Why Can't We Have More Sin Taxes?

To fund the health care bill we should tax thinks like alcohol, soda, sugar, and trans fats. People would buy less of them. We'd have a healthier America and we'd be able to afford universal health care. Thus improving the average American's health in more ways than one.

Everyone knows that when taxes go up on something like Cigarettes, people buy less of them. No junk food is not as bad as Cigarettes, but it is still far and away the most underrated way to damage a person's health in this country.

I'm not saying to make junk food illegal or anything, just create a five-percent tax on it. Similar to smoking, it would discorage more people from doing it, less people would become addicted to it (don't even tell me people aren't addicted to it. Go to San Antonio, Houston or any other southern city and look around at people. That is the road that the US is headed towards if we don't stop ourselves.)

Alcohol isn't the worst thing in the world, but it is dangerous all the same. A five cent tax won't be that bad.

Is this idea politically viable however? Of course not. Obese people across the country would riot (I'm not kidding.) Instead we have to continue to pretend that obesity is a regular human phenomenon (which it is in a few cases but not the vast majority.) We're going to have to tax something (income tax, overall sales tax, or medical benefits tax) sooner or later and would you rather tax things that are bad for us or things that are good for us?

Is the Stimulus Working?

Republicans complained when the stimulus bill was passed that most of new jobs would be created next year and not this year. Now they're complaining that none have been created this year. They're just trying to gain political points by complaining about the state of the economy.

The stimulus jobs will mostly start to roll in by the end of this year and into next year. They're right on schedule.

[for those of you who don't read economists predictions- the worst of the unemployment rate will occur next year. Just in time for the stimulus to fix the situation.]

The Bailouts Saved Us All

All across America it's the cool thing to do to complain about the bank and auto bailouts. This is one of those times that I'm happy that politicians are more educated than the average American.

You ask the average American on the street why did we bailout the banks and they'd have no clue. Most issues like opponents of ideas can at least acknowledge that what the other side believes isn't totally crazy. For example Democrats can at least say that they don't want higher taxes and most republicans want affordable health care. Even though the two parties believe that either low taxes or affordable health care is more important than the other, they are able to understand both points of view.

I bet you that most Americans have no physical idea why we bailed out the banks. It takes a certain knowledge of finance to understand it. I believe if more Americans understood that all of the credit in our entire country is based out of large banks, then they would understand why we need to save them. The whole economy is based on credit. Without credit, there would be no more home loans or business loans. Anyone who understands anything about business knows that without business loans- we fall into a far worse depression than the Great Depression. Fortunately enough for America, the republicans and democrats were able to work bipartisan to bailout the banks. 700 Billion dollars is well worth the price of avoiding a depression (just ask your grandparents.)

I think at the end of the day most people couldn't stand the irony of saving the people who destroyed us. I understand that powerful sentiment. Unfortunately the people who ruined the economy are also the people we need to save it. Anyone out there who thinks that a modern country can survive without banks is just plain stupid and doesn't understand the most basic economics.

The auto bailouts weren't as necessary for our survival, but they were important to do. If they didn't occur then over one million more people across the country would become unemployed during a recession. A 30 Billion dollar auto bailout is simple way to keep over a million auto employees and there families from living on the streets.

Universal Healthcare

I don't understand why people vote for a presidential candidate in an election to pass universal health care and then get mad when he tries to pass it through Congress. The same thing happened with Bill Clinton. Though Obama's approval ratings are probably going down because of the economy rather than health care.

The health care bill costs WAY less money than Bush's 1.5 trillion dollar tax cuts for the wealthy. It would be absurd if this doesn't pass. It would be all the Democrat's fault too because we don't even need any Republican votes to pass it.

I completely understand though what the blue dog democrats are trying to do to the bill. They are just trying to just cut the waste out, which is good. I'm happy that they are slowing it down. Of course there is more waste that needs to cleaned out. For example in the current bill, the government subsidizes families with incomes up to $80,000. The Blue Dog Democrats just want to bring that number down to about $60,000. There's also just a few other things like that that people want straightened out.

Do you really want them to rush it? This is going to be a huge piece of legislation and I wouldn't want them to do a sloppy job on it. At the end of the day, I don't see any way it doesn't pass though.

Hoping Palin Succeeds

As a liberal, I desperately wish for Sarah Palin to succeed within in the Republican party. I don't know if this is possible, but I can only hope that she becomes the nominee for president in 2012. That would be what you would call an automatic re-election for President Obama.

It's not that I'm worried about Mitt Romney because I think he would be a weaker candidate than McCain. At least Mitt Romney is a serious candidate and knows what he's talking about. He might be a complete elitist but at least most people respect Romney and would pose at least some challenge to Obama in 2012.

If Palin can start off with wins in Iowa and South Carolina then she maybe she could beat Romney. That would be the greatest birthday present that I could ever wish for.

Politically speaking, I think her move to quit the governorship isn't as bad as a lot of people are saying. In today's modern political landscape, it is very hard to run for president while acting as a governor at the same time. She has a book tour coming up and she needs time to promote it (similar to Obama's campaign path.)

Her quitting might be big news today, but in a few years she might be able to make people forget. Remember, Americans have short memories.

Sonia Sotomayor

I'm relieved that Sonia Sotomayor is going to pass through the Senate easily. When she was first nominated to the Supreme court, I was worried that she would scare off too many people. Her confirmation hearing went fine however.

I thought that she was an excellent choice by Obama because if the Republicans attack her to much then people will continue to perceive the Republicans as the white male party. I understand that this makes it unfair for republicans, but that's politics and image is everything. I hope Republicans attack her as hard as they can because then Texas will slowly become a swing state as Hispanics become the majority

I could care less about what happens with the supreme court because I don't really care about the social issues. Most of the hot button social issues never really seem to change. Usually state courts are where stuff like gay marriage or gun laws are decided.

Think about it. Over the past 30 years the supreme court has become much more conservative but it never changes THAT many laws. It's funny that many people vote for president just to put liberal or conservative justices on the courts. The House and Senate is where the real legislation is passed.

In summary, I never really care about who's on the court.

2008 Election

As I'm starting this blog, I want to explain my opinions of President Obama. I was hoping that he'd run for president after his 2004 speech at the Democratic national convention. I really expected as soon as he announced his campaign that he'd beat Hillary Clinton. I found it funny how everyone just assumed that Hillary Clinton would automatically become the Democratic nominee. Well I suppose that no one saw JFK coming either.

I was really worried though when the Republicans nominated John McCain because he used to be a moderate. He used to support a cap and trade before he ran for president.

The race seemed to have concluded when two things happened- when Sarah Palin became the VP candidate and the economy tanked.

As the old saying goes people trust Republicans when national security is the #1 concern (2004, 1968) and Democrats when the economy is the concern (1992, 1932.) The recession was obviously the two Bushes and Reagan's fault because they were the ones that deregulated the financially industry and were proud of it too.

Sarah Palin was a real gem of a find for John McCain. She out Qualed Dan Quale on the stupidity barometer. Palin destroyed McCain's argument of experience that he was beginning to build.

At the end of the day, Obama ended the cycle of close presidential elections and won the first presidential landslide in over a decade.

Why Don't People Like Muslims?

At first when I heard Rush Limbaugh say that Muslims have never added anything productive to the world scientifically or otherwise, I thought it was just one ignorant radio host. Today, I read a blogger who followed Limbaugh's exact same line of thinking in a post. I really wonder if all of the United States is this uneducated. But for everyone who has never opened a world history book, then I'll explain a short history of the western world's relationship with Muslims.

For starters if you believe in evolution, then you believe that human life started in Africa, while if you believe in creationism then you believe that life started in the Middle East (which was supposedly a garden of Eden back then.) We can all agree however that in the first few thousand years of human history, that ALL advanced civilizations were either in Africa or the Middle East. Only tribesmen lived in Europe and they had a very hard time surviving the cold winters.

After the invention of agriculture, the strongest civilization was usually always the one that had the best crops. Back then food was not abundant and the country with the best farmland grew faster with a larger population and thus had the largest armies. The primary reason that Europe has run the world for the past five-hundred years (well before the US became dominant) is because of Europe's superior farmland compared with Middle East and Africa. The soil is just better. If Africa or the Middle East had the soil and the moderate temperatures that Europe has, then they'd be running the world instead of Westerners.

Westerners and Christians are not more advanced than countries in the middle east because they are better people or genetically smarter, but instead it is just pure luck. It's foolish to believe like Rush Limbaugh does that Muslims have added nothing technologically. They invented Algebra, Geometry, and all sorts of other maths and sciences. If only middle-easterners were another race then I'd call Rush Limbaugh a racist (but they're not actually a different race.)

This is why I get worried that our education system doesn't focus on History. I think students think that they'll never use history in life so it's not important. History, however, is the primary tool that should be analyzed when voting for a national political candidate. Every issue that is discussed in politics today has a vital historical correlation that is unfortunately ignored by most Americans.

Even Sarah Palin Wants the Stimulus Package

Yes, even Sarah Palin, the gun-totin, socialist-hatin Governor of Alaska, wants the stimulus package to pass. Of course they all hate government intervention, when they're running for president, but then when the country is in crisis mode, everyones wants the money.

Palin, Charlie Crist, Arnold Terminator, and even most other Republican governors desperately need money from the national government. In total, the US state governments are going to be 400 billion dollars in debt this year. State government's, unlike national governments, actually have to pay down their debt every year. It really won't be easy for them to do that this year.

The government ended up doling out about 140 billion dollars to the states. The governors are very happy about that, it makes their job a lot easier. The problem is that it wasn't enough

The Governors are going to have hard time figuring out ways to pay the remaining 260 billion dollars in debt.

Probably what they'll do is raise about 130 billion dollars in state taxes and cut 130 billion dollars of government jobs. This is awful. Do we really want the government raising taxes and cutting jobs during the worst economis crisis since the Great Depression. This alone is proof that the stimulus is imperfect. Of course it would be politically inviable to bailout states, considering that we've bailed out everyone outside of MC Hammer from bankrupcy.

Ultimately though, this is why I don't like the US Senate. It moves too slow and always seems to follow the regressive ideas of the previous century; but I'll talk more more about that another day.

Stimulus Package

The Stimulus package is a necessary evil that we need at this point in our economy. Yes, it will expand the deficit to new frontiers; however, we are in the worst recession since the Great Depression. It will create over 3 million American jobs, and will dramatically improve the aging infrastructure in our country. It's easily worth the price.

We get mass transit which is extremely important to me because it allows less people to drive cars, thus helping both our energy situation and the environment at the same time. Low-income people desperately rely upon mass-transit, so it will help people who need the most help right now.

Probably the second most important aspect of the stimulus plan is the money going to the individual states. Unless you want massive state tax increases and huge state social spending cuts, then giving money to bankrupt states is an obvious solution.

There is of course the tax cuts part of the bill that will give every American approximately $500 dollars. This is good, but it doesn't fix the recession as much as created jobs does. As we've learned over the past eight years, tax cuts don't create jobs; but, I'm sure they will be a nice bonus. Republicans contend that the stimulus bill should be all tax cuts. Yeah, Bush tried that last year and it did not work at all. The other grand Republican idea is to do nothing. Herbert Hoover tried that once and it did not work.

President Obama

I have to admit, this is not my first blog. I had a blog about three years ago where I talked about the possible 2008 presidential candidates (tycratandsports.blogspot.com.) I knew that this was going to be an extremely exiting election well before people started announcing.

On the republican side, I viewed the front-runners to be Giuliani, McCain and George Allen (three years ago, before he lost his senate seat.) On the Democratic side I knew the front-runners were Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Even before Obama's book came out, I knew Obama was going to be good. Why? Because he gave one of the greatest speaches I ever heard at the 2004 democratic convention. I was completely mad after that speech that he wasn't the democratic candidate and John Kerry was.

Allow me to explain something about myself. I don't care if a candidate is charismatic or speaks well, but I know everyone does care. I will almost always vote for the democratic candidate that has the best chance to win the general election.

I knew well before the 2008 race that us democrats were going to need an excellent candidate to beat an almost liberal Giuliani and a moderate McCain (and yes back then McCain was moderate. I used to really like him even before he turned into Bush while running for the Republican nomination.) Hillary wasn't going to cut it. Hillary has no charisma. She is way too polarizing. You know how Obama blew McCain out of the water during the election. Well, Hillary could no way on earth blow out McCain in a race. She is not here husband. At least 60% of the country likes Bill, while about 45% of the country likes Hillary.

It's not that I disagreed with Hillary on any issues, it's just that she would of had a seriously hard time winning. If you agree with Obama or not on the issues, then you'll still like the guy. Yes, in America people are stupid enough to vote for candidates that that are likable. The last unlikable president we have had is Nixon but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't give uncharismatic candidates a chance.

I know I sound confusing right now so let me make this clear. I don't care about charisma, but I know everyone else does. So I vote for the democrat with the most charisma to beat the republican. I don't have any sort of romance with Obama. He just happens to be this years JFK, charisma wise. The only other reason I supported Obama over Hillary is that I believe that Hillary would of kept us in Iraq for just as long as John McCain would have, 50 years. So I don't believe that Hillary is the brightest bulb, unlike Obama, who I believe is one of the smartest people and best leaders of a generation.

Like I said though, smarts and leadership are only #2 and #3 in back of electability in how I value candidates. John Kerry and Al Gore were both very smart in my book, but they put the whole room to sleep when they talked. Thanks to them we've had Bush.

I know that I'm in the minority among Obama supporters, but avoiding another Bush is more important to me than gaining an Obama.

Why I Created This Blog

This is the first post for the Moving Leftward blog. Moving Leftward is, just as it sounds, a left leaning political website that offers analysis of current political news. I will hopefully be posting daily and will mostly either be discussing President Obama's administration or the republican counter to Obama. I titled the blog, Moving Leftward, because I believe that this is the first time since 1932 that the United States is actually moving leftward as a nation.

If you are wondering about me and my political philosophy, then allow me to explain. I am 18 and live in South Florida. I am a politics nerd in the sense that most elections and nearly every piece of legislation is completely fascinating to me.

Politically, I am a liberal. On the social issues, I'm actually a moderate. To be completely honest with you though, I could care less on most of the social issues. The reason that I'm writing this blog and the reason that I am so interested in politics is because I am a true economic liberal.

I believe that the government should help the people that have less. Yes, it might be class warfare, but as my Grandmother always says: "The rich have so much money. They don't need all that money." That may be an extremely blunt way of putting it, but I believe that that statement to be completely true.

"Greed is Good" is what Gordon Gecko, the wall street tycoon, said in the excellent movie Wall Street. During the 1980s, when Oliver stone made that movie, it was called the decade of greed. It was the age of Reagan. It was a time of mass profit for big business and minor profit for workers, unlike the 1950s or 60s which was a time of mass profit for workers and minor profit for business. Reagan and Bush (43) have created a brave new world in which greed has somehow become a sign of success.

People are struggling to pay for health care, our schools are COMPLETELY stagnating, we nearly have zero independent energy sources, social security is about to fall apart, we have zero money to pay our soldiers in two wars. America is truly about to become second rate in every sense of the word and people who make over 100,000 dollars a year are afraid to pay higher taxes??? Please, just shut up.