RWNJ Conservative Views from Cincinnati

OK, this is just funny and I had to post it.  A robo call that complains about robo calling.

Definitely the change we need!

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Posted under Election

AP just released a poll of likely voters showing Obama 44 – McCain 43 among likely voters.  At the same time, FOXNews just released a poll of likely voters showing Obama 49 – McCain 40.  The AP poll did oversample Democrats, so it seems illogical for these polls to be so scattered.  Gallup’s poll has shown McCain closing the gap as well, now showing Obama 50 – McCain 45.  Yesterday, this poll was Obama 51 to McCain’s 44.

More telling, 80% of likely voters think McCain has the right experience to be President.  45% of likely voters believe that Obama does not have the right experience to be President.  When it comes down to the actual vote, this may play in people’s minds.  The risk of an inexperienced President is one that many voters will not be able to stomach.

Of course there are many that say the Bradley effect might make the polls even more useless than usual.  Given the inaccuracies of the pre-election polls (and even the exit polling) in 2000 and 2004, all polls should be taken with a grain of salt.  It’s even more the case when they are so inconsistent like they are now.

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Posted under Election

Chabot is running for his 8th term from Ohio’s 1st District, but the most recent poll data I can find shows Driehaus is up by 2 points.  That’s within the margin of error and shows that this race is a dead heat.  Now, to make things a bit more interesting, tonight’s debate may not be televised because a write-in candidate has complained that he was being left out.

Although there is plenty in common with Chabot and Driehaus, there are many differences too.  Chabot voted against the bailout, Driehaus would have voted for it.  Chabot supports letting workers invest some of their Social Security money on their own, Driehaus doesn’t.  Chabot wants military leaders instead of lawmakers to make decisions on when to withdraw from Iraq, Driehaus wants to start “responsible, phased redeployment from Iraq.”

From what I can tell, aside from Issue 6, Chabot and Driehaus have the most local political ads on TV.  Finance reports showed that Chabot had raised $2.2 million to Driehaus’s $1.1 million.  I guess I’ll have to suffer through more ads before election day.

Chabot won a close race two years ago against John Cranley.  Chabot has the highest percentage of black constituents, 27.5%, of any Republican district in the state.  The race looks to be much more difficult this year than 2006.

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Posted under Election

The military is our first line of defense, the heroes that keep us safe and make freedom possible.  It is sensible to ask who they support in the Presidential election.  Given the difficulties of the war on terror I keep seeing on the media, I’d expect that our military would be demoralized and be ready to cut and run, right?

Apparently not.  Active military personnel support John McCain 67%  to 24%.  When asked who would better handle Iraq and Afghanistan, McCain wins 74% to 19%.  McCain wins handling military benefits 73% to 18%.  Handling Defense Department issues, it’s McCain 77% to 15%.  Oddly enough, the military also believes that McCain can handle the economy and other domestic issues better, 53% to 33%.

Who is better to speak on who is best to lead the military than those who are in it?  With such a clear voice for McCain, there is no doubt he is the best candidate to make the correct military decisions.

Detailed poll info available from MilitaryTimes.

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Posted under Election

George Miller (D-CA) and Jim McDermott (D-WA) are taking advantage of the public’s fear from the current bear market. They are looking at eliminating the 401(k) tax breaks, about $80 billion, and redirecting it to another mandatory government-run retirement system. The current tax policies empower employers to provide 401(k) matching programs, elimination of this tax break will result in the elimination of these matching programs.

This is a clear case of using the short-term fall of the stock market to take more power from individuals and put it into the hands of the Government.  The Democrats are set to take control of both the House and Senate, so this is likely a real possibility in the next session.

The proposed plan would provide a $600 annual inflation-adjusted subsidy from the Government.  Workers would also be required to invest 5% of their pay into a guaranteed retirement account that the Social Security Administration would run.  That money would be invested in government bonds that would yield 3% a year.

The stock market has never lost money in any 10-year period.  In fact, 15-year returns have always been between 18.8% and 4.3% (that’s higher than the 3% the Government wants to give).  Now, throw in that companies average 3% of their payroll into matching 401(k) plans (typical is $.50 on $1.00 on the first 6% of employee pay).  Without even taking stock market returns into account, a 5% contribution into the average 401(k) plan yields 50%.  That’s not even a close comparison to the proposal for a Government-run proposal for a 3% yield, even with the $600 subsidy. 

There is no sense at all in this.  Why do some of our representatives think that Government can do things better than individuals, regardless of the facts that stare them in the face?  The timing couldn’t be worse for this.  People are frightened with the market down and some are utilizing fear politics to move towards a policy that would clearly hurt everyone.  What ever happened to our representatives working for us instead of for the Government?

Source articles here and here.

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Posted under Economy