Trying to agree with the President

Take a look at Obama to take aim at credit card abuses - I find myself trying to agree with our President. The only piece of sanity that I can see is the third paragraph of the story - 'We need to do things to stop the marketing of credit in ways that addict people to it". - Make it harder for people to get credit is the only sane concept I see. There are very deep costs associated with this change however.

That said - this would apply to the policies put in place over the past 30 years to provide credit (specifically home loans) to those on the lower end of the financial spectrum. As soon as that is done - the social reformers will complain and the process of going back to the miserable state of where our financial services model is today will begin.

So, a single step towards agreement should not be seen as agreeing with the direction. No, instead I fear the current administration will unfairly target business again and punish organizations and people who are actually trying to earn money for their families and their shareholders - this concept appears to be lost on many in Washington.

There is NO good cure for what brought us to this point. I just wish the President and Congress would sit back and realize this. Instead of quick fixes - examine the entirety of the situation and plan ways to fix it instead of throwing legislation and policies at the crisis wall to see what sticks. The consequences are too expensive.

Biden is soooooo generous

I am still trying to not bash the current administration but it is getting more and more difficult. After all, according to DHS I may be viewed as a rightwing extremist because I oppose illegal immigration, oppose abortion, believe in states rights as outlined in the Constitution and believe that all citizens of this great country should be protected and provided for without being judged based on race, creed, color or financial background. So, in an effort to speak up without arguing that our country is headed down the wrong path - I will take the time to reflect on the day itself - April 15, 2009 - TAX DAY.

Today, the White House released pieces of the President and Vice President's taxes. President Obama did very well for himself this year ($2.5M) with his recent book. It is interesting to note that he paid roughly 32 per cent of that back to the federal government in the form of Federal tax and 2.9 per cent in State taxes. President Obama also reports that he paid approximately 6.5% of his income to charities. Very impressive Mr. Obama.

On the other hand, Vice President Biden earned $269,256 (including income from his memoirs). Compare his contribution to the tax system with the President. Mr Biden paid roughly 17 per cent to Federal Tax and 4% to his home state of Delaware. Now for the kicker. Mr. Biden makes reference constantly to his Roman Catholic faith. However, when it comes to giving back to charity he apparently missed the 10% tithe that is present in virtually every Catholic church. No, Mr. Biden missed by an order of magnitude and donated .7% (less than 1 per cent) to charity.

Why is this an issue? From one of my previous posts I stated that Joe Biden reports a net worth of $63,000 . Net worth was a big issue during the election of 2008 (Palin is out of touch as her net worth dwarfs her constituents). Why did no one ask 'Why is Joe Biden only worth $63K when he has been collecting a salaray as Senator for 35 years.?' . One could assume that he was being philanthropic with his income and living a modest lifestyle. At less than 1 per cent being donated to charitable organizations - I think we can rule that out.

So, if Joe Biden is not overly generous with his money - where did it all go? Again I ask - is someone who makes in excess of $150,000 a year for a number of years and is worth less than $100,000 really the person we want a heartbeat away from the presidency when the economic future of our country is in such peril?