Introducing the Dough-O-Meter

How much will Hillary Clinton's health care reform plan cost you and is it worth it? How much will you save from Mitt Romney's proposal to eliminate tax on interest, dividends and capital gains? What are the key elements of John Edwards' energy plan and how will it affect your pocket book? These are some of the questions that I will attempt to answer here at The Dough Roller as we move toward the presidential elections in 2008.

I have two primary goals in this series:

Goal #1: Collect information about the candidates' proposals and make it easily accessible in one place on The Dough Roller.

Goal #2: Give you my candid assessment of the cost of each proposal and how that cost will affect you.

My goal here is not to promote a particular party or candidate. Now of course I have my own political views as we all do, and I won't be shy about expressing those views. But I'll express those views in the context of the financial impact on you and me of the candidates' proposals. And that's where the Dough-O-Meter comes in. The Dough-O-Meter is my way of quickly and easily communicating my view of a specific proposal. The Dough-O-Meter comes in 5 flavors, and here they are:

	A "1" on the Dough-O-Meter means that the proposal is nothing short of brilliant. If the proposal calls for spending money, it's money well spent. If the proposal is a tax cut, it's fair and reasonable. I fully suspect that this post is the only time I'll use this image.
	A "2" on the Dough-O-Meter means that the proposal is, on balance, a reasonable way to spend taxpayer money.
	A "3" on the Dough-O-Meter means that the proposal is tolerable--I can take it or leave it.
	A "4" on the Dough-O-Meter means that the proposal would spend our money recklessly and in a way that we'll later regret.
	A '5' on the Dough-O-Meter means that our children's children will be paying for our current government's stupidity. I suspect this image will carry a heavy load over the next 14 months.

From the Dough-O-Meter you've probably guessed that I'm not a believer in big government. I also don't believe that our government knows best when it comes to how we should live our lives. That being said, I do hope for a healthy debate about the issues. If you think I've got it all wrong, or if you agree with me, please leave a comment with your views on the issues. Later this week I'll be kicking off the Dough-O-Meter series with a look at Hillary Clinton's American Health Choices Plan (Hint: It doesn't get a '1').

Tagged as: government, presidential candidates, Taxes