Dancing & Economics 101

Dancing With The Stars

What a difference a week makes! Cloris Leachman has not had good dance moves or dancing ratings since this season began. Last night Cloris actually pulled off a decent routine. Good for her! She and Rocco DeSpirito still tied for last place after combining the judges’ scores from last week with this week’s scores, but bless Cloris’ heart (yet again), she’s giving it her all. We hate to see Rocco go. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, and he also seems to be having fun. He’s a great chef but not much of a dancer. We’ll see tonight who gets eliminated this week. It may not even be Cloris or Rocco. The outcomes of the viewers’ votes have surprised us in the past.

Economics 101 - Pass or Fail

In a September 13, 2008, Wall Street Journal article entitled “If You Like Michigan's Economy, You'll Love Obama's,” the authors, Phil Gramm and Mike Solon, compare Michigan’s failing economy to the United States economy if Barack Obama is elected. Listed at the bottom of the article are a few comparisons between McCain’s economical strategy and Obama’s. We've included those comparisons below:

"Mr. McCain will lower taxes. Mr. Obama will raise them, especially on small businesses. To understand why, you need to know something about the "infamous" top 1% of income tax filers: In order to avoid high corporate tax rates and the double taxation of dividends, small business owners have increasingly filed as individuals rather than corporations. When Democrats talk about soaking the rich, it isn't the Rockefellers they're talking about; it's the companies where most Americans work. Three out of four individual income tax filers in the top 1% are, in fact, small businesses.

"In the name of taxing the rich, Mr. Obama would raise the marginal tax rates to over 50% on millions of small businesses that provide 75% of all new jobs in America. Investors and corporations will also pay higher taxes under the Obama program, but, as the Michigan-Ohio-Illinois experience painfully demonstrates, workers ultimately pay for higher taxes in lower wages and fewer jobs.

"Mr. Obama would spend all the savings from walking out of Iraq to expand the government. Mr. McCain would reserve all the savings from our success in Iraq to shrink the deficit, as part of a credible and internally consistent program to balance the budget by the end of his first term. Mr. Obama's program offers no hope, or even a promise, of ever achieving a balanced budget.
Mr. Obama would stimulate the economy by increasing federal spending. Mr. McCain would stimulate the economy by cutting the corporate tax rate. Mr. Obama would expand unionism by denying workers the right to a secret ballot on the decision to form a union, and would dramatically increase the minimum wage. Mr. Obama would also expand the role of government in the economy, and stop reforms in areas like tort abuse.”

To read the entire article, please click on this link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122126282034130461.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

And just for giggles…

The photo below captures a disturbing trend that is beginning to affect wildlife in the US .

Animals that were formerly self-sufficient are now showing signs of belonging to the Democratic Party... as they have apparently learned to just sit and wait for the government to step in and provide for their care and sustenance.