Image courtesy of merz_akademie at Flickr.com

I was playing a version of the newlywed game the other night with my wife and some friends when a question was asked of my wife in regards to what career I’d most likely end up in given a choice of only four: a policeman, firefighter, EMT or a politician. I knew right away which one I’d choose if I had no other options, but I regretted that it was so from the very beginning. My wife, knowing me very well, was able to guess it without hesitation. I’d choose to be a politician if I had only those four fields to choose from. Her reasoning for this was, as she said, “because Joseph is a sissy.” (God bless her.)

I loathe politics. As I already mentioned I regretted immediately that out of those four professions I’d eventually choose to be the politician. In all fairness the reason I’d choose a politician over a policeman, firefighter or EMT has to do with my distaste for blood, guns, extreme heat and dangerous situations. Or, as my wife so eloquently put it: because I’m a sissy. So be it.

Let me tell you why I hate politics. Politicians are (generally speaking, of course) the kids who never learned how to get along in grade school. They are the kids who manipulated others around them to get their way. They can be completely self-serving, egotistic and just plain stupid. Before I go too much further, I’d better stop. Let me show you what recently got to me. We’ll kick things off with a quote… from a politician, of course.

“Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before.”

That quote is straight from the lips of the White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, as quoted in November 2008. Obviously he’s referring to the current economic crisis that our nation is facing. Unfortunately Washington politicians (specifically the Democrats) have taken his advice to heart, and used the recently passed stimulus package as their bridge to opportunity.

Before you go any further read A 40-Year Wish List at the Wall Street Journal. That article is the inspiration for this post, and filled with information on all of the small (and not so small) Democratic proposals that were slipped into this so-called stimulus package. Of particular interest:

• $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn’t turned a profit in forty years.
• $2 billion for child care subsidies
• Only about 5% of the spending in the bill will go toward fixing bridges and other highway-related projects

Unfortunately this stimulus package is probably filled with fluff that won’t actually go toward stimulating anything. Of course there are billions of dollars that will go toward helping the poor or the unemployed (COBRA benefits, food stamps, etc), but overall this package is poorly constructed and not likely to go toward stimulus like it’s been touted. What it really is? A spending package, with a smidgen of stimulus.

That, my friends, is why I don’t like politics… or politicians. Let’s hope I’m never actually forced to choose a career in public service.

I’d really like to know what is going on in Washington. What runs through the minds of our so-called congressmen and congresswomen? Why is it that we’ll pony up $700 billion dollars with just the snap of a finger to help battle a crazy mortgage related mess but we’re too damn poor (or are we just too good?) to come to the aid of the “big three” (Ford, GM, Chrysler) with a measly $25 billion dollar loan?

Washington D.C. and Detroit have lost their minds

And on that note what the hell has been going through the minds of every executive at these three automakers over the past several decades? Why is it that they are on the brink of bankruptcy and constantly losing market share when most of their foreign competitors are raking in the American Consumers’ dollar?

Unfortunately the question about the executives at the “big three” is a fully loaded question. It’s also likely to get some passionate responses. On that note if you want to voice your opinion on the “big three” then leave your comments at the new personal finance discussion forums here at Debit versus Credit.

$700bn? Sure. $25bn? Nah.

Let’s travel back to Washington D.C. Today Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa. said he wasn’t so sure that they should be supporting a loan package to the U.S. Automakers. Check out what he had to say about this:

I am not yet convinced that we must act so rashly. The American public demands that we get this right.

He’s right about one thing. We do demand that they get this right. I’d like to know however if ANYONE out there actually believes they did get this right. I don’t want to be hypocritical and say that thing should have turned around by now when in fact I’ve been preaching that it will take time. I still believe that. It will take time. However if we go back before the $700bn bailout was even conceived, back to a time when the subprime mortgage fiasco had not even begun to take place then we can see where maybe Washington didn’t get it right.

Where were they when these totally bogus loans were being created, repackaged and sold? I demand answers on why they have done nothing right for as long as I’ve been old enough to have any idea what’s going on in the world. For that matter are they ever going to get it right? Well Washington?

There’s a lot more riding on this than they’re letting on

The fact of the matter is that Detroit shouldn’t be in this mess. If they were half the company that Toyota is then they would have nothing much to worry about. But they’re not. The fact is they need help and we are basically refusing help. Well Washington open your eyes, because there’s a lot more riding on this than some of you might realize. What happens if G.M. goes belly up? Somewhere around 145,000 people will lose their jobs directly, but millions more will be affected. There are around 7,400 G.M. dealerships that will likely close. There are suppliers, shipping companies, marketing firms, etc. It’s a much bigger problem than Washington seems to realize, or maybe they’re just not letting on what they know.

Honestly there’s no way to tell. All I know is that they’ve already put $700bn dollars on the line that no regular citizen will ever see any direct effects from… what’s another $25bn to do save some auto makers from bankruptcy (something that is tangible)?

What do you think?

I have friends who are completely anti-Obama.  I’m OK with that.  What I’m not ok with is when people make up their minds about things that they heard somewhere without ever bothering to find out themselves if it’s true or not.  A little disclaimer: I’m leaning more towards Obama at this point.  My mind is not made up yet, however, and will not be until probably a week before elections.  I like to keep an open mind about things and I don’t know everything about either of the candidates campaigns yet.  What I do know about them is that from what I’ve read and researched myself I prefer Barack Obama.  He seems to be a better match than John McCain for our country and its’ needs.  Like I said, this could change.  I don’t agree with everything he’s preaching, but I agree with a majority of it.  I think that’s the proper way to choose who to vote for, right?  Who cares if the candidate is male, female, black, white, Cuban, Asian, Mexican or Puerto Rican.  The point is that he or she is trying to do whats best for our country and that you agree with them.

I have two purposes for this post.  First of all I want to get across my point that an uninformed decision is a bad decision.  Period.  Secondly (and relating to the first point) I want everyone to know about an untruth which has been going around about the Obama campaign.  The reason for this?  It’s a pretty important topic and I absolutely can’t stand all of the hate going around.  It all goes back to my first point, of course.  Do your own research before making up your mind.

So What If Your Girlfriend Is An Obama Hater

Here’s a quiz for you.  Let’s say your significant other doesn’t like a certain presidential candidate and they feed you all of this information about him/her.  Do you a) agree with your significant other or b) research it and make up your own mind.  If you answered with “b” then good for you.  If you answered “a” then please reconsider option “b.”  Make sure that before you ever make any decisions that you always research and make up your own mind.  This is one of the primary lessons that I’d like everyone to pick up on here at Debit versus Credit.  This can be applied to every aspect of life, whether politics, finance or even your job.

Let Me Refute A Falsehood About Obama

I keep seeing information go around about how Obama is going to make everyones life miserable by raising taxes.  This is a half-truth.  Taxes will most likely increase under Obama’s leadership, this is true.  However to blatantly spread lies about how even the poorest in the U.S. will have to take on a larger tax burden is completely unaccurate.  I’d like to correct this misconception, so that people might be able to make a clearer decision.  Obama will only be raising taxes for couples making more than $250,000 in taxable income and for single filers making more than $200,000 in taxable income.  Income tax brackets will not change other than for these numbers.  That leaves a huge majority of U.S. citizens right where they currently are with taxes.  In fact they might even pay less taxes because Obama wants to introduce more tax credits for lower and middle class Americans.

Please don’t take my word for it.  Also don’t think I’m trying to convince you that you MUST vote for Obama.  Vote for whoever you feel most strongly for, but only after doing the research.  Good decisions probably shouldn’t come that easy.  Click Here if you would like to read more about what both McCain and Obama plan to do with taxes.