Surging our way through policy-naming

Dear friends who like surging your way through economic policy as well as foreign policy,

John “Surge” McCain recently proposed his “Economic Surge” for America. If you read through the excerpt from his speech in that article, you will notice a few rhetoric points scored, a bit of misinformation, an echoing of a couple of Obama’s ideas with no explanation of how to accomplish these missions, outright lies, and very little in terms of overall substance.

Before I dissect a few points from the speech, I must point out that the transition of the word “surge” from his foreign policy to his economic policy points to a militaristic style of leadership, reminiscent of the wars on drugs, terror, poverty, and every other conceivable ill of the world you can find. Let me remind you that the Nancy Reagan-led “War on Drugs” did nothing to quell the crack epidemic that devastated families (overwhelmingly minorities in our inner cities) during the 1980’s. The “War on Terror” has been equally ineffective and has actually bolstered recruits of terrorist organizations who wish to get rid of those Western infidel occupiers of a sovereign nation in the Middle East.

Now, for a few points from McCain’s speech:

“Now is the time for action. We need an “all of the above” plan to address our energy crisis with alternative energy, drilling and nuclear power.”

Alternative energy is a great idea, much like what Obama is touting along with a detailed plan for its use over the long-term. How do you plan to use it, Mr. McCain?

I don’t even want to hear drilling come out of your mouth when you are advocating for off-shore drilling, which is a term that translates to, in reality terms: a land-grab for oil companies so that they can have even more leased land that they may or may not use whether or not they feel like it, AND has been proven a thousand times already to not be effective in the short or long-term. If you’re talking about drilling in the 68 million acres of land that the oil companies already have leased, that the oil companies have NOT been using this entire time, then you probably won’t push for it too much since it will piss off the Big Oil money that you have in your pockets.

As far as nuclear energy is concerned, there has been too much debate about this resource’s renewability and evidence points toward the fact that it will run out over time just like fossil fuels will (more on that here). Advocating long-term solutions to our energy problems does not include the use of nuclear power, though it could be part of a short-term solution with the proper safeguards for storage of nuclear waste.

Second point:

“We need to crack down on those who have abused our credit market and caused this housing decline. And we need to take action to support American businesses so that we stop jobs from going overseas and create more jobs here at home.”

How???

Third point:

“America has the second highest business tax rate in the entire world. It is any wonder that jobs are moving overseas when we are taxing them out of the country?”

I thought cheaper labor was what attracted employers to ship jobs overseas. The notion that we are taxing them out of the country stays true to the conservative belief of lower taxation but uses it to encourage a stupid notion.

And the fourth:

Unfortunately Senator Obama’s plans would raise taxes on businesses even more. He has promised tax increases on income, tax increases on investment, tax increases on small businesses.

There’s the outright lying in action. If you would like to learn more about the tax relief Obama promises to small businesses, as well as all the other tax credits he promises, including those to middle-class families who are the backbone of the American economy, click here.

“What we need today is an Economic Surge to keep jobs here at home and create new ones. We need to reduce the tax burden on businesses that choose to make their home in the U.S. We need to open new markets to U.S. products. We need to reduce the cost of healthcare. And we need to end the out of control spending in Washington that is putting our debt on the backs of our children.”

Tax breaks to businesses that create jobs here in the U.S. is a great idea that I’ve heard from Obama several times ever since way back when.

What U.S. products are there that we can open new markets to since our manufacturing jobs are practically gone? I would encourage China and India to use this as part of their economic plans, but it doesn’t seem like much of an idea for ours.

Reducing the cost of healthcare is a great idea, but how?????

Does this out of control, pork-barrel spending in Washington include cutting spending that helps our troops and veterans (for more on that, click here for his abysmal voting record)? I wonder if that attitude would carry over to social programs that help disadvantaged Americans.

In conclusion, the McCain economic plan is high on rhetoric, low on ideas, filled with misinformation and a bit of lying, and overall made totally irrelevant by Big Oil and other industries that finance his campaign that he must answer to.

If you think his militaristic style of economic leadership is rich, wait until you hear about his idea of making our urban neighborhoods safe, courtesy of this article from Think Progress:

“And some of those tactics — you mention the war in Iraq — are like that we use in the military. You go into neighborhoods, you clamp down, you provide a secure environment for the people that live there, and you make sure that the known criminals are kept under control. And you provide them with a stable environment and then they cooperate with law enforcement, etc, etc.”

Isn’t it exciting that inner cities get to look forward to the equivalent of a police state??? Three cheers for martial law!

Don’t believe the hype. Vote Obama ‘08.

Best regards,
Andy