Presidential Youth Debate Answers and Details Now Online

Last month, Slashdot readers contributed their own inquiries to the pool of questions for the Walden University Presidential Youth Debate. Two of those questions made the cut, and you can watch either the individual video responses to each of the questions presented to John McCain and Barack Obama (by scrolling down the just-linked debate home page), or the whole debate straight through. For something meatier, if you are weary of predictably slippery campaign-style answers, Ethan Rowe of End Point has a very interesting blog post about the technology background of the debate.

The question we failed to ask

[Toffins]

Why are Federal taxpayers forced to pay $6 billion to Goldman Sachs for a bailout to save it from failure and bankruptcy and at the same time Goldman Sachs is ready to pay its senior staff $7 billion in bonuses for Christmas??? [dailymail.co.uk] We have failed to ask the one question that goes to the heart of what's going on. Stop this nonsense, NOW!

Re:How about the exchange rates?

[Anonymous Coward]

US Investors are pulling out of International markets and converting foreign currency back US Dollars (Buying it in other words).
Folllowing the Laws of Supply and Demand, that would cause the price of the USD to go up hence why it's stronger and hence why other foreign currencies that investor's pulled out of are weaker.

Re:The question we failed to ask

[travbrad]

Exactly, because with true socialism both the profits and losses would be shared. What we have here is no-risk "capitalism". Sort of the worst parts of capitalism combined with the worst parts of socialism.

Pick the one without traction

[SuperKendall]

If you think they are both equal, then you should vote for McCain.

If Obama wins, along with a large number of other Democrats he can do what he likes.

If McCain wins, he'll be fighting a very partisan House and Senate unwilling to let him do anything (even anything they want to do, for fear of him getting credit).

Choose the evil that will make no progress. All other choices are madness.

Re:The question we failed to ask

[laddiebuck]

Why is this modded troll? All but the last flamebait sentence is perfectly true and cuts to the heart of the matter. And I say this as a socialist.

Re:tooting my own horn.

[garote]

Uh huh. Well, it's certainly a question tailored to drive up mod ratings in Slashdot. But go ahead, ask that of a presidential candidate:

"Do you believe in legislating protections for failed business models, or do you believe the free market should determine success?"

Their answer?

"No, and yes. Next question."

Honestly, what sort of answer do you expect?