Nov 01 2008
Welker’s daily links 10/31/2008
Published by Jason Welker at 12:30 am under Daily Links
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The Wealth Report – WSJ.com : The Rich Support McCain, the Super-Rich Support Obama
“According to a new survey by Prince & Associates, voters worth $1 million to $10 million are favoring Sen. John McCain, while voters worth $30 million or more are favoring Sen. Barack Obama. The survey of 493 families showed:
More than three quarters of those worth $1 million to $10 million plan to vote for Sen. McCain. Only 15% plan to vote for Sen. Obama (the rest are undecided). Of those worth more than $30 million, two-thirds support Sen. Obama, while one third support Sen. McCain.
The reason? Taxes.
Among Lower Richistani’s, 88% cited tax policies as being “important” in making their decision. Only 11% cited the environment, 22% cited health care and 45% cited social issues.
Among the Upper Richistani’s supporting Sen. Obama, tax policies ranked last, with only 16% citing them as important. “Social issues” ranked first, with “policies dealing with wars” ranking second (67%) and Supreme Court nominations and health-care issues ranking next.
Of course, in today’s populist politics, the only thing worse than being the candidate of the wealthy is being the candidate of the superwealthy. You can bet this is one poll that neither candidate will repeat on the campaign trail.
But the survey offers an important insight into the effect of wealth on personal politics. Perhaps the old saying should be changed to: If you’re ultrawealthy and conservative you have no heart; if you’re wealthy and liberal, you have no brain.”
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Economy Forces College Hopefuls to Lower Sights – WSJ.com
The credit crisis is striking home for American kids hoping to head off to the college of their dreams:
“While many parents and students have long emphasized getting into a top school over financial considerations, families in recent months have seen the value of their homes decline, their investments dramatically shrink and sometimes monthly incomes lost due to layoffs. Other students who in the past would have taken on thousands of dollars in debt, are being stymied as lenders tighten access to loans amid the global credit crunch.
Many college-age kids are setting their sights on less prestigious and lower-cost colleges or adding “financial-safety” schools to their lists as a backup. Some students are considering spending their first two years at a community college, while others are focusing on schools closer to home to save on fuel and housing costs. Students stuck on going to their top-choice colleges are trying to help out by getting after-school jobs and increasingly applying for scholarships.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
About the author: Jason Welker teaches International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement Economics at Zurich International School in Switzerland. In addition to publishing various online resources for economics students and teachers, Jason developed the online version of the Economics course for the IB and is has authored two Economics textbooks: Pearson Baccalaureate’s Economics for the IB Diploma and REA’s AP Macroeconomics Crash Course.
Jason is a native of the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and is a passionate adventurer, who considers himself a skier / mountain biker who teaches Economics in his free time. He and his wife keep a ski chalet in the mountains of Northern Idaho, which now that they live in the Swiss Alps gets far too little use. Read more posts by this authorRelated posts:
