beancounter

I couldn't find one. Thanks in advance.

Full disclosure: I'm an independent, fiscal conservative. My vote's probably going Libertarian this election (my state's going blue no matter what I vote). But I've also been hoping for a McCain victory. Obama's economic policies are far too left for my taste & McCain seems like the lesser of two evils.

I've been flipping back & forth between the debate & the Red Sox game. I have to say, despite my predisposition for McCain, my first impression is that Obama looks a lot better in the debate. He's more articulate & is answering the questions. McCain seems to be dodging the questions & simply bringing up old "talking points".

What do you think? I'd be interested in answers from both left & right but please, no moronic "Obama sucks" or "McCain sucks" answers.

I'm conducting my own informal survey.

Have you read Adam Smith? Who are you voting for?

A simple yes/no, Obama/McCain would be fine.

Thanks.

For the record I'm an independent. By profession I'm a small business accountant with my own small business so I'm doubly interested in issues that affect them.

From his website: "Barack Obama will eliminate all capital gains taxes on start-up and small businesses to encourage innovation and job creation."

My Q is - does this make any sense at all? Small businesses rarely pay capital gain. Their capital assets are usually ones that decrease in value (property, plant & equipment) not appreciate. If they did own a capital asset that had appreciated - their building for example - how would that encourage innovation and job creation? Seems to me it would be more likely to encourage them to sell the building, take the profit without tax and close the business.

The only small business I can think of that routinely pays capital gain would be a small (less than 7M gross income per the SBA) investment company. In other words, a hedge fund. That's a new demographic - small hedge fund managers for Obama!

Can anyone poke holes in my logic here? I'm truly interested in intelligent debate on this.

I'm an independent & spent a good deal of time today reading his economic proposals. After doing so, I wonder how many of you would agree with these two quotes. Careful now...

"Mankind is divided into rich and poor, into property owners and exploited; and to abstract oneself from this fundamental division ;and from the antagonism between poor and rich means abstracting oneself from fundamental facts."

"Capitalists are no more capable of self-sacrifice than a man is capable of lifting himself up by his own bootstraps."

I'll provide links for the quotes in a few minutes.

I'm watching the Democratic National Convention tonight. At least two speakers have invoked the name of Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln was a Republican. One of the speakers was a descendant of another prominent Republican (Eisenhower).

I'm a habitual independent who will probably vote libertarian this year just because I'm not overly excited about either candidate. But I did find it very ironic each time Lincoln's name was mentioned.

I'm curious what others think...