I Watched the Presidential Debate

I watched the debate last night. My experience was summed up in the pre-debate remark: "Are we going to watch Barf-nado 3 tonight?"

As of right now, I do not know which Presidential contender I will vote for.

I do not like Hillary Clinton's plans. She wants to increase taxes on the rich to pay for a plethora of new social programs. That sounds great, until you do the numbers. Say there are 300 million people in this country. If we assume that the average family is approximately three people, that leaves only 100 million tax-paying families. The rich "one percenters" therefore account for 1 million. If you increase their taxes by $10,000 each, you will raise $10 billion dollars. Compared the the government deficit, that is peanuts. There simply are not enough rich to cover Mrs. Clinton's plans. To make matters worse, many of the rich tax-payers will pay tax accountants and lawyers to find ways to reduce that $10,000 burden.

If we use Wikipedia's poverty numbers for 2011, there are 46.2 million Americans living in poverty. Let us use the following formula for the middle class:

300 million - 3 million "rich" - 46 million poor = 251 million people

Again assuming a family of three, that amounts to 83.6 million tax-paying families. If you raise their taxes by a mere $100, you will raise $8.3 billion. Raise their taxes by $500, and you get $42 billion. Now, just where do you think Mrs. Clinton can get the money to pay for her programs?

Mr. Trump's tax cutting program makes even less sense. The Laufer Curve has been derided as the "Laughter Curve" since the end of the Reagen Presidency. Our Federal budget is too bloated for a tax cut. We need to rethink and reprioritize spending and revenue sources. We need to spend smarter and waste less. Tax dollars are a precious resource and must be carefully husbanded and used wisely.

I could write about each of their major plans. Each sounds good, but I do not think the political will exists to implement any of them after Inauguration Day.

Neither of these candidates is worth voting for.

What do I want to see in November??

BETTER CHOICES!

Oh! By the way, early voting begins on Monday, October 24, here in Texas.