Comments on: All Hail the Mushy Middle

By: Donklephant » Blog Archive » 2010 & 2012 Election Prologue

Donklephant » Blog Archive » 2010 & 2012 Election Prologue — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:01:51 +0000

[...] and navel gazing are the order of the day. It’s a good thing. Nick, Justin, Doug and Alan have already weighed in. I’ll add my thoughts in a future post, but first need to lay a [...]

By: Joshua

Joshua — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:35:05 +0000

The other day Volokh Conspiracy ran a couple of posts about so-called “restrospective voters”; i.e. those who pay little attention to politics and simply vote for incumbents when times are good, and against them otherwise. It occurs to me that:

(1) retrospective voters probably make up a significant portion of the “mushy middle”,

and (2) in all likelihood they played a big role in both the GOP’s big losses in Congress the last couple of election cycles and Obama’s victory on Tuesday,

but also that (3) precisely because they don’t follow politics very closely, they are hard for incumbents to sway by blaming hard times on the opposition,

and therefore (4) as surely as retrospective voters giveth, they can also taketh away.

Obama and the Dems would do very well to remember this, especially if they fail to get the economy moving again.

By: blackoutyears

blackoutyears — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:55:12 +0000

And I highly doubt that dismantling 401(k) plans is high on Obama’s agenda. The only thing I’ve seen from him on the topic, and it’s not my favorite idea but may be a useful one for people in real trouble, is his proposal to open a window to waive the tax implications for withdrawals and cashouts, ensuring that the 20% FIT, 10% penalty for withdrawals before age 55 and applicable SIT (thanks Taxachusetts) remain with the account holder.

By: blackoutyears

blackoutyears — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:40:31 +0000

Without weighing the overall merits of 401(k), as someone who administers these plans I will attest that they have HUGE problems. It would be silly to do away with them completely, but it’s eye-opening to see exactly how ill-equipped the majority of participants are in managing their own money. We’re hoping that properly managed target maturity and lifecycle funds ameliorate what can only be termed financial illiteracy on the part of the average person, but as long as there are interests pushing for 401(k) bank cards and allowance of multiple loans, calling these retirement plans is disingenuous at best. So, not a complete failure, Kranky, but certainly a failure in some signal regards. And I hadn’t heard of the proposal you mentioned, so thanks for that. Very interesting.

By: kranky kritter

kranky kritter — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:10:25 +0000

Check out the Wall St Journal article linked from realclearpolitics called “Obama’s Real opposition.” I think it provides a good chronicle of the riskiest further left things the democrats could do that would ensure a short reign.

I’ve heard tell that at least one liberal democrat is proposing to do away with the tax exemption for 401ks, calling it a “failure.”

Possibly the smartest thing Obama could do to immediately cement moderate middle class support is to tell whoever is saying this that changing this policy is a non-starter and that he’ll veto any bill that includes this idea.