Thursday, December 8, 2011

Why the Payroll Tax Cut is a Bad Idea

Extending the "Payroll Tax Cut" is a bad idea. The specific tax it cuts is the Social Security tax. Social Security is already underfunded and every politician in Washington D.C. knows it. That's reason enough to let this tax cut expire, and why it never should have been enacted, but there's an even bigger reason:


The tax cut will save most families about $1,000 over one year. The politicians pushing it say it will stimulate the economy. No, it won't. $1,000 per year is less than $20 per week. Most families won't even notice it. In fact, most people aren't even aware that this tax cut is already in effect (scheduled to expire at the end of this month), because that amount, spread over such a long period of time, just doesn't make a big difference to each family. The accumulated funds from every taxpayer, though, makes a significant difference to Social Security.

If you want to simulate the economy with a tax break, fine, but give families the $1,000 as a lump sum distribution so they actually notice it, and treat it like a windfall, and DO NOT take it out of Social Security!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Still Looking For a Good Republican Candidate

I keep hearing a lot of pundits make statements about Evangelical and independent voters that I don't think are accurate. I know many of them aren't accurate for me, and I'm both Evangelical and independent.

For example, Dick Morris said just a week ago, "Evangelicals... can’t back Romney due to his religion or Newt because of his personal issues." I don't care what religion a candidate holds, and I only care about their personal issues where it reflects on how the person would govern. Where Morris references Newt's personal issues, I believe he's referring to Newt's past sexual indiscretions, and not things like changing his positions.

I decided that Herman Cain wouldn't have been one of my preferred choices, because of his very notable weaknesses on foreign policy issues. He has other weaknesses, but that was the biggest one for me. I don't know that he's guilty of any sexual harassment or infidelity, so that wasn't a reason he moved to 2nd-tier in my mind. I think his new policy website (www.TheCainSolution.com) is a good way for him to contribute politically.

Also in my 2nd-tier are, with example reasons:
Perry relies on his intuition, and I think he has poor intuition.
Bachmann makes flippant false accusations and frequently misstates facts.
Paul is so ideological I don't think he could govern effectively, and he's too isolationist.

That left my first-tier as Gingrich and Romney, but the more I evaluate them, the less I like them, and I'll probably drop them to 2nd-tier if I think there's a least one candidate who's better.

My biggest concern about Gingrich is his tendency to make substantial pronouncements without careful consideration. He's capable of excellent reasoning, but he still doesn't seem to discipline himself well enough to avoid ill-advised assertions. I suspect his propensity for speaking off-the-cuff would make him the most entertaining candidate and president, but that's not my top priority for candidates or presidents.

My biggest concern regarding Romney is the fact that he consistently denies he's changed positions on a number of issues. It wouldn't bother me if he consistently acknowledged his changes and explained why he changed, but his denials in the face of video evidence makes me wonder how much more he'll change on issues and deny he's changing.

That only leaves Rick Santorum and John Huntsman as current candidates, so here's my current take on them:

Santorum: I haven't begun evaluating his policies yet, but I don't care for his personality much, at least as he's come across in the debates.

Huntsman: I just recently started evaluating Huntsman's policies and character, and there's a lot to like so far. He may end up in my first-tier, even though he doesn't spell his first name correctly. :)