US Election 2012

[Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry]

Newt Gingrich has been busy campaigning in the Greek Islands on a yacht loaded up with jewelery .

[Bond77]

Newt Gingrich has been busy campaigning in the Greek Islands on a yacht loaded up with jewelery .

[Bond77]

Is the US economy in trouble because of the world financial system or because Obama is more social democratic?

Both. On the U.S. side of things, growing uncertainty in the markets and the quantitative easing that is driving up inflation are Obama's fault. On the world side of things, countries are going broke because of health care costs and pension funds. Countries keep borrowing from one another via the IMF and treasury bill purchases.

Can traditional US right-wing economic liberal policies revive the US economy or does that not work any more?

I think they still work. In the last three decades monetarist policies advocated by the likes of Milton Friedman have been applied with much success. The Reagan tax cuts in the 1980's, the Clinton tax cuts (capital gains) in the 1990's, and the Bush tax cuts of the 2000's all lead to lower unemployment, economic growth, and higher revenues to the federal treasury.

We need a US presidents of the last 30 years poll!

That would be fun!

[Kristatos]

On the world side of things, countries are going broke because of health care costs and pension funds.

Yes, countries are wasting far too much money on the sick and elderly. What they need to do is transfer even more wealth from the poor and middle-class to the super-duper-rich and then...um, it'll trickle down. Yes, that's it.

[Bond77]

On the world side of things, countries are going broke because of health care costs and pension funds.

Yes, countries are wasting far too much money on the sick and elderly. What they need to do is transfer even more wealth from the poor and middle-class to the super-duper-rich and then...um, it'll trickle down. Yes, that's it.

Why don't you start with given your reasons as to why the world economy is in the situation it is in? Then share your ideas as to how it can be fixed.

I brought up a bipartisan example of how certain policies helped get the United States out of a recessionary period. If you have a better way of going about it then why don't you explain it?

Why you responded in such a sarcastic manner is beyond me. If you don't agree with me fine, but I'm sure you have the ability to respond in a way that is more cordial.

[bjmdds]

Romney 49%, Oh-bama 46%, in latest early poll. Watch for Governor Rick Perry of Texas to catch fire now.

[Kristatos]

Romney 49%, Oh-bama 46%, in latest early poll. Watch for Governor Rick Perry of Texas to catch fire now.

According to Real Clear Politics, that ABC News/Washington Post poll is an outlier. The average is Obama 48.2%, Romney 42.5%. Of course, that may change once campaigning begins in earnest. Perry is third from bottom of the potential Republican candidates at the moment.

[Dr. No]

Obama is a generic poll against Jesus is going do good, when the rubber meets the road and the America people have to face 4 more years of his spending and backwards laws that is another matter.

The man waits 2 week to respond to any domestic emergency, 4 weeks for a international problem, if there is some situation he shoudl sit on the sidelines for he'll be the first to speak out. Obama was a mistake, he wasn't ready for the job.

[bjmdds]

Community organizer? Great resume to run a country. He never had a real job outside of Senator.

[Kristatos]

Obama is a generic poll against Jesus is going do good, when the rubber meets the road and the America people have to face 4 more years of his spending and backwards laws that is another matter.

I think polls don't mean very much until primary season is over and it's a real, rather than a hypothetical contest,

[katied]

I quite like Romney-and this is coming from someone who voted for Obama in '08!

[bjmdds]

Good work MP. Spread the word throughout San Diego and to all the inhabitants thereof: Romney/Bachman potential ticket, but watch for Rick Perry. If he gets in, he means business. Anyone like Alan Greenspan's wife on MSNBC Andrea Mitchell, the ultra liberal with cakes of makeup on? She looks mighty upset with the way Obama has been figured out by the masses. She even said last year 'the people do not know what's good for them in terms of health care'. She is a repugnant orifice of you know where's origin!

[Bond77]

Anyone like Alan Greenspan's wife on MSNBC Andrea Mitchell

Put me down in the "not a fan" column.

[Kristatos]

Has anyone heard about the 13 keys to the White House? Apparently this guy is predicting Obama's re-election - I don't normally trust predictions, but he has accurately called every Presidential election since 1984, so I suppose that makes him at least worth a listen.

Edit: it only predicts the popular vote winner, though, so Obama can't relax just yet, since winning the popular vote doesn't guarantee winning the Presidency - ask Al Gore.

[Dr. No]

Has anyone heard about the 13 keys to the White House? Apparently this guy is predicting Obama's re-election - I don't normally trust predictions, but he has accurately called every Presidential election since 1984, so I suppose that makes him at least worth a listen.

Edit: it only predicts the popular vote winner, though, so Obama can't relax just yet, since winning the popular vote doesn't guarantee winning the Presidency - ask Al Gore.

I looked it over not very impressed by it, I do remember hearing about it before .

• Party Mandate: After the midterm elections, the incumbent party holds more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives than after the previous midterm elections.
  
  Contest: There is no serious contest for the incumbent party nomination.
  
  Incumbency: The incumbent party candidate is the sitting president.
  
  Third party: There is no significant third party or independent campaign.
  
  Short term economy: The economy is not in recession during the election campaign.
  
  Long term economy: Real per capita economic growth during the term equals or exceeds mean growth during the previous two terms.
  
  Policy change: The incumbent administration effects major changes in national policy.
  
  Social unrest: There is no sustained social unrest during the term.
  
  Scandal: The incumbent administration is untainted by major scandal.
  
  Foreign/military failure: The incumbent administration suffers no major failure in foreign or military affairs.
  
  Foreign/military success: The incumbent administration achieves a major success in foreign or military affairs.
  
  Incumbent charisma: The incumbent party candidate is charismatic or a national hero.
  
  Challenger charisma: The challenging party candidate is not charismatic or a national hero.

It's a hit or miss list, a horoscope for political junkies .

This guy overestimates the OBL effect. Obama misread America's mood on that weird how people think it insulates him against any criticism. Obamacare is a rock around his neck too.

I see the big problem being the economy and all the money Obama wasted with the pork filled laws he has jammed down our throats. I truly see Obama as a dangerous guy to keep in power, I think he is a nice guy with a good family and that matters lot but I can't have him around any longer than absolutely necessary.

Hope and change and he was business as usual politician with a agenda the American people didn't want. I am not a big fan of Romney I think he would be a safe choice if not a dull one. It might be nice to have a safe choice for a few years and break the region barrier, I see RomneyCare as a big problem for him unl;ess he can convince us there was good reason for and if he will truly dismantle ObamaCare and put some real meaningful changes in place.

[Kristatos]

It's a hit or miss list, a horoscope for political junkies .

Well, it's not though, it has a 100% hit rate. The problem with it is that it only predicts the popular vote, not the Electoral College vote, which is what really matters.

[Dr. No]

It's a hit or miss list, a horoscope for political junkies .

Well, it's not though, it has a 100% hit rate. The problem with it is that it only predicts the popular vote, not the Electoral College vote, which is what really matters.

Well I do think Obama is going to test it, I do think he'll lose just from the attitude I get from people around me, on a personal level they guy is very likable but policy wise I can't imagine him in power for anther 4 years.

The 13 keys fits a certain model of campaigns from a past slice of American politics, I think the dynamic are shifting and this hit or miss list went out with the 90s. Perot, Nader had their impact on the elections but it was not the first time a 3rd party had a runner, but it was the first time since the 2 party system cemented their seats of power.

G.H.W Bush seemed unbeatable in 1991, they is why we got Bill Clinton instead to Ted Kennedy as president, The big dogs like Kenedy thought it was too much of a risk, although Kennedy would not have run on it the economy stupid and that is what won the day for Clinton. IN 1996 the Repubs offered a joke as candidate. No doubt Bob Dole is a upstanding good man worthy our our thanks and appreciation he wasn't presidential material. I do think the 13 keys looking back at past election give some insight as to why certain candidates win, in retrospect, I don't think it is more useful than a poll. If the economy hadn't collapsed in September Obama might not have won, if Bush hadn't sat back and let history judge him and had actually defended his decisions and went on the attack when jerks like Reid were going around saying the war was is lost the national atmosphere would be different in 2008. My point is there is lot that happen to shape the national attitude, the 13 keys touch on them but attitudes shift so quickly no I am not convinced they are more accurate than anything else

So DNC controlled states were pushing laws to try and make their electoral college delegates follow the popular national vote and not vote according to how their state, that will bite them in the butt someday, like the law forbidding the governor to appoint a replacement Senator passed when Romney was governor of Mass

If Obama wins the popular vote we should revisit this. It seems so far a way right know I'll probably forget about it.

I was thinking about the irregularities in the presidential elections, Lincoln jailed opposition and had the union army prevent people from voting who might have cast a vote against him. The JFK election was the first with wide spread voter fraud that might have thrown the election. We have reports of districts with more voters than population, no doubt we could clean it up but too many in power (of both parties) are afraid of losing

[Kristatos]

Well I do think Obama is going to test it, I do think he'll lose just from the attitude I get from people around me, on a personal level they guy is very likable but policy wise I can't imagine him in power for anther 4 years.

I dunno, it's not wise to trust anecdotal evidence like that. Obama is very unpopular among my friends back in the States, but then I lived in South Carolina, which is as rock-ribbed Republican as they come. If I just looked at the opinions of people I know, I'd be predicting a landslide win for Sarah Palin in 2012.

[Kristatos]

Looks like Rick Santorum is going to lose most of his support from social conservatives after this story.

[carl stromberg]

[
Both. On the U.S. side of things, growing uncertainty in the markets and the quantitative easing that is driving up inflation are Obama's fault. On the world side of things, countries are going broke because of health care costs and pension funds. Countries keep borrowing from one another via the IMF and treasury bill purchases.

Would you have bailed out the banks?