World in chaos

By MICHAEL HALEY

I am surveying the latest news to think over what I want to say about the Obama-McCain race at this point and I can’t help but feeling that the world is breaking down into a lot of chaos right now. I know, I know, it always seems that way, nothing new under the sun, but yet right now ... the problems just seem to be piling up. And there is a gathering sense that things are really out of control. And I am not hearing any answers, just the same old tired propaganda.

Health care, gas prices, recession, mortgage crisis, credit crunch, inflation, stock market, California budget deficits, lower tax collections, Medicare bankruptcy, all hitting us in the pocket book. Today the Fed decided not to deal with anything or provide some direction, instead leaving interest rates as they are, doing nothing as the economic woes mount.

And on the cultural front, some of the nastiest stuff I have ever seen in a campaign directed toward Obama by this relentless negative e-mail campaign from out of somewhere in the bowels of GOP-dum. First we get Obama is a low life Muslim with ignorant black relatives from Africa, with pictures to prove it, and today Rove informs us that Obama is an elitist rich country club guy hanging around with martini in hand making snide comments about everyone else.

It doesn’t seem to be working, though, as Obama’s numbers are heading up and up. People aren’t going to get fooled by it, the Republicans are just rattling off every negative liberal stereotype they can think of to try to stop this guy and it isn’t working. We have seen it all before, maybe people are starting to get immune to it.

And all the green stuff going on, my column is going green by the way. Please send greenbacks so I too can claim to have gone green. Once I get enough money my column will appear in green type.

How in the world are we going to pay for all this greenery? We can’t, that’s what and that is why we appear to be heading into a world wide recession or even depression.

Even though I like both candidates as persons, I am not hearing anything from either one of them that sounds like it is going to help much of anything. Obama is planning on big tax increases, which OK if you think we should, but the problem I have with that is that it doesn’t appear that they are really going to solve any problems. A lot more tax money, some reduction in deficits, very little bang for the buck.

Raising rich people’s taxes over 50%, if they aren’t there already, is one thing that conservatives such as myself have long feared. Why? Because it will really hurt the economy. No one is going to start a business if up front they know that even if they do really well they won’t make much money. Why take the risk and spend all the time? And our economy depends on small business formation, that is the leading edge of innovation and creation of wealth. Over 50% taxes will kill small businesses.

What is helping Obama is that he has a plan, and it is specific, if unrealistic. McCain has suddenly seemed to have lost his footing, and is coming across as Obama lite. Giving a speech on how global warming is a threat? Why not try to get the large minority, about 45%, of voters like myself who feel that global warming is unlikely to be true? Obama has done the green climate change talk sooner and better, and we need some kind of viable alternative to that. McCain would not have to deny the reality of global warming, he could just give us a path that maintains the economy a lot better.

Oh yes, McCain called for 45 new nuclear power plants too. But the way he did it, it seemed like he read a poll one night, didn’t have any other ideas and just blurted that out off the top of his head. He gave no sense of having thought this through or having any real coherent long range strategy for energy, just shoot from the hip. Is this guy always like this?

Obama has expressed the sentiment that he agrees with high gas prices, he thinks it is a good thing. What more of an opening could McCain ask for? Instead we get this, well maybe we could drill in states that want to, except for Alaska which is the only state that wants to and has the most oil. Huh? More mush pudding.

The only bright spot I can see in the swirl of confusion and things spinning out of control is that Obama has maintained his commitment to a positive campaign and is indeed elevating the debate. He is giving people a lot of hope on a subjective level. His policies? Well, not so good.

Both McCain’s and Obama’s plans are economy killers, and Democrats seem to be in La La land thinking they can maintain these gas prices, raise taxes this much, do nothing about looming huge fiscal disasters like Medicare and Social Security, and not drive the economy over a cliff. Oh and the fact that they are demanding we go to alternative fuels without a viable alternative fuel to go to.

No wonder it seems like we are losing control, both candidates need to come up with some better and more realistic answers to at least some of the problems we are facing or we are in deep trouble.

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