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         I was dismayed to see that two of Princeton's economics faculty could support McCain's Bush-Reagan economic opinions. The false aura of prosperity of a very small managerial class has concealed the fact that the great majority of us, if asked whether we are really better off now than eight years ago, would say no. It is a provable fact (look at most countries in Africa or South America) that there is some level of income maldistribution at which the economy no longer works: it works best if essentially everyone has some stake in it and some hope for improvement. Most sensible economists would also agree that there are many parts of the economy which go down the drain if not supported adequately by the central authority through tax revenues--such as education and science, not to mention infrastructure. This country has been on a binge of Friedmanism--"Free to Choose", "Greed is Good"-- for too long, and now we are paying for it.

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         A comment about Obama's proposal to raise the maximum tax on dividends to 20%: Except for the 15% Bush/McCain aberration that went into effect in 2003, maximum rates of tax on dividends for the last 40 or 50 years have ranged from 28% to 70%. Thus even Obama's modest raise would leave the maximum rate of tax on dividends well below historical precedents.

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         The science policy over the last eight years has been a disaster. It has been extremely difficult for new scientists just setting up their laboratory to obtain support to run their laboratories. Science, research, and technology are the engines that run our economy. The only way that we are going to become independent of oil, have better, cheaper health care and embark on a greener economy is through much greater investment in research and technology development. This is not a luxury, but a necessity to ground our economy back on the work and creative productivity of our great nation. Obama will provide the leadership and resource to get this done.