Now that the Presidential candidate nominees have more or less officially been decided, I was curious to see how financial press would respond to the two left standing – and, more to the point, what they think each candidate’s response will be to our country’s deepening financial difficulties.

Well, the Economist comes out strongly in favor of both candidates in a cover story titled “America at its Best”.  The story lauds both men as worthy choices and keenly looks forward to a deeper engagement on the issues between the two. Meanwhile, the WSJ is already churning out coverage differentiating the two candidates on economic issues, including this comparison of their tax policies (PDF download).

What are you reading to help you get a handle on the differences between the candidates for investors?

[image: from The Economist cover article, America at its Best]


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I'm 'reading their lips' as the rest of what's out there is designed to sell papers, magazines and tv advertising. Frankly, for all the talk of change, I just don't see it in what their records hold. This country and the rest of the world is simply too volatile, financially and otherwise, to have someone with no real experience in office (Obama), and it needs change far too badly for someone who has been entrenched in the system for so long (McCain).

Still here are with two choices between us. I personally could do without the ra-ra-ra stuff and would REALLY appreciate hearing some actual plans, with real numbers and a good dose of honesty thrown into the mix. However, I fear, in spite of all this talk of change, it will simply be 'just words' that wins the presidency and ultimately no real change will come.

Sorry for the pessimistic outlook on a Monday morning and I'm optimistic that perhaps I will be proven wrong, but I see only talk and little action in our future from the office o the president, whoever ends up sitting in it.

Corbin - like George would say: "Stop complaining about Presidents - this is the very best you morons can produce!"

Bigdog, weighing the merits of the two candidates leads me back to the second sentence of your post title, "Now what"? Could be edited to "So what"?

Here is where I stand.  So far the status quo (John McCain) is not working.  As for the other choice (Barack Obama) is an unknown.  Unknowns are scary, however to quote an old military axiom you "do not reinforce failure."  Marines never retreat they simply attack in a new direction and that is many times an "unknown." 

I have a couple of hot button issues and those are the Constitution and Veteran's issues.  So far believe it or not the Democrats and Barack Obama have been the mouth pieces that have been saying the most supportive rhetoric for both.  I have yet to see the majority of Republicans be right about veteran issues such as the GI bill, post war after care, Vet homelessness, armor and funding.  Out one side of their mouth they say "let's support the troops" yet out the other side they say "it's too expensive."  Perfect example is the enhanced GI bill authored and sponsored by Democratic Senator Jim Webb (former Marine.)  The entire cost of the bill is 2 billion.  One week fighting in Iraq is roughly 2 billion.  Current estimated cost of the Iraq war 528 Trillion dollars.  The Republicans including John McCain are not willing to pay for the enhanced GI bill because it will cost too much and we supposedly will not retain soldiers?  By the way you can be a Veteran and be wrong about veteran issues, especially if all you really care about is the "cost."  Remember when the Republicans were telling us this war would be over in 6 months and cost no more than 3 billion? 

Also when you consider that I hear more Democrats standing up for Americans to not be spied on illegally, or torture anyone (even our enemies), due process (habeas Corpus), asking for accurate reporting in news media, actual fiscal responsibility, regulating industries that need to be regulated (Sub Prime mortgage crises anyone).  I am tending to lean toward the "unknown" and willing to try attacking in a new direction.

Its time we took our collective resources and rebuilt this country.  In the military you are only as strong as your weakest link and I think if we stop thinking about only ourselves and our "tax bracket" we can again make this country strong, and respected.

Just my $.02

Ecomonmics is far from a new discipline.  There is certainly enough evidence supporting what works and what doesn't.  However, we continually nominate career politicians that know absolutely nothing about economics in general, business in particular and even less about history.  This is all due to free public education by unions vested in maintaining big government.  Have no fear, private educational institutions are just as good since educators seem to know a lot about business given they have never worked a day in their life outside of tenure.

The public has been indoctrinated with the idea that government is a solution.  The logic behind this is tragic, frightening, and completely understandable.  Bigger government supplied with more taxes is going to solve all our problems.  If only schools and government had more taxes we could solve any and all problems.  I am for confiscating all money from the wealthy.  Let's start with all of us at TradeKing! :)

We haven't been allowed to drill or build new refineries in decades.  By government decree.  Same for our power infrastructure.  Let's create new incentives for ethanol, thereby starving people in various parts of the world.  By government decree.  Let's regulate and oversee business, SEC, Federal Banks, etc....  Hence the housing market crisis.  Let's add on more regulation to solve that mess.  Let's take away guns from law abiding citizens so only criminals can own guns.  Let's make more laws without bothering to enforce the laws we have.  Hence, the immigration mess by government decree.

It astounds me that citizens think the government can solve anything.  The government is the cause of problems, not their solution.  All we can do as citizens is to limit government to as small a footprint as possible.  By doing so the damage will be limited.  Supporting private property, enforcing contracts, maintaining infrastructure, currency, commerce and defense is the maximum that the government should attempt to do with as little resources as necessary.

I say, get 90% of students out of school working "apprenticeships" and at their own businesses.  Stop volunteering and start working at something that pays.  Stop donating to the government and start donating to organizations that actually work.

Or, let's have fun and read "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand.  Much more entertaining.  What about the nominees for President?  Career politicians.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Worthless to the core. Not worth a minute of my time past this post.

I have to say, neither candidate is doing anything for me. Being from the younger ae spectrum, i understand that things like "social security" are not in my furture. The way i see it, Obama wats to change the system, but he doesn't know how; McCain wants to keep the system the same, and that simply isn't working. I think it's time for a new party to start standing up for itself, and I think the Libertarian party is the prime candidate. While I may not agree with Bob Barr 100% on his policies, he does offer logical solutions to major problems.

Great stuff, guys. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.

I agree that The Economist might be a little overly optimistic in calling this next Presidential election "America at its Best". Like Corbin2, I'm all for hearing some real specifics about how each of these guys plans to address our growing economic problems. Since the economy doesn't easily boil down into TV-ready sound-bites, though, I'm looking for meatier coverage from newspapers and magazines. Or - here's a thought - what about a TV Presidential debate focused solely on the economy? It's a bipartisan issue, for sure, and one that increasingly affects all of us. If you come across any good reads that cut through the nonsense, I'd be eager to check them out.

Marcus and Will Profit, I hear you on the politics burnout, too. I'm with V!NCE: why is it that such an incredibly diverse country as ours can only produce two major parties? Does that really represent the full range of viewpoints in our citizenry? Sometimes it feels like you're choosing between Coke and Pepsi: different if you're looking hard for their differences, but essentially the same drink.

We're a bunch of raving optimists over here, eh? Well, if you're going to be cranky, I always dig a little company - especially you guys'. ;-)