Why I am supporting Obama

[Paperback Writer]

In Greece it seems like government workers, who now can't retire until they are like 58-60 instead of 50, are being hit pretty hard too. I feel for them. The damn Germans aren't going to send them free money so they [Greeks] can continue to retire at age 50 while Germans continue to retire at 65.

Edited.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

The Korean Peninsula

[byu71]

This is exactly the relevant question.

When public finances collapse after years of profligacy it is the poor who get hit the hardest.

In Greece it seems like government workers, who now can't retire until they are like 58-60 instead of 50, are being hit pretty hard too. I feel for them. The damn Germans aren't going to send them free money so they can continue to retire at age 50.

[oxcoug]

How is the future looking for the poor in Greece these days?

This is exactly the relevant question.

When public finances collapse after years of profligacy it is the poor who get hit the hardest.

[Shaka]

Heaven forbid poor people have to do a little work for their welfare.

[Jacob]

The reason I am going to vote for Obama is because he is a Democrat.

What is the Republican plan to help poor people?

During the whole kerfuffle over whether Ann Romney had or didn't have a career, Mitt said something to the effect that poor mothers should work jobs to qualify for welfare, and that this would somehow preserve their dignity. Oh brother!

In a different kerfuffle, Mitt was picked up on a hot mic talking shop with wealthy donors about what he would do as president -- gut HUD and the department of education. Poor poor people if Mitt wins.

Take your libetarian ideas elsewhere.

[Eddie]

I am not sure why this is a issue. These agency are fairly large across the nation. I know in Ohio HUD has field offices in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati.

1. Cleveland deals with the Voucher world for Ohio.
2. Columbus deals with Public Housing and PHA's.
3. Cincinnati is the Fair Housing office under HUD.

I can see all three of those being consolidated in a more efficient and effective way where it actually speak and commuicate with the State of Ohio more.. As for right now. That doesn't happen since they are not centrally located in Columbus..

These are some of the thoughts I had as well. "Wouldn't it be horrible if the President looked at the administration of certain government programs and discovered that by reducing some of the administrative bloat they could spend less overall while actually getting MORE to the people who need the service?"

Yeah - I can see how that would be a bad things in some people's eyes.

[dabrockster]

The reason I am going to vote for Obama is because he is a Democrat.

What is the Republican plan to help poor people?

During the whole kerfuffle over whether Ann Romney had or didn't have a career, Mitt said something to the effect that poor mothers should work jobs to qualify for welfare, and that this would somehow preserve their dignity. Oh brother!

In a different kerfuffle, Mitt was picked up on a hot mic talking shop with wealthy donors about what he would do as president -- gut HUD and the department of education. Poor poor people if Mitt wins.

I am not sure why this is a issue. These agency are fairly large across the nation. I know in Ohio HUD has field offices in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati.

1. Cleveland deals with the Voucher world for Ohio.
2. Columbus deals with Public Housing and PHA's.
3. Cincinnati is the Fair Housing office under HUD.

I can see all three of those being consolidated in a more efficient and effective way where it actually speak and commuicate with the State of Ohio more.. As for right now. That doesn't happen since they are not centrally located in Columbus..

[Omaha 680]

The reason I am going to vote for Obama is because he is a Democrat.

What is the Republican plan to help poor people?

During the whole kerfuffle over whether Ann Romney had or didn't have a career, Mitt said something to the effect that poor mothers should work jobs to qualify for welfare, and that this would somehow preserve their dignity. Oh brother!

In a different kerfuffle, Mitt was picked up on a hot mic talking shop with wealthy donors about what he would do as president -- gut HUD and the department of education. Poor poor people if Mitt wins.

How is the future looking for the poor in Greece these days?

[Color Me Badd Fan]

I just want to.say.that Johnson's ongoing War on Poverty has been a smashing success.

[byu71]

What is the Republican plan to help poor people?

It is a pretty well know fact that on average republicans give more to charities. The democrats idea of helping is to decide for me if I want to help or not. That is how people like Gore and Kerry have such a clear conscience when it comes to the piddly amounts they give to charity.

I appreciate your compassion for the poor RF and your desire to help them out with my money.

[byu71]

This thread is one more demonstration that we are doomed. SS was a loan and now you're calling it in? What a joke.

Not sure what you are saying so I will assume here. My analogy of a loan probably wasn't that good. I don't think it was bad enough to elicit the words "doomed" and "joke" though.

A better analogy would be I have been forced to pay into a life certain annuity.

Perhaps you could come up with a good analogy?

[Pelado]

The reason I am going to vote for Obama is because he is a Democrat.

What is the Republican plan to help poor people?

During the whole kerfuffle over whether Ann Romney had or didn't have a career, Mitt said something to the effect that poor mothers should work jobs to qualify for welfare, and that this would somehow preserve their dignity. Oh brother!

In a different kerfuffle, Mitt was picked up on a hot mic talking shop with wealthy donors about what he would do as president -- gut HUD and the department of education. Poor poor people if Mitt wins.

Someone watches The Daily Show. The poor mothers working comment was a few weeks ago, not during the Ann Romney doesn't work kerfuffle. And Mitt's been saying that he would eliminate and/or consolidate government agencies/departments for a while now.

The plan to help poor people? How about reducing their dependence on federal aid through economic growth? Instead of the feds providing incentives for the state to increase its food stamp recipients, encourage recipients to get out and earn a living.

There is an increasing pandemic of people right now who, even though able to work, choose not to because the government essentially pays for their existence through an extensive series of social programs. The only strings attached - that they continue exerting zero effort for their own care.

[oxcoug]

Let me say that I firmly believe the economy is, and should be, the driving force behind deciding whom to support in the presidential election...and it is for me as well. Nothing else even comes close in my mind as to which issue to prioritize when choosing a candidate.

With that said, even though they adamanty claim different, I honestly cannot see where the Republicans have done a better job of dealing with economic issues than the Democrats. So...since there is no difference economically in my mind, I will move on to what I consider the second most important issue; social policies. The Democrats are much more in line with my beliefs in that regard so I'm going with Obama.

Not having read most of the thread I can only assume that Swimmer's simplistic opening claims have been dismantled. But just in case they haven't, I will - for Swimmer's benefit - point out that it isn't a question of "Republicans vs Democrats" but a choice between starkly different philosophies in a particular moment in time, facing a particular crisis that is both economic and moral in nature - i.e. the global, national and local mismanagement of public finances and what is now a decades-long habit of simply kicking responsibility down the road in a manner that will eventually fall on the young people of today and generations yet to come.

It means little to observe that Republican leadership of the early 2000s failed to practice the economic philosophy and fiscal policies Republicans generally claim to stand for - Republicans themselves and certainly most voters are disgusted by the lapses that produced Medicare D and their complicity with Democratic leadership in sheltering the guiltiest parties in the housing crisis (although John McCain and other R's did push for increased oversight of Fannie and Freddie in 2005 and were blocked by a roster of D's that included the names Clinton, Obama, Dodd, Biden and Frank).

Mitt Romney is a man uniquely - almost eerily - qualified for this moment. America needs seriousness, knowledge (i.e. someone to whom the workings of the economy aren't an arcane puzzle but fully understood reality), and line-item attentiveness to bring its fiscal house into order - Mitt Romney is a man with a record of achieving this type of turnaround in not one or two but three major entities (one private, one private-public and one public) in the past 20 years.

That's three more turnarounds than the rest of the entire Republican and Democratic presidential fields of 2008 and 2012 combined. Romney 3 - Everyone Else 0. To Romney the word "turnaround" isn't conceptual - the defining successes of his private and public sector experience are these turnarounds.

[RobinFinderson]

The reason I am going to vote for Obama is because he is a Democrat.

What is the Republican plan to help poor people?

During the whole kerfuffle over whether Ann Romney had or didn't have a career, Mitt said something to the effect that poor mothers should work jobs to qualify for welfare, and that this would somehow preserve their dignity. Oh brother!

In a different kerfuffle, Mitt was picked up on a hot mic talking shop with wealthy donors about what he would do as president -- gut HUD and the department of education. Poor poor people if Mitt wins.