Generally speaking, voters usually know what's right and politicians are the one's who are in the dark about pressing issues. However, in this one instance, it appears that John McCain knows more.
As the economy sours, voters are increasingly demanding immediate government relief — a boost for Democrats who propose just that sort of quick fix, but a problem for Republican Sen. John McCain, whose focus has been on longer-term solutions such as tax and spending cuts and free trade.
Polls show the economy tops voters' concerns, and those voters blame President Bush and the Democrat-controlled Congress. For now, all three of the presidential candidates score good marks on the economy, but that could change quickly, analysts say, particularly if Democrats succeed in tying Mr. McCain to Mr. Bush.
And that's it in a nutshell. People don't want to be told the truth: That they overextended themselves and made poor fiscal decisions, and that's why they are in the mess that they are in now.
Even some economists are saying we're in a "recession of choice".
Yes, the truth hurts when a good portion of a problem is directly your fault, but folks, we have to face the truth: That the fiscal meltdown was largely the fault of homeowners who overextended themselves, or took out loans against their equity to invest elsewhere.
Spending cuts and tax breaks will get us back on our feet in no time, and it's the longer term thinking that will do it. Simply putting cash into people's hands without getting to the root cause of the problem is only going to prolong it.
Both Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have staked out more activist stances than Mr. McCain, calling for the government to step in to help homeowners.
"The ordinary person who is in their home partly because of a deceptive loan or because their wages and incomes haven't gone up over the last seven years that George Bush was in office, those folks need some relief," Mr. Obama told PBS' "Newshour With Jim Lehrer" program Monday, saying that meant immediate as well as long-term structural relief.
See! That's exactly the type of "blame everyone else" and short term thinking that I'm talking about! Homeowners are to blame just as much as mortgage companies who tried to squeeze extra dollars from people who couldn't afford a home they fell in love with.
Let the market correct itself. It's the only way that mortgage people will learn not to try these things in the future, and it will let homeowners get an expensive lesson on fiscal responsibility.
It's a cruel thing to say, but I can't feel sorry for someone who makes less than me, who bought a house bigger and nicer then mine, who's now begging the government, and thus, my tax dollars, to help them make the mortgage. No one is helping me make my mortgage, therefore, I shouldn't have to pay to help someone else make theirs.
Travis
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