WOULD A DEMOCRAT IN THE WHITE HOUSE HELP THE ECONOMY?

At long last, the Democratic party has settled on a presidential candidate, which means it's time for the real speculation to begin. If Obama's elected, what will he do? Will he end the war in Iraq? Will he fist bump major world leaders? Perhaps most importantly: Will he save our floundering economy? Our readers don't seem to think so. More than half of this week's poll respondents (54%) think that a Democrat in the White House would further destroy the economy. Almost a third (28%) believe he'll turn things around. Eighteen percent don't anticipate much change either way. David Houston, president of Colliers Houston & Co., doubts that either party will be able to accomplish much. Here are his thoughts:

"It's tough to answer the question, because you never find out until after they're elected what they're going to do or not do. It seems to me that if the Democratic platform is universal healthcare and all these benefits that we can't afford, we're going to have problems. Not only will they not help the economy, but they won't be able to deliver on these promises, there's no money!

"The most important issue is stimulating the economy. There are three ways of doing that: reduce government expenses, raise taxes and grow the economy. I haven't heard any of the democrats talking about how to grow the economy. All I've heard is what they're planning to give us. If they don't have a plan to grow the economy, not only will they not be able to give us anything, they're going to have to take stuff away. I realize this is not popular for the voters to hear, and a lot of politicians seem to run on platforms that assume the voters don't get it. Judging from the results of the past few years, I'd say the politicians are right: the voters don't get it. There is no free lunch out there.