Thread: Fred Thompson lays it out regarding the election.

Originally Posted by triggerhappy2005

Consultant would your tax rate go up or down under Obama?

From all I can tell by researching the plan, it would go up.

I'm in the same bracket as that guy in the article from AmericanThinker.com. $50-$100K and I got a nice decrease in taxes with the Bush Tax Cut which is set to expire under Obama. If Obama makes that tax cut permenant, I will see a continuation of the lower rates.

I already am getting a deduction for mortgage interest and I am not in college, so I won't get extra credits for those things (the way I understand it).

Raw income taxes, however will go up between $1,000 and $2,000 per year when te Bush Tax Cut expires. Assuming the math holds up as I've quickly figured it in my head.

If anybody can show me where Obama is going to continue the bush tax cuts for the middle class, I'll be satisfied that at least my status may stay the same under Obama - however, all signs point to that not being the case.

Originally Posted by Mudstalker

Historically, when someone is up like this at this point in the run, they usually win. Unless it gets stolen, which many people are afraid of happening again.

google "Bradley Effect".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_effect

if obama loses, were just racist.

Originally Posted by Consultant

Check this out.

If everything my economics teachers told me is true, and things work in cycles, then what did we expect was going to happen?

Depends who you mean by "we." In 2003, fresh out of college, with no economic expertise or real-world experience, I took one look at the housing market around me (Central FL) and said "this is not healthy and I would not buy today even if I had some cash to put down." From 2004-2006 I preached it to my friends and read thebubbleblog.com daily. Even today I see people spouting "it's a great time to buy" and on this very forum read a post from an excited FB (first-time buyer). I don't like raining on the parade of people like that, but now is still not a good time to buy (in general, of course there ARE exceptions). Unless you like catching falling knives. I've been renting for several years now, and every property I've been renting has been for sale at a cost which would not even allow cash flow on my rental rates. My savings account grows, and one day in the next 5 years I'll scoop up a bargain with probably 50% down. But not today.

What puzzles me is how a 22-year old with an engineering degree saw something coming that senior, experienced economists and financial experts didn't see.

Some did see it. Even some in power.

The warnings weren't universally accepted as valid and were ignored.

Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (forget which) was giving mortgages to people with no addresses or social security numbers with no proof of income. Granted - EVERY gov't backed loan wasn't that bad, but enough were that it raised eyebrows.

The leaders of those 2 companies and the congressmen/women in charge of oversight acted largely offended when it was suggested that they were making mistakes or that more regulation was necessary.

It was just crazy!

It's still a little nuts, but trying to predict the bottom will be a hard game to play. In the mean time, sock that cash away - renting can be very wise for sure!

We got in the home market here in North Florida around 2001 (Closed on 9/12/01 as a matter of fact, I'll never forget those circumstances...) when prices were still low - it was good timing. Prices went bananas here over the next few years and have now dropped lower than their highest heights but still higher than what we bought in for.

Instead of the imaginary $160,000 in equity the bank told us we had 3 years ago, we're down to around $80,000. It's all paper loss though...I don't plan to sell any time real soon.

It's funny - we'd like to get a slightly bigger place - and prices in the neighborhoods are pretty affordable, but the problem is selling our place. haha. Right now it's a good time to buy, but a crappy time to sell - in a few years it will be a good time to sell again, but everything will get more expensive.