The Economy and the First Debate

I'm sure by now that many of you are sick of hearing commentary about Friday's presidential debate and some of you probably never wanted to hear any commentary. I have no intention of dissecting all of the various nuances of what took place Friday night but there was one aspect of it that I think is important and should be discussed. And that is how the candidates view what is going on with the economy.

Moderator Jim Lehrer posed a question about how the current financial crisis would affect the spending plans that each candidate had put forward. Barack Obama said that some aspects of his plan might not be able to happen that some things might be delayed but that there were aspects of his plan that were necessary. He then went on to list a number of things he viewed as necessary and didn't name anything specific that he would have to cut back on.

Next McCain said that he would consider a freeze on spending in regards to the current financial state, that's a big contrast. Jim Lehrer then pressed Obama on the issue trying to get him to name anything specific that he would have to give up. After his usual stuttering Obama finally managed to spit out a sentence about how some aspects of his energy plan might be delayed.

Let's break this down a bit. Obama's plan calls for $800 Billion in new spending. McCain wants to cut government spending. The one area where Obama conceded he might have to give up was possibly some aspects of his energy plan. I take issue with this. Whether or not his energy plan is any good, the very thing that this country doesn't need is to abandon a push for energy independence in favor of increased spending on government programs that will only serve to create more of a feudal state with the lowly subjects completely dependent on the government. We won't even go into the fact that his plan of being off of foreign oil in ten years is impossible.

There was another economic aspect of the debate that struck me as interesting. Several times Obama used the phrase "tax revenue" in regards to not knowing what to expect in government finances. For whatever reason his repeated use of this phrase, coupled with his $800 billion in extra spending, and his unwillingness to give any of that up made me shudder a little bit. This guy wants our money, his VP thinks paying higher taxes is patriotic, he wants to be Karl Marx in a Robin Hood outfit with his spending plan. When faced with a question about cutting areas of his spending plan he stammered and muddled his way through the question. You know why? Because spending less had never crossed his mind. Using less taxpayer money for his pet projects and his vote buying policies had never even come up in campaign strategy sessions.

Put aside for a moment what he said about tax cuts for 95% of Americans and look at the whole of what he had to say about spending and taxes. If he gets his way with higher taxes for business, you will certainly need any tax cuts you can get because businesses will be raising their prices to try and stay afloat.

Here's the point of all of this. I'm no fan of either of the candidates but I can't fathom why in some polls (prior to Friday's debate) Obama was seen as stronger on the economy than McCain. This is a man who recently equated spending $40 million a month on his campaign to valid executive experience. Here's a tip for you Obama: If you want to convince people that you can have a balanced budget and help the economy, it's probably not a bright idea to show how good you are at spending money as an experience qualifier.

There are many issues at stake in this election and as has happened many times in the past, whoever gets elected will not fulfill all of their promises and not live up to the hype that their voters had hoped. I'm not going to waste time on this blog trying to make a case for or against either candidate on every issue but I think on the economy the choice is clear. A candidate who stares in the face of a $700 billion bailout and can't even fathom giving up his $800 billion in new spending is someone that I think would be dangerous to have sitting in the Oval Office.