I have to admit, it was an easier transition to no cable TV than I thought it would be. A benefit I wasn't expecting is the reduction in stress by not having access to those pesky cable news networks. Nothing like no on-demand news to bring the old BP down. I've also noticed that the nightly news broadcasts are a lot more alike than not in how they present the news. Less noticeable skew and inflammatory rhetoric. That has been really nice. I tend to flip between ABC in the morning (I like George Stephanopolous) and CBS/NBC in the evenings. Although I do bounce between all 3 more in the morning when the commercials come on. I also am reading more from the Brookings Institute, the Economist, and NPR online in the evenings. Nice to actually have that time to get in depth on some of the issues.
The main topic now, of course, is who the Republicans will end up with to run against Obama. I'm glad that kook Bachman seems out of the running, and Rick Perry was (hopefully) just a flash in the pan. If you look deeper at his record in Texas, it's rather frightening what he'd want on a national level. And Herman Cain. OMG. What to say about this man. His attitude towards the poor/unemployed is just insulting. And uneducated. It tells me he would slash social programs designed to help keep people out of poverty, and to keep people from starving. But that's not what I want to talk about, as that tends to get very subjective very fast. ;)
It's his 9-9-9 plan that has my attention. First off, the way I calculate it looking at my taxes from this past year, I will end up paying more. How is this? Well, I won't be able to deduct mortgage interest. No charitable deductions, as I'm too poor to give enough to meet the threshold. There are no other deductions allowed under his plan. No standard deduction from what I can tell. So. By my calculations, I will pay more in taxes to the federal government. I will still be paying state taxes. Which could go up if entitlement program funding to the states is reduced or eliminated. But that's a supposition based on his statements and his website. Let's just go with known figures.
