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Normal Americans

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By George Moon

Published: October 4, 2007

This is in response to Froma Harrop's column. I'm sure she means well, but either Ms. Harrop is blinded by her liberal leaning or just ignorant of the most obvious facts. The Democratic Party is so embalmed with radical fringe groups that any resemblance to "normal Americans" is purely coincidental. Their lock-stem allegiance to the libelous left-wing blog MoveOn.org and refusal to condemn slander against Gen. David Petraeus makes the case without mentioning others, i.e. movie actors who embrace haters of America, pro-abortionists, those with curious sexual preference, atheists, trial lawyers, uneducated minorities, the ACLU, and the list goes on.

The presidential hopefuls attending the AARP health and financial security forum in Iowa offered stew with no meat. They all promised to spend more on health care and bolster Social Security for seniors. None has a serious plan to accomplish it. One thing is for sure, they are going to raise taxes. They claim it can be done just by rescinding Bush's tax cuts and only tax the rich. What makes them distrustful is that revenue won't make a dent in what they promise. How do you pick up the shortfall? You guessed it, more taxes on all of us.

While this was supposed to be a serious forum, a little unintentional humor did come out of it. Sen. John Biden suggested expanding 401k's by giving newborns an account with $500 added by the taxpayers. It will earn compound interest and in 30 years have to be repaid. At a 5 percent annual rate that would leave about $1,500 redeemable for education expenses, home ownership and retirement. He was also in error saying American Airlines was trying to wipe out workers pension. AA pays $300 million into the plan and $500 million to retirees yearly. They sought and received some government relief to avoid bankruptcy.

John Edwards wanted to protect seniors from predatory lending practices and preserve seniors freedom to work. He cited payday loan companies that charge 300, 400, 500 percent.

I guess that would mean if you borrowed $100 on Monday you owe $500 on Friday. That can't be true but we must remember Edwards is a trial lawyer and may have confused those numbers with his fees.
Sen. Hillary Clinton will release her plan later but took the time to claim that when Bill Clinton left office there was a balanced budget and projected Social Security as solvent until 2055. Unfortunately, she was wrong since the economy was in recession. And shortly thereafter even more misfortunes plagued the country.

The Internet bubble burst, Enron corruption, flourishing under Clinton, came to the front, the 9-11 attack and subsequent war on terror and Hurricane Katrina to name a few. Misfortunes the likes of which never affected the Clinton administration. Problems he had were brought on by himself.
Anyone thinking Democrats are selling themselves as best friends of normal Americans needs to rethink that position. President Bush won two elections by the votes of normal Americans. In fact, in the last election, he won 81 percent of all counties in the United States. Democrats have done nothing thus far to make me think Republicans wont do even better next time.

George Moon

Lake Placid

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