That works both ways, Kurt.

If you want to see what happens when a COUNTRY goes bankrupt... GO McCain.  Remember back in 2002 when White House economic adviser Lawrence B. Lindsey estimated the cost of the Iraq War at $200 Billion?  He was fired shortly thereafter and criticized for being an "alarmist."  So, what have we spent?  The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated about $1 TRILLION ($1,000,000,000,000).  That could probably fund a lot of "pet projects"... you know little things like HEALTH CARE.  Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not in favor of a national health care program.  With the debt load of the country, I don't think we can afford either the war, or national health care. But, if I had my choice, I'd rather spend the money HERE - in the USA!

As a Republican I am ashamed of our leadership's fiscal responsibility - or lack thereof.  Going as far back as Reagan (and yes, I do believe he was a great President), our Republican leadership has been trying to cut taxes and still spend money like it grows on trees.  You can't do it!  I know a lot of Republicans believe in "trickle down economics" and some might actually think that it worked.  But it didn't... and it never will.  Our economy may have done well, but it wasn't because of lower taxes - it was because our leaders, EVERYONE of them from Reagan to Bush II, encouraged all of us to spend, spend, spend.  And we did.... on credit that was made available at very low rates.  The result was a HUGE national debt -currently over $9 TRILLION ($9,389,318,267,819.94) - AND unprecedented consumer debt.   We are going broke - both individually and collectively as a nation.

Do you have any idea what it costs us to service the national debt? In 2006 our government spent $406 BILLION (406,000,000,000) on interest payments!  That is the third largest expense in the entire budget, behind Health and Human Services and National Defense.  To put that into perspective, we only spent $61 Billion on education. AGAIN - THAT IS $460 BILLION ON NOTHING BUT INTEREST - we didn't get anything in return for that money - IT WAS PAYMENTS ON MONEY THAT WAS ALREADY SPENT!

McCain wants to continue the tax cuts and the war in Iraq.  That is extremely irresponsible.  I certainly do not want higher taxes, but sooner or later, we are going to have raise taxes to pay for the mistakes of our past Presidents and their administrations.  What makes that even worse, is that we are running out of cheap credit to stimulate our economy, we are beginning to see higher inflation, and the value of the dollar is falling.  We are going to have to start paying more to support our Government's spending habits and it couldn't come at a worse time - a time when the economy is heading south and nobody can afford it. 

Republicans constantly criticize Democrats for their "tax and spend" policies, but it makes more sense than the Republican's "spend and spend" policies.  There is no such thing as a free lunch - everything has its costs.  We have borrowed for way too long and we are soon going to have to pay the piper.  I'd much rather see higher taxes AND less spending!  Ugh... I know... I said it... I want higher taxes.  As much as I hate it, we MUST start reducing the debt.  Maybe when our government becomes more fiscally responsible we can start to reduce them again - and without that HUGE national debt we could all pay less and get more in return.

Neither candidate is a great choice.  But, I just wanted to point out that taking cheap shots at one of them and ignoring the other is just petty politics.  I don't think that either of them will do much to address the real issues we face - but at least with higher taxes and no more war spending, Obama's policies make more economic sense than McCain's desire to reduce taxes and continue spending billions on the war.  You can't reduce income and continue to spend the same amount - that will never work.

Best,
Robert A. Franco
SOURCE OF TITLE