Today, of course, since the economy has been such a big deal, and since yesterday’s election can be seen as a mandate for Barack Obama and the Democrats, it’ all about how an Obama presidency is likely to affect the economy and your personal finances. Indeed, there are already calls for another stimulus package of some sort, meant to stimulate both the economy and individual financial situations. If you are interested in figuring out what might be coming, Cash Money Life has an interesting look at what some of Obama’s policies may mean, and Consumerism Commentary offers a helpful and succinct look at the highlights of CNN Money’s coverage on the subject.

The bottom line, though, is that you need to be responsible for your own personal finances. There may be some tools to help you on the way, but, ultimately, no matter who is in office, you are largely in charge of your success in terms of personal finances.

My thoughts on some of the economic policies espoused by Barack Obama

My biggest disagreement with Obama: Despite my general support for Barack Obama, I don’t agree with him on every aspect of his plans. One of the things that I disagree with is the “windfall tax” on oil profits. While I think that Big Oil should lose its special tax breaks and as a profitable company should not be receiving subsidies, I think a windfall tax is pushing it. Instead, the subsidies currently enjoyed by Big Oil should be moved to fund the development of alternative energy technology that can help us end our need for oil.

Obama wants to offer rebate checks to people hit be high energy costs from the “windfall tax.” (It’s sort of what they’ve been doing in Alaska for years and years.) Anyway, I was against the first tax rebate check, and I’m not for this rebate check either.

One of the things I like about Obama’s economic proposals: One of the things I’m okay with, in terms of Obama’s proposals is the idea of raising the capital gains and dividend tax rates. Yeah, that means I’ll be paying a little more. But it doesn’t bother me. Neither do allegations that it will stymie investment. Just as there is no evidence that tax cuts for investment gains “trickle down” to help the less wealthy, there is no evidence that higher taxes on investments stymie investment. Bottom line: The benefits of investing outweigh taxes you pay. You still have more money, and you still made more than you put in.

What about you? What are some of the things that you like and dislike about Barack Obama’s economic proposals? And, please, let’s keep this a civil discussion.

image credit: U.S. government, public domain

All three presidential candidates have different economic solutions. And, as the economy continues to dominate headlines (and cause worries about individual personal finances), the candidates continue to roll out economic proposals. One proposal that is getting a lot of buzz right now is the so-called gas tax holiday.

Hillary Clinton and John McCain are both saying that a gas tax holiday would help ease personal finances. After all, it would make gas cheaper. But would it, really? Consumerism Commentary points this out about the gas tax holiday:

Ignoring the fact that when a tax holiday is in practice, gas prices might simply rise to negate the savings and match what consumers are willing and able to pay, the 18.4 cent theoretical reduction in a gallon of gas will be almost invisible. With a gallon of gasoline around $3.60 for me here in New Jersey, this 5% discount doesn’t even bring the price down to its level from a few months ago.

So, in practice, a gas tax holiday doesn’t really help your personal finances. But it would help the Big Oil companies. They’d be able to make even bigger profits, since they would be able to keep gas prices at a level that Americans have so far proved they are willing to pay. Big Oil already enjoys tax subsidies and breaks from the government. Does the industry really need another way to increase its multi-billion dollar profits?

Besides, as Barack Obama points out, a gas tax holiday would decrease the amount of money that is available to pay for road improvements. And our infrastructure in the road department already has issues.

Bottom line: A gas tax holiday might grant you enough room in your personal finances to buy another gallon of milk plus a dozen eggs, but it won’t make that big of a difference.

image credit: IvoShandor