When I hear John McCain talk about the economy, I get the idea he doesn't even know what he is talking about. All you hear him talking about is lowering taxes so you can have the money in your own pocket.

I worked as a teller at a bank and the basic thing we had to do was to balance at night. Revenues and pay out transactions had to balance. That did determine our accountability. Republicans do not seem to know they need revenues. The greedy want it all in their pockets to heck with the country. They voted for deregulations of these big companies. There was no checks and balances systems in place. Or the ones used were not near sufficient. Someone has to mind the store. We do need (as Joe Biden) said more patriotism when it comes to balancing the budget. We cannot feel that the money in our pockets can pay for the needs of governmnet. That is a lie the Republicans have told us for too long. A healthy government depends on accountability and revenues and expenditures balancing. I pray we will come to our senses before we get into a worse predicament.

Sent by sandra pritchett | 12:49 PM ET | 09-19-2008

I fully agree with Sandra that our government has a responsibility to balance its books and that is going to require higher taxes, not less. If Biden is right that paying ones taxes is a patriotic duty, that applies to ALL Americans, not the trivial 1% that would be asked to pay more by O'Bama's tax plans. The Brookings Institute Tax Policy Center lists the 10 year net cost of McCain's tax proposals as $4.2 Trillion ($14,000 per US person) while Obama's at $2.9 Trillion, 70% as much. Further, Obama's is surely an underestimate as the rich will find ways to avoid most of the tax increases that Obama proposes (they always do). Both tax plans are totally irresponsible and will continue our present disastrous course.

It is long past time when we pass a Federal Balanced Budget Amendment!

Sent by Kevin L. | 2:38 PM ET | 09-19-2008