Posted by
drpete on Thursday, October 02, 2008 7:15:40 AM
I'm gonna take a few days at Hilton Head with family, playing golf and tennis, walking the beach, maybe jumping in the surf, cooking and dining, and drinking . . . a lot. Also while we're there, I want to talk with my son some to gain more of his perspective. He's a derivatives trader for a major investment bank in NYC.
After that, I think I want to join with many of you to begin a two-year revolution to achieve a real
conservative super-majority in congress. I'm convinced that time has become very very short for saving the greatest nation in the history of humankind. I'll probably post in chapters (in hundred-day increments) my
Contract with America II.
Here's the quick list from Politico of the senators who voted nay on bailout/economic rescue.
Allard (R)
Barasso (R)
Brownback (R)
Bunning (R)
Cantwell (D)
Cochran (R)
Crapo (R)
DeMint (R)
Dole (R)
Dorgan (D)
Enzi (R)
Feingold (D)
Inhofe (R)
Johnson (D)
Landrieu (D)
Nelson (FL) (D)
Roberts (R)
Sanders (I)
Sessions (R)
Shelby (R)
Stabenow (D)
Tester (D)
Vitter (R)
Wicker (R)
Wyden (D)
Here
from today's USA Today are all of the senate votes.
Key:
* —Member of Banking Committee
+ —Standing for re-election
# —Retiring
Y —Yes; N —No
NV —Did not vote
Alabama
• Republicans — +Sessions, N; *Shelby, N.
Alaska
• Republicans — Murkowski, Y; +Stevens, Y.
Arkansas
• Democrats — Lincoln, Y; +Pryor, Y.
Arizona
• Republicans — Kyl, Y; McCain, Y.
California
• Democrats — Boxer, Y; Feinstein, Y.
Colorado
• Democrat — Salazar, Y.
• Republican — *#Allard, N.
Connecticut
• Democrat — *Dodd, Y.
• Independent — Lieberman, Y.
Delaware
• Democrats — +Biden, Y; *Carper, Y.
Florida
• Democrat — Nelson, N.
• Republican — *Martinez, Y
Georgia
• Republicans — +Chambliss, Y; Isakson, Y.
Hawaii
• Democrats — *Akaka, Y; Inouye, Y.
Iowa
• Democrat — +Harkin, Y.
• Republican — Grassley, Y.
Idaho
• Republicans — #Craig, Y; *Crapo, N.
Illinois
• Democrats — +Durbin, Y; Obama, Y.
Indiana
• Democrat — *Bayh, Y.
• Republican — Lugar, Y.
Kansas
• Republicans — Brownback, N; +Roberts, N.
Kentucky
• Republicans — *Bunning, N; +McConnell, Y.
Lousiana
• Democrat — +Landrieu, N.
• Republican — Vitter, N.
Maine
• Republicans — +Collins, Y; Snowe, Y.
Maryland
• Democrats — Cardin, Y; Mikulski, Y.
Massachusetts
• Democrats — Kennedy, NV; +Kerry, Y.
Michigan
• Democrats — +Levin, Y; Stabenow, N.
Minnesota
• Democrat — Klobuchar, Y.
• Republican — +Coleman, Y.
Mississippi
• Republicans — +Cochran, N; +Wicker, N.
Missouri
• Democrat — McCaskill, Y.
• Republicans — Bond, Y.
Montana
• Democrats — +Baucus, Y; *Tester, N.
Nebraska
• Democrat — Nelson, Y.
• Republican — *#Hagel, Y.
Nevada
• Democrat — Reid, Y.
• Republican — Ensign, Y.
New Hampshire
• Republicans — Gregg, Y; +Sununu, Y.
New Jersey
• Democrats — +Lautenberg, Y; *Menendez, Y.
New Mexico
• Democrat — Bingaman, Y.
• Republican — #Domenici, Y.
New York
• Democrats — Clinton, Y; *Schumer, Y.
North Carolina
• Republicans — Burr, Y; *+Dole, N.
North Dakota
• Democrats — Conrad, Y; Dorgan, N.
Ohio
• Democrat — *Brown, Y.
• Republican — Voinovich, Y.
Oklahoma
• Republicans — Coburn, Y; +Inhofe, N.
Oregon
• Democrat — Wyden, N.
• Republican — +Smith, Y.
Pennsylvania
• Democrat — *Casey, Y.
• Republican — Specter, Y.
Rhode Island
• Democrats — *+Reed, Y; Whitehouse, Y.
South Carolina
• Republicans — DeMint, N; +Graham, Y.
South Dakota
• Democrat — *+Johnson, N.
• Republican — Thune, Y.
Tennessee
• Republicans — +Alexander, Y; *Corker, Y.
Texas
• Republicans — +Cornyn, Y; Hutchison, Y.
Utah
• Republicans — *Bennett, Y; Hatch, Y.
Vermont
• Democrat — Leahy, Y.
• Independent — Sanders, N.
Virginia
• Democrat — Webb, Y.
• Republican — #Warner, Y.
Washington
• Democrats — Cantwell, N; Murray, Y.
West Virginia
• Democrats — Byrd, Y; +Rockefeller, Y.
Wisconsin
• Democrats — Feingold, N; Kohl, Y.
Wyoming
• Republicans — +Barrasso, N; *+Enzi, N.
I iterate from yesterday. As a conservative ideologue, I lean toward phasing out Fannie and
Freddie. I'd also advocate immediate passing of HR-25 and S-1025, the FairTax; and introducing a constitutional amendment to repeal the 16th. While awaiting implementation of the FairTax
on a January 1, I'd suspend all business and corporate taxes and the
capital gains tax. Each and all of these moves would spur investment
and enable credit.
I add, just suspending the capital gains tax for, say two years, would have better handled the credit crisis, and without the pork load. And, given the Laffer Curve, money to the Treasury might have faced but a minute drop, if any. Economists have predicted that passage of the FairTax would bring some $13 trillion back into the U.S. economy from overseas where its been hiding from our current tax laws.