As Obama moves ahead in the polls, the market tanks

Oh stop.

On this one, I totally agree with Steve.

I'll add that the sentiment that "our long national nightmare is over" will likely give at least a little bit of a lift to the economy in 2009, once President Obama takes office.

Interesting that Republicans predicted economic doom and gloom for the Clinton era and we had eight years of relative prosperity and a couple of real boom years. Not to mention a budget surplus of 139 billion.

He also causes global warming, hurricanes and plagues. It's pretty well established that he's responsible for radical Islamic terrorism and the resurgence of polio in South Asia. I hear he's also the Antichrist, but I'm still Googling that one.

i agree with jake. i own an ice cream shop and i noticed that if i sell a lot of ice cream, it then turns really hot outside.

If you combine his tax increases with his proposed social security tax increase and the local tax increases that we are going to have to bear as a result of the loss of income from Wall Street, it is going to make living in New York City impossible for many people. I do not understand how all of this is supposed to help the economy. This is only going to send NYC into a further "tailspin".

Jake had me at "devasting". I think we all need to devast a bit. Life has just gotten too goshdarn big, doggone it.

Jake, congratulations on a brilliant bit of satire... I think.

Last I heard it was Bloomberg who was raising property taxes in NYC as well as declaring a budget shortfall which will probably mean decreased services and raise taxes. I bet Bloomberg is doing this in anticipation of an Obama win...

And yes, the $700 billion bailout and CDS auction and WFC/Citi fight over WB all would've sent the Dow up 1,000 points if only Obama wasn't running.

jake is right. An Obama presidency will take us back to the 70's, when we had high taxes and government regulations that crippled the economy. Obama is a socialist who wants to engage in class warfare through tax policies that will redistribute income from the successful to the poor. NYC especially will be devastated by an Obama presidency. Good jobs will leave the city, and crime will skyrocket.

I must agree with Jake & Rufus. It's been proven that trickle down economics, know on Main Street as bend over economics, is the ONLY way to go. -End of discussion-

Reagan's economic policies worked. The economy boomed during the 80's.

A socialist tax policy that punishes success is going to make things much worse. But that's where we are headed with Obama.

wait till Petrfitz sees this

rufus, if you haven't noticed Bush is currently ending free market capitalism as we know it what with the no short sale rule and the $700 billion bailout put under control of the Treasury. Now that all capital and credit and mortgages are under defacto Federal government control, what's left for Obama to "socialize"? The video game industry?

Rufus: More scathing satire! I love it!

I'd vote for Paul Volcker if he were running. But - funny thing about presidential elections - only politicians seem to run.

At least Obama has some grown-ups in the room with him - lots of them, in fact. There's an interesting piece in this week's Economist about how mainstream economists of almost every ideological stripe have pretty much written off the Republicans as a lost cause.

I'd vote for David Stockman

I could careless who wins this election. Neither party represents those who you think. Make the proper adjustments in your portfolio with potential policy changes in mind. Good Luck to all.

Where is petrfitz when you need him? I hope he is one of the "grown-ups" you are referring to West!

80sMan: With Jeff Skilling as VP and Martha Stewart as Treasury Secretary? ;o)

Way to go! West 81st, you are ON YOUR GAME !!! ;-)

How about Frank Raines as head of OMB and Jim Johnson CEO of Fannie Mae? Or the other way around. Just as long as those guys figure prominently in an Obama cabinet. Things were fine when they were in charge.

Don't feed the trolls...

tech_guy: It's hard to resist. They're so cute and cuddly!

http://www.somersoft.com/forums/gallery/data/506/Do-not-feed-the-troll.jpg

Obama's main economic advisor is Austan Goolsbee, who recently said that the bush tax cuts are responsible for the mortgage crisis. Liberals need to realize that the root of this crisis lies in the clinton administration's shameful attempt to boost minority home ownership by pressuring lenders to relax mortgage standards for poor minorities. Every liberal economic and social policy since the 1960's has failed miserably.

Hey rufus, when are you going to blame the Jews?

drdrd: Stockman illustrates one of the challenges of the talent hunt. He's obviously a very smart guy, and he has incredible experience. He'd be an asset to any administration. But that's not enough. In the emerging "It's All the Fault of Wall Street Greed" witch-hunt environment, the President can't just surround himself with the best and the brightest. They also have to be above reproach, which is a tall order for anyone with expertise relevant to the current crisis.

Granted, Stockman is an extreme example, since I think he's still facing decades of jail time. Assuming he ever had a soul, he has sold it off in several tranches, starting with his conversion to voodoo economics and culminating in his shady private equity dealings.

What ever happened to all the creative and interesting trolls? Such mediocrity....

It's going to be awful. Obama things we are "rich" in NYC if you make over 97.5k and thus wants to increase the salarty cap on FICA. He wants to increase capital gains, increase income taxes again on rich people in nyc that make above $250k. how about a standard of living index to reflect that 250k here is like 100k in Iowa?

I already feel the inch and obama aint gonna help. MAYBE SOMEONE can explain to the housing agency that decreasing the conforming limit during a crisis is crazy!! that is also a concern of mine for nyc.

Obama will destroy the U.S. economy, and things will be especially bad in NYC. He is a socialist who hates wealth and capitalism, and he is intent on using the government to redistribute wealth by taking money from hard-working people and giving it away to welfare bums and crack addicts. The next 4 years will be scary indeed.

I feel soooo bad for people making over 250k in NYC! I'm almost in tears....

Mimi everyone in NYC makes over 250k per year. Don't they?

An example: I have a Harvard graduate friend who teaches music in a public school, he makes 54k, his wife, a social worker, who works in a diabetics center, makes 80k. Are these extreme working class numbers? Should they move to India or China to make more money?

the 250,000 threshold also applies to married couples, so no it is not a high threshold at all, particularly in the New York area, but if you and/or you and your wife/husband enjoy ponying up an ADDITIONAL 6.2% in payroll taxes to fund yet another entitlement program, then godspeed.

obama will soak the rich and give freebies to people on welfare. it's going to be a socialist state. but i guess that's what liberals want.

Better than a Keating Five crook and a dimwit sidekick like Palin

"Obama's main economic advisor is Austan Goolsbee, who recently said that the bush tax cuts are responsible for the mortgage crisis. Liberals need to realize that the root of this crisis lies in the clinton administration's shameful attempt to boost minority home ownership by pressuring lenders to relax mortgage standards for poor minorities"

I never agree with Rufus and certainly am NOT a fan of the Bush Administration, but, there is some truth to the fact that this started in the Clinton Administration. But's let's not make it about race, either - it has far more to do with people's income levels, and the fact that a disproportiante number of minorities fall into this cateogry.

See below - New York Times in 1999

September 30, 1999
Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
By STEVEN A. HOLMES
In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.
The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.
In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.
''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''
In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.
''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''
Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.
Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage
In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.
________________________________________

Hey anonymous, at least an entitlement program helps a broad variety of Americans. A tax code that keeps all the money in the hands of "productive capital" (fast becoming a great oxymoron) is just wealth distribution in favor of the rich.

How many small businesses has the President created? How about John McCain? How many jobs are they supporting? Zero. Unless you're a gardener, a private pilot, a house servant or a chauffeur. Yes, the nation needs capital, but it needs smart capital, not the fools who've been running the show for the past decade (and those who desperately want to be just like those fools).

The backlash against financial services and the wealthy is well-earned on their part. They botched it. If you have the opportunity to make 250K+, that's great. If you're making 250K+ and you're hurting financially, you're doing something very wrong with your money, even in NYC.

Welcome to reality, anonymous, nice to have you back. I can recommend a great place to get takeout Chinese, cheap.

I have to admit that I am a dimwitted 1 issue voter. That issue being the amount of money the government let's me keep from my hard earned pay check. Some may call me a control freak but I am the one I like deciding on how much of the fruit of my blood, sweat and tears goes to housing, food, education, retirement, etc. I also like deciding on how much to give to the less fortunate and which of the less fortunate I would like to support. Organizations which "teach a man to fish" rather than "give a man a fish" are at the top of my list. Hand outs for real estate speculators who never had the ability or the willingness to pay their debts back would not be on my list.

I know Obama is a smart guy, community organizer and all, and that many of you would be happy to have a man as brilliant as he deciding these things for you. I guess those of us who want to decide these things for ourselves are not smart enough to know what many of you seem to know.

Just call us the dimwits. But ask yourself 1 thing, Am I going to be better off 4 years from now with Obama as President?

calling petrfitz. where are you petrfitz?

"If you're making 250K+ and you're hurting financially, you're doing something very wrong with your money, even in NYC."

Tell that to the sole breadwinner of a family with 3 kids. I just love how its somehow poor form to comment on the saving/spending/investing habits of the "low income" folks, but everyone lines up to comment on how easy it must be for the "rich", particularly when "rich" is defined in terms of W2 income.

jake, i agree 100% with you. liberals think the government should decide how we should spend our money and live our lives. Obama is an arrogant harvard law grad and ex-community organizer who wants to try out his socialist experiment on this country. If he wins, the next 4 years will go down as some of the worst years in this nation's history.

hey JK8, Instead of increasing taxes on those making $97.5k a year or more in nyc and increasing taxes (also, except here via fed income) for couples making 250k a year more in nyc, why the heck not just make the taxes more progressive as a whole. how about a billionare's premium whereby if one makes over a billion in a year such person must pay 1% more in taxes. if above 500 million .5% more and so on...or make it more gradual. the fact that i pay the same marginal rate on income on just income (not including cap gains) someone making 100 million a year, makes no sense.

What obama wants hurts most those in expensive cities who are making what really amounts to middle class income (ie 97.5k or a couple making $250k combined). I am just saying, it is a bad time to increase taxes. If you INSIST on increases, why not improve the progressiveness aspect instead of using a cap as a blunt instrument of depression.

I am by no means rich and if he says one more time that he only wants to increase taxes for the rich I think I may lose it. someone making 97.5k a year in NYC is not rich!!

Well, yes, you are going to be better off. First, there will be no 10 trillion dollars spent in a war with Russia, second, we will not feel the slump that McCain's untimely death could cause, with the consequence of having a little no brains far right bimbo as a president. Imagine Sara's leadership in a comatose global economy!!!! Auch!!!!

"I am by no means rich and if he says one more time that he only wants to increase taxes for the rich I think I may lose it. someone making 97.5k a year in NYC is not rich!!"

Hey what about the guy who gets laid off from his 250K + per year job. Is he "rich", then "not rich" and then if he lands another one, poof...he's "rich" again? The inanity of this stance confounds any moderate thinker.

Perhaps if the hundreds of millions wastefully spent on this useless campaign were to go instead to Social Security fund we could ease up on the poor "rich" guys.

Even if you're only looking out for your own wallet, don't be so short sighted as to pick the candidate who promises the lower rate now. One, that doesn't mean anything once they get in office. Two, the candidate that spends more will ultimately hurt your wallet the most - either through tax hikes they said they wouldn't make, or by higher debt that you ultimately pay a few years from now.

Obama won't spend on costly wars. McCain will. The cheaper option, for both rich and poor, should be pretty obvious.

mimi,
On the 10 trillion issue, I am not sure who you think is at war with Russia. On the untimely death issue, McCain is old but in good health. Obama is young but smokes and may be HIV positive. My guess is their life insurance premiums are about the same. On Sarah, are you kidding me? 4 more years of Tina Fey?? It's gonna be a lot of laughs. Remember, we could could have had 4 years of a far left conniving witch and her sleaze ball hubby. In this game adorable bimbo trumps the sex offender.

Multiple primary melanomas?
And we all may be HIV positive; do you have specific information regarding Obama?
Are you suggesting there's a direct correlation between smoking and health problems?

Read Sophocles or Shakespeare and you will realize why will Mc Cain go to war with Russia. Hero of the wrong war amasses wealth and power, gets to the top, all those years of torture came to haunt him. He acts up. A classic. Why can Obama be HV positive? How can he pay the same premium than a cancer-veteran of war-man way passed his retirement age? Sex ofender is Clinton? You were not happy with the economy back then and you prefer how the republicans have been handing this issue?

"...with the consequence of having a little no brains far right bimbo as a president. Imagine Sara's leadership in a comatose global economy!!!! Auch!!!!"

But she does seem to grasp that $250,000 W2 income does not magically make a taxable unit "rich".

Perhaps Harvard Law and Syracuse law, respectively, should add a basic finance course to their respective curriculum.

Under Obama,
-small businesses will fail
-greater unemployment
-health care crisis (benefits those making under 30k)

So the bottom line is, anyone making > 40-50k salary will be contributing towards the unemployed, welfare fed families including the illegals. Don't we give enough back to the welfare system already? Enough is enough.

I say stalingrad
I have a friend who is on a payment plan with a hospital in the amount of $12,000. He cut down on cable, internet, etc at home to conserve and pay for the monthly hospital expenses. About $2000 of his hosptial expense was the hospital surcharge to help pay for the welfare/low income/ilegals. So why should he take out a loan and bread out of his table to pay for the others?

Totallyanonymous, I see your point. Give a tax break for everybody earning more than 250k, and all our problems will be solved!

"Totallyanonymous, I see your point. Give a tax break for everybody earning more than 250k, and all our problems will be solved"

Yes its a wonderful "tax break" to pay a 33% to 35% marginal tax rate in addition to $6325 in social security contributions (currently capped at $102,000).

You must be from the Chicago School.

"Read Sophocles or Shakespeare and you will realize why will Mc Cain go to war with Russia."

What is this like some sort of Nostradamus prophecy?

You must be form the British Industrial Revolution school. More marginal people, more sick, more drugs, more poverty, is what takes countries down, not up. Yeah, make their kids work, let them die, if they didn't survive is not my fault. For someone supporting a fundamental christian like Sarah, you seem totallyremoved from Jesus ideas....

"You must be form the British Industrial Revolution school. More marginal people, more sick, more drugs, more poverty, is what takes countries down, not up. Yeah, make their kids work, let them die, if they didn't survive is not my fault. For someone supporting a fundamental christian like Sarah, you seem totallyremoved from Jesus ideas...."

Ummmmm, ok now. I'm just gonna go ahead and say you're probably incarcerated at a state run facility at this time. Good luck with that.

Sizz, no, it's common sense to imagine this scenario if you see the world under the light of the greatest writers of human condition. You can also see this in movies, the ones they do after tragedy hits, like Oliver Stone's.

Actually, I live overseas, I own several properties abroad, I am loosing a lot of money in the stock market, I am in the higher tax bracket. And I am a woman. But it seems that to have a heart for the ones in need and to be able to sacrifice my own wealth for the future of the country in general and the ones in need in particular is only for the incarcerated criminals....

mimi,
what tax break? Paying too much taxes is considered a "Tax break"? Obama wants to tap more into 250k family by taxing more than the already high rate.

I am not making it up. "obama hiv positive" gets 266,000 hits on google. His family is from Kenya and he has spent a good deal of time in AIDS stricken parts of Africa. Someone claiming to be Obama's former boyfriend is HIV positive and says he may have gotten it from Obama. And it was HRC who said he was an assassination candidate. As you yourself said - think Oliver Stone conspiracy theories. No honestly it is not hard to imagine that he pays higher premiums. And his smoking is a big issue too.

mimi
5 minutes ago
ignore this person
report abuse Actually, I live overseas, I own several properties abroad, I am loosing a lot of money in the stock market, I am in the higher tax bracket. And I am a woman. But it seems that to have a heart for the ones in need and to be able to sacrifice my own wealth for the future of the country in general and the ones in need in particular is only for the incarcerated criminals....

Then start supporting the Republicans and I would start by setting up a Trust fund for Under previleged families.

Ugh, I am really dancing with the ugliest here....

mimi...the United States spent almost 50 years avoiding war with Russia. Why exactly would McCain throw all that to the wind and start a war with Russia? Forget what Shakespeare says.

War with Russia? Who in the right mind said that? Unless the contress wants to get nuked in every state of America, I don't think so.

typo, Congress

MC Cain is a volatile irresponsible man with a bad temper who didn't doubt putting his country at risk with his VP populist choice. He was also wounded psychologically being tortured in a wrong war. And his reactions to the Georgia crisis were not the most diplomatic. What makes you think he would not start it?

even if Russia killed his entire family, he has no power to start a war with Russia.
If you review Politic 101, a president cannot start a war, the Congress does.

Lesson #2,
who started this expensive Iraqi war? Bush, Hillary & Obama

oh and McCain :)

Well, the republicans know how to lie to congress...think of weapons of mass destruction....

"Actually, I live overseas, I own several properties abroad,"

Are you entitled to vote in the U.S.? If not, respectfully, keep your opinions to yourself.

I'll say this again...the United States spent 50 years and 9 Presidents avoiding war with Russia. But because you have diagnosed John McCain through your computer and television, you are confident that he will ignore all of that and start a war with Russia because he is unstable? I think you might be the unstable one dear.

totallymeannonymous, yes, I vote in the American embassy...I have voted in several elections already, obviously not for GWB. And I would post my opinions if I wasn't american as well...you can't keep me from having an opinion... and as far as I know NY RE depends quite a bit on "foreigners'" opinions and decisions....By the way, expect europeans to run away of Manhattan if Mc Cain wins...they just hate him. They also tend to read Shakespeare and the greeks more than Joe Six Pack.
Sizz, through what media do you diagnose Mc Cain?

"By the way, expect europeans to run away of Manhattan if Mc Cain wins...they just hate him. They also tend to read Shakespeare and the greeks more than Joe Six Pack."

Right. After Bush won, the euros sure left NYC in droves. Wonderful prediction. I think the lack of ketchup has gone to your head. One thing I cannot stand is a bitter ex-pat. Just remember, your ancestors left there to come here, not vice versa. They're still recovering from that brain drain.

"They also tend to read Shakespeare and the greeks more than Joe Six Pack."

Superb. Perhaps we should elect an English Lit Professor from Brown as President.

what are you Petrfitz now? No Mimi I don't pretend to know things I cant possibly know, like what is going on inside John McCain's head or how he is psychologically after suffering N Vietnamese torture.
Nor do I make anonymous posts claiming that I do. I get this frustrates you, but you do know what the Cold War was right?

I still do not for the life of me see what Shakespeare has to do with John McCain. So because you see some similarities between John McCain and some of Shakespeare's writings all of a sudden John McCain is going to follow that same storyline to a tee in reality? Doesn't that sound a little ridiculous to you?

Europeans only get the anti-conservative outlets like CNN International so their U.S. news is skewed left. Not to worry though, they generally like "Americans" although they dislike our government. We can all rest easy now, as can the 400,000 Americans who dies in WW II saving their collective anti-American whiny asses from annihilation.

My ancestors are european, I was born overseas, you know, some of us get to be american later in life...I happened to fall in love with an american a couple of decades ago and raised my 2 american kids in the USA...
Literature and art are an extremely powerful way of understanding life. Art remains there to be witnessed. There's a lot to be learn, if you can really see it/hear it/read it.
Predictions can became realities or not, as these streeteasy threads prove. Some say RE down 70% in a year, I say war with Russia.
Agreed on USA rescuing Europe. Should be always be in our minds.
Yes, europeans like americans. They didn't flee during GW because they were speculating with RE. Now they can't do it anymore. And they really think (read foxnews today) that Obama is better for the world, for the economy, etc. That's what they will flee if your indefensible Mc Cain wins.

I agree that literature and art are extremely powerful ways of understanding life, yet I still do not understand how a fictional story written by someone a few centuries ago is going to become a reality if one particular person wins the White House. What if it isn't Shakespeare's story that plays out but Peter Piper lets say. Does that mean if McCain wins he is going to go on a pickled pepper picking rampage?

I find it so amusing when the Neo-cons blast Obama (or the dems in general) but stand by the republican party. Considering that the "bailout bill" couldn't get past the repubs in congress, until of course they porked it up last week, I don't really see many "fiscal conservatives" left out there. Who are you guys voting for in November? Bob Barr? I don't think Ron Paul is running as in independent is he?

I just close my eyes and see it, darling. Call it intuition. Saw the video of Sarah with the exorcist priest? Seems that they also have intuitions. But they want to force them on others through policy. I just share them.

You right wing RE people are asking me for so much fact checking in my prediction. It will be interesting to see you prove all the "evil connections" and "paling with terrorists" that your party is hammering on Obama, faced with the lack of other campaign themes...

Okey Dokey. I am not a "right winger". I find it kind of ridiculous anyone claiming to be educated (you put oh so much emphasis on art and literature) like yourself would make such a stupid statement that any President, Democrat or Republican, would voluntarily go to war with Russia. It shows a complete lack on common sense, logic and a knowledge of history.
I haven't asked for fact checking as your "intuition" is probably the farthest thing from fact.
No where in anything I have written have I said anything about Obama nor have I promoted McCain, I am merely taking issue with your beyond foolish statement that a sitting U.S. President would choose to go to war with Russia for no apparent reason. (Because of some Shakespearean prophecy you had no less)

Rufus, you are why the Republican party is an endangered species. As an Obama supporter and liberal, I look forward to a future time when some iteration of the Republican party can put together a sentence become less of a cartoonish sparring partner.

No offense but who cares what Europeans think about the election. Say American prefer Gordon Brown or Nicolas Sarkozy, is that a reason for the Brits or the French to vote for them, no it is not. They, like we, have to vote for who is best for America. I think that's McCain, you may think it's Obama, but either way, do what you think is best for America, not what will make Europe happy. All they want is a strong, functioning US since we are are still their first line of defense.
BTYW, according to MSN, hardly a conservative outlet, 250K in NYC does not make one wealthy. I'll try to find the link (the story was posted a couple of weeks ago) but 500K in MYC equals 250K in most other parts of the country.
Don't forget that 6+% state and 4% city tax on your entire income. Oh yeah, and thanks to Clinton's 93 tax reform, it's not even fully deductable.

Ok, everyone write your Congressperson. European spouses of Americans should not be allowed to vote. Next topic.

Sorry but two corrections, 1) Say American should be Say Americans and 2) The following sentence was meant to imply that they, the British and the French, have to vote who is best for their country, and Americans have to vote for who they think is best for America.

What the rest of the world thinks is more relevant and important after 8 years of destructive behavior by W. Also, shouldn't we assume as the preeminent power and economy in the world, what is good for us is good for the world, in some small part. Is cooperation not a goal? Anyone with half a brain or half a heart has left the Republican party, and what's left is a bunch of small minded imbeciles like yourself.

Sizz, it's not only me. In Europe they are convinced that Mc Cain puts us much closer to WWIII than Obama. I was surprised to read that many people thinks like me...

Trust me so am I. Whoever is the next President, they will not, I repeat, will not, go to war with Russia for no other reason that warmongering. Anyone with half a brain knows that a U.S. v. Russia war pretty much means the end of the world (remember MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction). Unless Russia nukes the U.S., or supplies a nuke to someone who does, we will not be going to war with Russia.

than

"In Europe they are convinced that Mc Cain puts us much closer to WWIII than Obama. I was surprised to read that many people thinks like me..."

They said the same thing about Reagan. Europeans simply like weak U.S. Presidents and in that Europeans live much closer to dangerous regimes like Russia they're scared shitless by nature. You must know that without U.S. bases and missile deployments in throughout Europe you'd all be speaking either German or Russian.

Kindly get off your high horses. Americans are far more intelligent than you lot could even dream.

Hey thrinald, as Churchill said "If you are 20 and not a liberal, you don't have a heart. If you are
40 and not a conservative, you don't have a brain"
Maybe when you have something of value, you will want to protect it from the government but I guess it's loopy libs like you that can do nothing but take and criticize those that support you.
I never wrote what is good for us is good for the rest of the world. I wrote that Europe want a strong, functioning America. I don't see where you draw that analogy. Then again, imbeciles like you see what they want too.

mets2009, I'm 34 years old with a net worth well into the seven figures, liquid and ready to buy what your sorry baby boom ass is going to be forced to puke in the coming years to pay for your depends. You're probably a 45-50+ year-old middle management piece of sh*t.

Europeans generally view America as being comprised of New York City, South Beach, Hollywood, Disneyland and a bunch of cow-tipping hicks. its an alarmingly closed-minded viewpoint.

I've traveled throughout Europe many times and have many European comrades. This is unfortunately a widely held viewpoint and indicative of the wildly overstated view of European cultural superiority.

In reality, Europeans are much more like Americans than they'd care to admit and, often, just as fat.

Thrinald, I congratulate you on your success. I will add you missed by a wide margin on your assessment of me.
Continued good fortune.

No one is saying European opinions are all that matters. We are saying that cooperation with the rest of the world should matter. What's funny is mets2009 couldn't even understand that idea from my other post "Also, shouldn't we assume as the preeminent power and economy in the world, what is good for us is good for the world, in some small part. Is cooperation not a goal?" Guys like McCain and W can't get along with anyone, therefore, they are a generally bad idea.

People generally assume that if you have "Mets" in your Internet monicker, you're mentally deficient. Should have called yourself "Yankees1998" Its amazing how many purported millionaires hurl insults on this site.

mets2009, slink away with the rest of your sad party. maybe someday a more reasonable brand of Republican will be relevant to US politics again. sorry you sold out to the religious right and other idiots, sinking to the lowest human denominator.

"sorry you sold out to the religious right and other idiots,"

Hey, were you guy sitting next to me at "Religulous" Sunday night?

I didn't bring up money, mets2009 did. It's amazing that it should matter enough to open the topic. Its part and parcel of your idea of wealth protection, that you're not part of a society and that you're riches should be isolated and protected above all else. And the Mets do suck.

"Its part and parcel of your idea of wealth protection, that you're not part of a society and that you're riches should be isolated and protected above all else."

Hey, instead of taxing W2 income in excess of the current SS cap and 35% top marginal bracket, would it not make more sense to assess an extra tax on true "wealth", such as your 'well into seven figures' nest egg? How does that grab you?

Thanks for showing up, Thrinald!

"Guys like McCain and W can't get along with anyone, therefore, they are a generally bad idea."

I think its a true imbeciel that apes this mantra that McCain is the same guy as Bush. I could rattle off 20 Dems who voted for the War and the Bush tax cuts, does that make them Bush as well?

I think the Pelosi's, Rangel's and Frank's of the world are equally frightening. With a guy in the WH to do their bidding, I am genuinely afraid.