Is an Obama presidency financially feasible?
I’ve been reading about several of Obama’s positions (namely healthcare), and all I can think about is “How can we possibly afford this?” Is there any way we can?
I don’t mean to attack the man—In fact, I’d love to support him. Does he have a plan to pay for it all, aside from increasing taxation on the wealthy?
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once we stop pouring money into Iraq and allowing corporations to stop paying taxes there will be more money to fund programs to benefit the people.
He’ll create a new religion or something… I hear it’s what all the cool kids are doing :c cough Scientology
Transferring the amount we and our employers pay insurance companies for premiums into a single payer system would easily cover health care costs for all Americans…at least that was the case when I did an academic paper on the topic several years ago.
We as a country manage to pay for a lot of other things. It seems as though if we really wanted to we could come up with a solution. Of course, in reality we’ll only presented with two options. Neither of which will be amy good.
We all get to pay higher taxes! oh yay!~
I would gladly sacrifice via taxes if it meant bettering some of the serious ills affecting this country.
@pupntaco
Which ills are you talking about?
@birdlegleft
We pay for things by borrowing money from the Federal Reserve and countries like China. We pay approximately $1.4 Billion a day in interest alone. Can you please tell me where I can vote on one of those two options please. I would love to actually have a choice
I do not think its financially feasible. By the end of the year, we will be $12 Trillion in debt and by the time the boomers finish retiring, we will see a bill for about $55 Trillion.
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years.
Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage.” Alexander Tytler
@ chris: education budgets gutted, especially for urban areas, the nation’s crumbling (literally) infrastructure, the war in Iraq, the unecessary “war on drugs,” lack of access to affordable health care, the state of the economy overall… I can keep going.
@Chris, I don’t know what to tell you. The country’s debt is always in flux. But, we witnessed a booming economy go bust. Personally, I think there are many options to solve problems we face as a country. But, by the time our government gets through “discussing” the matter we are left with two polarized options. Going back to the question that was asked, I will answer yes. I do think an “Obama America” can be not only feasible, but I think the country will see a return to economic good times.
I did not hear the peanut gallery squawking about how are we going to pay for a war in Iraq, or tax breaks for the top 1%. but try and build a school or fund health care then everyone get’s their panties bunched about how to pay for it. I thought that Deficits don’t matter per God-Cheney and God-Regan?
I think that Obama’s policies would ultimately be of great benefit to the poor and working classes—given enough time.
My biggest fear is that, if elected, there are enough black-hating, wacko skinheads left in this country that he might well be assassinated shortly into his term of office.
@PupnTaco ”Uncessary war on drugs” Honestly? You have yet to see lives ruined and even extinguished by years of drug and/or alcohol abuse. It’s not pretty, believe me.
@frogonfire, you do realize that there are 50x more drugs available in the U.S. today, than there were when Nixon started the stupid war.
@cheebdragon First off, where is that statistic coming from? Give me a reputable source.
Second, there could be drugs available today due to better technology (making it easier to make drugs), better transportation, etc. Assuming that the war on drugs is the cause of this is a completely baseless and uneducated accusation.
Third, I’d like to see how accurate and throuough the studies done on drug use pre-Nixon were compared to today. The difference could be explained by the fact that the pre-Nixon study was “casual count” compared to today’s highly advanced research, which is most likely capable of finding more drugs.
Finally, look at the countries with relatively lax drug control policies…Mexico, Columbia, etc. Things are working out there, aren’t they? I’m sure no one is being murdered over drug production and rural areas are most certainly not filled with massive marijuana grows.
If you have to ask, he cant afford it.
Same questions were asked about the New Deal, and when America pursued the idea of the existence of public education. You can always afford such things once you believe it’s necessary
You ask if an Obama presidency is financially feasible. It depends on whether you can live with 20% annual inflation, because excessive inflation is one of the results of the profligate printing of money.
I think the better question should be :
Was a George W. Bush presidency financially feasible?
After the previous administration turned a surplus budget into a record deficit, started two undeclared wars, cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations, and deregulated our financial markets to the point that organizations were considered to large to let collapse, it’s no wonder that our economy is in the state it’s in.
edit
The plan to “increase taxes on the wealthy” is in reality a plan to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire.
Absolutely feasible. At least, it would be if we could:
1. ...immediately stop funding all war,
2. ...stop unnecessary and unwanted police actions,
3. ...stop funding the asinine war on drugs,
4. ...stop funding for ninety-percent of all pork-barrel projects,
5. ...force our corporate-bought Senate and Congressional representatives to become completely transparent and financially accountable,
…we’d have more than enough money to do the right thing. Which, in this particular case, would be to minimize the current federal deficit, restore Medicare to an optimum state and initiate universal healthcare for all.
@Rufus_T_Firefly Good points on all. I would add that the way to initiate universal health care would be to reduce eliminate the age requirement for Medicare.
@ ALL – Also, I still think we should make politicians wear contributor patches, so we can see which corporations are pulling their strings.
It is for him, but not for us.
You ask if an Obama presidency is financially feasible. It depends on whether you can live with 20% annual inflation, because excessive inflation is one of the results of the profligate printing of money.
This didn’t even come close to happening.
It’s already been proven that the answer is clearly no.
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