I'm back early. My brother said something about the Victoria Jackson post. I had to see it. She is bugshit crazy.

While looking at the post I saw the calculator.
I come out ahead with McCains plan, but the marketing geniuses that created the calculator highlight the Obama tax savings by making it larger and brighter. Do they think it will distract me from reading both numbers?
I work in advertising, but I hate seeing blatant manipulations like this. If you are doing an honest comparison, make both numbers look the same.

I'll be back after the election. Go vote.

Wow, I've been playing with the calculator for a while trying to guess your scenario. The only ones I can come up with have you making quite a hefty salary. Congratulations. I'm sure the extra few dollars you'll be paying in taxes won't break you.

Knowing that you are married with one dependent, I did some playing under it. I cannot get the result you describe. In fact, when I increase the income to the point that you would do better under the McCain plan (above 250,000$), it stops showing a comparison at all and just says that you would not get a tax cut under the Obama plan... odd...

Oops. My bad, two dependents. That still does not alter the outcomes I find.

Just wait, we'll be hearing about Don the Advertising Guy soon.

Nicely played

Wow... I had no idea my brother made a quarter million a year.
Brother can you spare a dime?
Brother you can spare a dime.

oops. I had apparently mis-clicked the pulldown and chose head of household.
But this has illustrated why I was choosing to avoid this site.

My post was about the odd choice made on the part of the designer of the widget.

why does this illustrate why you're avoiding this site? Because we couldn't figure out how you got your results and therefore ribbed you about making 250,000 a year? You were raised to take a joke better than that. I was there. I know a little blind girl that can use a drop down menu better than you.

My post was about the odd decision to show Obama's tax plan more prominently regardless of the actual numbers.
Most undecided voters don't trust the political propaganda that they see. They expect it to be a lie.
Since this calculator is to convince non-Obama supporters, it should have been made to be as unbiased as possible.
A single parent with 2 kids making $40,000 a year would be better under McCain's plan. When Obama's number is featured more prominently, it weakens the entire argument(from an undecided viewpoint).

Terry: You're right. When taken by itself, this isn't a good illustration of why I'm avoiding this site. When taken with historical posts, it does. An simple post gets picked at until all sense is wrung out of it. The meaning of the post is forgotten and all that's left is an empty argument about nothing. The political season makes it worse. Being an independent thinker in a group of liberal or conservative thinkers is tiresome. Any statement I make brings accusations of being from the far "something". I've posted about this before. On this board I'm a crazy conservative. Among people at work, I'm a liberal.
You say I was raised to take a joke better than that? I'm sorry, but you aren't allowed to say what I was "raised to do". I can make my own decisions about how I am treated.

Don't bother replying on this thread. I really won't be reading again until after the semester is out. I am way behind. I really should have been working on an assignment instead of this post. Terry can talk to me next time he is in town.

One more point before I close this out.
The post I made was about a silly marketing decision. It devolved into a mystery of my salary, inserting me into a McCain campaign meme, and my brother ridiculing me to get "funny points".

A single post of "how did you get that result?" would have sufficed.

A) Who accused Arch of being from the far "something" (historically)?
B) When did he stop being able to have a bit of fun?
C) Nobody really cares about Arch's salary. We all know it isn't $250,000. See B.

A) No one
B) June 5th, 1997
C) I care. If he makes that much, I'll start being nicer to him.

It is worth noting that this thing was not designed by some non-partisan news organization. It was made by the Obama campaign, and it is primarily to show you what you can expect from the Obama tax plan. The McCain plan number is there for comparison's sake.

So if your question is "what kind of tax cut would I get based on Obama's proposals", it would only make sense that that is the number that is promonently displayed. You make it sound like the McCain number is being hidden. Am I not supposed to notice then that I would only get a $60 tax cut under McCain's proposals compared to the $1800 tax cut I would get under the Obama proposal. This thing must be rigged in McCain's favor, as the majority of us won't notice the smaller number under the McCain scenario.

It is worth noting that this thing was not designed by some non-partisan news organization. It was made by the Obama campaign, and it is primarily to show you what you can expect from the Obama tax plan. The McCain plan number is there for comparison's sake.

So if your question is "what kind of tax cut would I get based on Obama's proposals", it would only make sense that that is the number that is promonently displayed. You make it sound like the McCain number is being hidden. Am I not supposed to notice then that I would only get a $60 tax cut under McCain's proposals compared to the $1800 tax cut I would get under the Obama proposal? This thing must be rigged in McCain's favor, as the majority of us won't notice the smaller number under the McCain scenario.

"This thing must be rigged in McCain's favor, as the majority of us won't notice the smaller number under the McCain scenario." <-- Sarcasm

I like cheese