June 17, 2008--Deficit Financing

When there's nothing much in the news, I sometimes get into checking out what the spouses of our candidates are wearing.

Take Michelle Obama for example. How as I wrote last week she is dressing in a way that is a kind of homage to Jackie Kennedy and also, cleverly, to suggest and assure us that in spite of the way some are mean-spiritedly attempting to portray her, she'll be OK if she becomes First Lady. We can calm down. No need to worry that she'll insist that Reverend Wright be resurrected and made White House chaplain.

And then take Cindy McCain. I'm no expert on women's clothes, or men's for that matter, but to me it looks as if it's a good thing she inherited a mega-million dollar beer company. Those St. John knits of hers cost a fortune. At least a $1,000 an outfit. And she never seems to wear the same suit twice! She must be some shopper.

But I now know how she pays for them. She uses her two American Express cards. That in itself is not all that noteworthy. Most Americans have more than one card. Also not unusual is the fact that she has run up debt on each of them. What is stunning, though, is that she is up to her eyeballs in debt--to the tune of between $100,000 and $250,000 on each card.

How do I know this? As a senator John McCain had to release his financial statements and, as reported by the New York Times, Cindy's charges had to be included. (Article linked below.)

Also, one of her so-called "dependent" children ran up a debt of between $10,000 and $15,000, and a credit card in both Cindy and John's name had unpaid charges in the same range.

For all of this debt the McCains are being charged 25.99 percent interest. That's correct--25.99 percent. That's about as high as it gets in the usurous world of credit cards and suggests that they have not been responsible personal money managers. Interest rockets to these levels only for people who are deemed not to be credit-worthy.

This is the same Senator McCain who rails against out-of-control government spending and bases his entire economic program on curtailing runaway expense budgets, especially of the Pork Barrel type. And, yes, extending tax breaks for the rich. For folks like Cindy, who had an income of $6.0 million last year but still can't seem to get along.

It's irresistible to wonder that if he can't control his own spending, and has run up such a personal deficit, how can he be expected to do better for the country.

So what about Michelle and Barack Obama? As a senator he too had to release his financial records.

The Obamas appear not to have any credit card debt. And in contrast with the McCains what they did do for their dependent children was invest up to $200,000 for each in a college savings account.

I am only guessing, but I assume this means that they want their girls to get a good education so that they don't wind up like Cindy McCain. Paying 25.99 percent interest and having the good sense to avoid plastic surgery, Percocet, and dresses that they'll only wear once.