Liveblogging XI

Obama: Peace Corps, community service, so the military families aren’t the only ones sacrificing.

If we want business to stop getting drunk on debt, we have to show the way from Washington. Tax cuts of $700,000 per CEO aren’t “sharing the burden.” All of us are going to contribute, all of us are going to make sacrifices. No freeze: use a scalpel, not a hatchet, to make sure the burden is shared equally.

McCain: trying to understand Obama’s tax policies is like nailing Jello to the wall. Obama would tax small businesses and destroy jobs. McC denies that he wants to cut taxes for the rich. Let’s not raise anybody’s taxes.

Obama tries to respond to the lies; Brokaw won’t let him. Insists on another question that assumes “reforming” Social Security and Medicare is a goal. Obama: yes, entitlements are imporant, but they fit into tax policy. Straight Talk Express lost a wheel. Obama would cut taxes on 95%. Only a few percent of small businesses make more than $250k/yr. Wants to help small businesses with tax credits to buy health care for their workers. Fixing health care is the key to reforming Medicare.

McCain: Not hard to fix Social Security. Reagan and O’Neill. Medicare is tough: Have a commission, and an up-or-down vote on its recommendations.

Obama has voted 94 times to increase your taxes.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com