Well the election is Over, and Obama is our president Elect. Congratulations to him. It is a historic moment in American history. In some ways I feel it shouldn't be. Don't get me wrong, this is not a racist statement. But rather a comment on race and racism. Yes we have moved great strides forward in race relations to get to the point where a black man can be elected. But how much greater a comment on race relations would it be if race were not even mentioned or a factor on either side. If we could truly be color-blind and not even think twice about it. It seems to me that many of those who scream most loudly about racism are the same who keep pointing out race and racial issues. To me, his race was a non-issue. No portion of my decision to vote or not vote for him was based off his race. I looked at his policies, his stated goals and formulated my decision from that.
In other news, Congress is raking Paulson over the coals in what they see as, deception in the Bailout plan. The stock market continues to plummet despite the re-assurances of the Federal Government and treasury department. Japan has officially slid into recession and that sent stocks plummetting again. One bright spot in all this is that the collapsing stock market has also cause the commodities futures market to take a serious dive as well and Oil has dropped below $60 a barrell. This translates into gas below $2.00 a gallon around here. As the price drops, hopefully this will offset some of the economic worries and encourage some consumer confidence. Retailers are already cutting prices because of the economic slump and dropping gas and energy prices can only help. However, I understand that some congressional democrats are proposing a massive federal Gas tax to get prices back up. They are worried that with lower gas prices, consumers will start buying large SUV's and other vehicles with lower gas mileage. And in fact since gas has come down there has been an increase in large vehicle sales. But why is this a bad thing? Because there is still a push to reduce CO2 emissions for global warming.
Let me get this straight, our economy is in the dumps, and we need to encourage investments to get it going again. So Obama proposes increasing capital gains taxes, which would stifle investment. Not because there is a need for increased revenue, but to promote economic fairness. Energy and gas prices are dropping, which could add to economic recovery on the consumer side, but because it might lead to buying big vehicles the government wants to increase gas taxes to make sure that it is painful to fill up at the pump. Once again reducing economic recovery.
Anyway... enough ranting for now.
I will try to post again soon
No comments:
Post a Comment