surge designed by General Petraeus and voted to withdraw most U.S. troops by 2008. He voted no on renewing for 6 months the authority under FISA to review communications of suspected terrorists without a court order. He has proposed eliminating the earnings cap on Social Security taxes. He voted on June 13 against speeding up the permitting process for oil refining sites. He supports embryonic stem cell research And is against designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. Obama, in my opinion would be a disaster on our goal of energy independence from the Arab sheiks, Nigeria, Venezuela and others who must think we are crazy not to develop our known reserves. He also talks about tax cuts for the rich which I have pointed out in past blogs as a ridiculous unproven fantasy. He constantly speaks of the middle class but never defines who they are.
The Republicans have pretty well selected John McCain but he is constantly being bombarded by so-called conservatives who only look at his past stands rather than what he now supports. If Steve Forbes, Jack Kemp and the like support the Senator, the rest of the Republicans should come together. Do they want Hillary Or Obama? The answer is neither. McCain is our man and lets be positive and do all we can to elect him. On the economic front, the stock market reflects all the negative news and very little of the positive news. Constant comments by Bernanke and even retired Fed chair Greenspan appear almost daily and muddy the waters because of the unclear and hedged statements that they make. Only time will prevail and better stats on the economy will have to make the difference.
Gary E. Marsella