June 10, 2008
The Joke's on You (A.B. Stoddard)
The back and forth between John McCain and Barack Obama over VP vetter Jim Johnson's mortgages is pretty funny — maybe the two candidates could actually trade Charlie Black and Jim Johnson and declare a truce.
But has the McCain campaign noticed the new economic policy adviser just hired? Jason Furman, who at 37 years old is an expert in fiscal policy, has such an impressive resume that you have to wonder if he started college at age 6. Furman has served as staff economist in the White House Council of Economic Advisers under Clinton, was senior director for the National Economic Council, has worked at the World Bank, earned a Ph.D. at Harvard University and was an economic adviser to John Kerry in 2004. And according to the New York Sun Furman is a Wal-Mart defender. In 2005 he published a paper titled "Wal-Mart: A Progressive Success Story," heralding the consumer savings delivered by the chain that is considered a corporate bogeyman to many Democrats.
It should be noted that Obama used the company in one his most aggressive outbursts against Hillary Clinton at a debate early on in the primary season. "While I was working on those streets watching those folks see their jobs shift overseas, you were a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart," Obama said.
Of course, McCain isn't criticizing Wal-Mart. But he may find this funny.
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DO ANY OF YOU CARE ABOUT THE CHARLIE BLACK/JIM JOHNSON ROLES IN EITHER CAMPAIGN? Ask A.B. returns Monday, June 16 — Please join my weekly video Q & A by sending your questions and comments to askab@thehill.com. Thank you.
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It's too bad the Democratic Party hates Wal-Mart because they provide jobs and opportunities without taxing people.
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — June 10, 2008 @ 6:28 pm
Obama's statements should be gathered for his third book "The idiocy of our candidate". Hardly anything he says or does makes any sense at all.
His fake new politics is suspect:
http://www.slate.com/id/2193292/?from=rss
The REALLY cute chicks dig him though:
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=7381F248-3048-5C12-005F78C017A32C17
The dimwit Huckabee protects him:
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Huckabee_obama/2008/06/10/103254.html?utm_medium=RSS
His origins like the big bang are shrouded in mystery:
http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTgxZmIwNTg0OWVhMWJkODNmZjI4ZjY4Mjg2OWRmNzI=
But he just doesn't make any sense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxBX8sz3tO8
Comment by Igor R. — June 10, 2008 @ 7:17 pm
Robert is right. Walmart does provide jobs and opportunities….to Chinese manufacturing companies stealing outsourced American jobs.
Comment by Brian — June 10, 2008 @ 8:04 pm
An Iraqi sheik who is more of an American patriot than Obama:
http://www.nysun.com/foreign/help-against-bin-laden-is-proffered/79524/
Comment by Igor R. — June 10, 2008 @ 10:18 pm
A.B.,
Stop nitpicking! The point is which campaign provides a coherent economic program for the nation's middle- poor- and working-class taxpayers.
The country under Republican leadership in the White House, the Congress, The Treasury and the Federal Reserve is fast sliding into the sinkhole of depression. Do you really think John McCain and his lobbyist handlers are capable of turning that tide?
Comment by barbara day — June 11, 2008 @ 10:33 am
To Brian and all the other liberals who hate Wal-Mart: Wal-Mart has provided over one million jobs in this country without taxing anyone. Name me one Democrat who has ever done that.
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — June 11, 2008 @ 11:38 am
Wal-Mart's taxes are indirect. Many of their employees are on medicaid, foodstamps and other forms of public assistance because it does not pay a living wage. A strong American middle-class will never be built on a service economy.
Comment by M. Richard — June 11, 2008 @ 1:57 pm
The computer business is a service economy and there several billionaires, many, many millionaires, plus many millionaires who simply invested in those companies. The same with fast food and many other industries. Where do you get ideas like that M. RICHARD?
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — June 11, 2008 @ 6:17 pm
Rosencrans I don't hate Walmart until I have to step over people to shop there. I like Target for the experience, but you probably don't have to save a dime, Rosey. You probably leave Walmart to us riffraff.
AB, Johnson is gone. But Tucker Carlson was disgraceful on the Abrams show today. Why do you put up with that loser?
Comment by Gary Anderson — June 11, 2008 @ 9:09 pm
And McCain is a war lover. He is a liar when he says he hates war. He hates to be a prisoner.
Again, Tucker is disingenuous.
Comment by Gary Anderson — June 11, 2008 @ 9:10 pm
I get ideas like that from having worked in the real world including the service industry. There are scores of very hard-working people out there that will never realize the American Dream because of the cheap labor trap. The investors in the computer business may be millionaires but many of the programming jobs are being off-shored to India. My state has lost manufacturing and textile jobs and those wages are not paid at McDonalds.
Comment by M. Richard — June 12, 2008 @ 8:25 am
And the reason those jobs are being outsourced is because technology, which was expensive, is now cheap. If you really have a problem with that, throw away your computer. You must have to use software produced through that process, so if you mean what you say, I don't expect we will be hearing from you anymore.
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — June 12, 2008 @ 5:06 pm
Gary: Let me give you a Wal-Mart shopping tip. Go early or very late, or very early Saturday or Sunday. The place is usually deserted and you have the place all to yourself. I don't consider the people who shop there or work there rifraff. I consider them intelligent people who are taking advantage of opportunities. Only liberals could marginalize people who want to work.
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — June 12, 2008 @ 5:08 pm
M. Richard, you are 100% correct. It is a simple return to feudalism. The middle class was a mistake the lords want to eliminate. The USA today rewards poverty and punishes workers. It rewards offshoring and punishes USA factories and businesses. This is the opposite of the USA our ancestors built.
Comment by madprogrammer — June 18, 2008 @ 11:15 am