tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9693163148399063872024-03-05T08:32:21.087-05:00The View from the Middle of the RoadThis blog will provide commentary on the intersection of financial and political decision-making. However, the blog may also contain, from time to time, random thoughts which quite often may have no point whatsoever.The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comBlogger141125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-66382194444041163982013-09-28T10:37:00.001-04:002013-09-28T12:55:30.336-04:00What, me worry?<div class="userContent">
The face of the GOP in the US House of Representatives as it thinks about shutting down the government and jeopardizing the full faith and credit of the United States with a potentially catastrophic default on the national debt. ... </div>
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The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-31385482267875596052013-09-27T15:38:00.002-04:002013-09-27T15:38:53.917-04:00Wall Street to GOP: Are You Crazy?<div class="userContent">
It's time to take a defensive posture with regard to investment portfolios .... I am liquidating equity holdings in favor of cash. Between the budget debate, the debt ceiling debate and the possibility of the Fed deciding later this month to taper its purchases of bonds, the probability that there will be a significant market downturn is greater than any upside potential over the next few weeks.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y2iTJUOrxhE/UkXeMhGhQRI/AAAAAAAABrM/eMHyRLUtWng/s1600/Wall+Street+to+GOP.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="289" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y2iTJUOrxhE/UkXeMhGhQRI/AAAAAAAABrM/eMHyRLUtWng/s640/Wall+Street+to+GOP.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-2248127217642170452013-09-24T11:02:00.000-04:002013-09-24T11:04:03.894-04:00The Affordable Care Act is a "Jobs Killer"???<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
For those who would
argue that the Affordable Care Act (aka, ObamaCare) has deprived the US economic
recovery of full-time jobs in favor of part-time jobs (and, therefore, is a
"jobs killer"), here's a chart showing to the objective observer that
the spike in part-time jobs and the loss of full-time jobs was a result of the
recession and not the ACA. Indeed, the trend in part-time jobs has been a
decline, even as the ACA was considered in the Congress, enacted into law and
now is about to be implemented on October 1st.</div>
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So ... what is the real motivation
of those opposing the ACA, which provides the opportunity for 10s of millions
of American citizens to obtain health insurance that they otherwise may not be
able to have?</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JZKZ3_Ir5b4/UkGocLtTUKI/AAAAAAAABq4/BShvPs9-NaE/s1600/FT+vs+PT+Employment+-+Jan+2007+to+Aug+2013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="385" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JZKZ3_Ir5b4/UkGocLtTUKI/AAAAAAAABq4/BShvPs9-NaE/s640/FT+vs+PT+Employment+-+Jan+2007+to+Aug+2013.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; text-align: start;">(The chart shows the FT/PT employment relationship for the period January 2007 - August 2013.)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-63321684741481310002012-12-31T12:45:00.002-05:002013-01-01T12:11:40.800-05:00Have a Safe and Happy New Year<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<img alt="" class="rg_hi uh_hi" data-height="194" data-width="259" height="194" id="rg_hi" sb_id="ms__id2623" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRRP7fKgdKgzLo9tTqlFAxMeINM-tlKaKzM1-LTzQ0E3_SBL0Pq" style="height: 194px; width: 259px;" width="259" /><img alt="Photo" class="img" height="122" src="http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/s480x480/377470_2148856100261_1970901679_n.jpg" width="200" /></div>
The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-53892000013089913702012-12-20T21:51:00.001-05:002012-12-20T21:51:21.749-05:00Boehner Again Walks Away From The Negotiating Table<img class="main" src="http://cdn-media.nationaljournal.com/?controllerName=image&action=get&id=24712&format=mGallery" style="height: 351px;" />The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-26012893045860684392012-12-15T19:12:00.002-05:002012-12-15T19:12:52.432-05:00Remembering the Victims in Newtown ...<img alt="Newtown, CT" class="img" height="346" src="http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/s480x480/3856_453588368030933_1639664866_n.jpg" width="320" />The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-83258471588899498302012-12-15T12:37:00.001-05:002012-12-15T12:41:15.511-05:00Enough Said ... Now Let's Do Something<img alt="" class="img" height="289" src="http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/s480x480/60882_10151369280022813_898573150_n.jpg" width="287" />The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-32682769632543622592012-12-10T04:11:00.002-05:002012-12-10T04:11:50.193-05:00How to Increase Tax Revenues - A Picture is Worth 1,332 WordsClick on the link to see a graphic of the alternative increases is tax revenues that attach to President Obama's recent debt reduction proposal ...<br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/12/08/us/variations-on-obamas-tax-plan.html?ref=politics">http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/12/08/us/variations-on-obamas-tax-plan.html?ref=politics</a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><v:shapetype coordsize="21600,21600" filled="f" id="_x0000_t75" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" stroked="f">
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</o:lock></v:path></v:stroke></v:shapetype></span><br />
Or, here are the 1,332 words that explain the graphic ,,,<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Despite
hints in recent days that <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Barack Obama"><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">President Obama</span></a> and House Speaker <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/john_a_boehner/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about John A. Boehner."><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">John A. Boehner</span></a> might
compromise on the tax rate to be paid by top earners, a host of other knotty
tax questions could still derail a deal to avert a fiscal crisis in January. </span><br />
<span style="color: maroon; font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The math
shows why. Even if Republicans were to agree to Mr. Obama’s core demand — that
the top marginal income rates return to the Clinton-era levels of 36 percent
and 39.6 percent after Dec. 31, rather than stay at the Bush-era rates of 33
percent and 35 percent — the additional revenue would be only about a quarter
of the $1.6 trillion that Mr. Obama wants to collect over 10 years. That would
be about half of the $800 billion that Republicans have said they would be
willing to raise. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">That
calculation alone suggests the scope of the other major tax issues to be
negotiated beyond tax rates. And that is why many people in both parties remain
unsure that a deal will come together before Jan. 1. Without agreement, more
than $500 billion in automatic tax increases on all Americans and cuts in
domestic and military programs will take hold, which could cause a recession if
left in place for months, economists say. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">“The
question is making sure that we hit a revenue target that’s required for a
truly balanced deficit-reduction plan,” said Representative Chris Van Hollen of
<st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Maryland</st1:place></st1:state>, the
senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee. “And when the president and all
of us say this is a question of math, we mean it. It’s very hard to make the
numbers work without the top rates going back to the full Clinton-era levels.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The top
tax rates are taking center stage right now because Mr. Obama believes he won a
mandate after campaigning relentlessly on the idea of extending Mr. Bush’s tax
cuts only for households with annual income below $250,000. But the two parties
also have ideological differences on taxes affecting savings, investment and
inheritance, which have flared in battles going back to the Reagan years. To
get a deal in the coming weeks, those differences must be addressed at least in
broad terms, even if the details are left to a battle over revamping the tax
code next year. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The
argument over rates is far from settled. Although the two sides seem close
enough on the percentages for easy compromise, principle and politics loom
large: Republicans oppose raising rates as a matter of ideology, saying that it
kills jobs, and the president insists that he will not keep the Bush-era rates
on income above roughly $250,000 after two campaigns in which he vowed to return
them to the levels of the Clinton years. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">“Just to
be clear, I’m not going to sign any package that somehow prevents the top rate
from going up for folks at the top 2 percent,” he said Thursday. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">In recent
days, comments from some Republicans, including Mr. Boehner, their chief
negotiator, have hinted that the party — recognizing its weak hand — might be
moving toward a concession on tax rates. Seldom mentioned is that Mr. Obama’s
revenue total also reflects four other changes from <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/t/taxation/bush_tax_cuts/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about Bush Tax Cuts."><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Bush-era tax cuts</span></a>: higher
tax rates on investment income from capital gains and dividends, and the
restoration of two other Clinton-era provisions limiting deductions and tax
exemptions for affluent individuals. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Together
those changes would raise $407.4 billion over a decade — nearly as much as the
president’s proposal on higher rates, which would raise $441.6 billion by 2023,
for a total of $849 billion. Another $119 billion would come from higher <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/your-money/planning/estate-planning/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about estate planning."><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">estate taxes</span></a>, opposed by
Republicans and some Democrats. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">And both
the president and Republicans are committed to raising hundreds of billions of
dollars by overhauling the tax code to further limit or end the tax breaks that
high-income taxpayers can claim, though they differ in how to do that. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Republicans
want to raise all $800 billion from overhauling the tax code, erasing tax
breaks for high-income households and using the new revenues both to reduce
deficits and to lower everyone’s tax rates. But they have not proposed how to
do that, and the president insists it cannot be done without hitting
middle-income taxpayers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Mr. Obama
has proposed to keep existing tax breaks but to limit the rate of those breaks
for people in higher tax brackets to 28 percent, which would raise $584 billion
in a decade. He has proposed variations of that proposal for four years, only
to be ignored by both parties because of opposition from charitable groups, the
housing industry, insurers and others to curbing deductions for charitable giving,
mortgage insurance and other purposes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Yet both
parties seem poised to confront that opposition because they want a budget deal
to commit Congress and the White House to overhaul the tax code next year. That
is another reason Mr. Obama wants to have the top rates as high as possible:
The lower the rates now, the harder it would be to raise revenues next year in
overhauling the code. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Some
Republicans inside and outside of Congress agree. “Actually, I would rather see
the rates go up than do it the other way because it gives us greater chance to
reform the tax code and broaden the base in the future,” Senator Tom Coburn,
Republican of Oklahoma, said last week. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Roughly
splitting the difference on the top rates — settling at 35 percent and 37
percent — would collect nearly $200 billion over 10 years, under half the
amount that would be raised if the rates reverted to Clinton-era levels,
according to data from Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation
and Economic Policy, research groups that advocate for a progressive tax code. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">In the
years of debate over the Bush tax cuts, which predates Mr. Obama’s first
election, $800 billion has been the rough estimate for how much revenue could
be raised in the first decade by ending them for the highest-income 2 percent
of taxpayers. But most attention focused on the top rates, which account for
half of the revenue equation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The
remainder would come from the other four tax changes for Americans with the
highest income, two raising taxes on investment income from capital gains and
dividends and two restoring restrictions on the itemized deductions and
exemptions claimed by high earners. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Under Mr.
Obama’s plan, the tax rates for long-term capital gains and dividends, now 15
percent, would revert to 20 percent for capital gains and to 39.6 percent for
dividends, the same as for ordinary income. Republicans oppose the increases,
and Senate Democrats oppose the proposed tax on dividends; their bill would tax
both dividends and capital gains at 20 percent. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">People in
both parties say that the four tax issues can be readily worked out. Mr. Obama
is widely expected to give ground on the main sticking point, the dividends
tax. Yet that would mean roughly $100 billion less in additional revenue over
10 years than his current proposal for the higher dividend tax. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Another
dispute is over estate and gift taxes. Here again Democrats are divided within
as well as against Republicans, and big money is at stake — $118.8 billion
through 2022 under Mr. Obama’s plan, or $143.3 billion counting assorted other
adjustments. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Currently,
a two-year-old bipartisan compromise holds that inheritances are taxed at 35
percent, with an exemption of $5 million for each spouse. On Jan. 1 that will
revert to a 55 percent tax beyond the first $1 million of inheritance. Mr.
Obama is seeking a middle-ground 45 percent rate beyond $3.5 million, but some
Democrats from states with large farms and ranches favor lower estate taxes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">All of
these tax issues await some agreement on the core issue of marginal rates. And
a final accord on taxes rests on separate questions of spending being settled —
Republicans will not give further on raising revenues until they know what
Democrats will agree to by way of long-term reductions in spending for <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about Medicare."><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Medicare</span></a> and other
fast-growing entitlement benefit programs. </span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><h6 class="byline">
By <span itemid="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/jackie_calmes/index.html" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/jackie_calmes/index.html" rel="author" title="More Articles by JACKIE CALMES"><span itemprop="name">JACKIE CALMES</span></a>, </span>Published: December 8, 2012 in The New York Times</h6>
</span><h6 class="byline">
</h6>
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"></span><br />
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The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-11674954532902471902012-10-25T10:18:00.000-04:002012-10-25T10:30:36.217-04:00Can It Be -- A Moderate Republican Still Exists?<embed src="http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" background="#333333" width="425" height="279" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" FlashVars="si=254&contentValue=50133838&shareUrl=http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50133838n" />The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-17859412783802293192012-10-19T10:17:00.001-04:002012-10-19T11:06:17.195-04:00Are You Trying to Confuse Us With the Data? --- Tax Cuts for Job Creators<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="userContent">Here's a data-driven article for those thoughtful individuals who won't let the data get in the way of preconceived notions ...</span></span><br />
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If the priority is to create a substantial number of jobs over the next presidential term, evidence from the last half-century strongly suggests that tax cuts for the top 5 percent (those with incomes above $200,000) won’t work. Rather, tax cuts for working families, tax cuts directly aimed at expanded hiring or increases in infrastructure investment would have much more bang for the buck and would cost much less in terms of forgone revenue and deficit reduction in the future.</div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">By </span><a href="http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/author/laura-dandrea-tyson/" title="See all posts by LAURA D'ANDREA TYSON"><span style="color: #004276; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">LAURA D'ANDREA TYSON</span></span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;"> and </span><a href="http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/author/owen-zidar/" title="See all posts by OWEN ZIDAR"><span style="color: #004276; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">OWEN ZIDAR</span></span></a></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia;">economix.blogs.nytimes.com</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">October 19, 2012, 6:00 am</span></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">The centerpiece of
Mitt Romney's </span><a href="http://www.mittromney.com/issues/tax"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">tax plan</span></span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;"> is an across-the-board 20 percent cut in marginal tax
rates. This cut, along with a few other tax changes Mr. Romney has endorsed -
such as repeal of the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax - would reduce
federal tax revenue from personal income and payroll taxes by an estimated </span><a href="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001628-Base-Broadening-Tax-Reform.pdf"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">$3.6 trillion to $3.8 trillion</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;"> over 10 years. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">The total is closer
to </span><a href="http://dmarron.com/2012/10/12/five-things-you-should-know-about-mitt-romneys-5-trillion-tax-cut/"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">$5 trillion</span></span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;"> when Mr. Romney's proposed cut in the corporate
income tax rate to 25 percent is included. </span><a href="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/numbers/displayatab.cfm?Docid=3298"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">About two-thirds</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;"> of this amount would go to taxpayers making
$200,000 a year or more - about 5 percent of all taxpayers.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Extending the Bush
tax cuts for high-income earners, as Mr. Romney proposes, adds </span><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/tables.pdf"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">another trillion</span></span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;"> in lost revenue and increases the share of
the benefits going to the top 5 percent. Even if the cost of the Romney tax
cuts for the top 5 percent is covered by base-broadening measures, as Mr. Romney
promises - but as President Obama and many others </span><a href="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001628-Base-Broadening-Tax-Reform.pdf"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">assert</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;"> is mathematically impossible - does it make sense to
devote trillions of dollars to lowering income taxes for the top 5 percent? Is
this an effective way to create jobs?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Mr. Romney </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/us/politics/transcript-of-the-first-presidential-debate-in-denver.html?_r=4&pagewanted=all"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">appears</span></span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;"> to think so. His plan rests on the assertion that
lower taxes for high-income taxpayers will increase economic activity and
employment - that lower taxes for job creators create jobs and will do so
quickly. This assertion, while superficially convincing and ideologically
compelling, is not supported by the </span><a href="http://owenzidar.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/tax-cuts-for-whom-heterogeneous-effects-of-income-tax-changes-on-growth-employment/"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">evidence</span></span></a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If tax cuts for high-income earners generate substantial real economic activity
and job creation, then we should expect to see two things in the data. First,
employment growth should be stronger in the years after tax cuts for these
earners. Second, parts of the country with a larger share of high-income
earners should experience stronger employment growth after national tax cuts
for these taxpayers, because the places where they live receive a larger share
of the national tax cuts. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;">What do we actually
see after combing through a half-century of economic data? Neither of these predictions
is borne out.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">The graph below,
based on </span><a href="http://owenzidar.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/tax-cuts-for-whom-heterogeneous-effects-of-income-tax-changes-on-growth-employment/"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">our research</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;">, shows the relationship between the cumulative
change in income and payroll tax liabilities for the top 5 percent over a
two-year period as a share of gross domestic product and employment growth in
the two years after the change. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;"><o:p><img alt="For each year given, the changes in tax liability include the changes from the previous two years." height="343" id="100000001851487" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/10/19/business/19economist-tyson1/19economist-tyson1-blog480.jpg" width="480" /></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;">The graph and the
regression analysis on which it is based reveal that there is no link between
income tax cuts for the top 5 percent and subsequent job creation. (We also
examined the relationship between tax cuts for the top 10 percent and
subsequent job creation and found the same result.)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">The table below
highlights three of these tax changes -- the Reagan tax cut of 1982, the
Clinton tax increase of 1993 and the Bush tax cut of 2003 - and subsequent
employment growth. Strong employment growth followed the Reagan cut, but the
employment growth following the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Clinton</st1:place></st1:city>
tax increase exceeded the employment growth following the Bush tax cut, which
was </span><a href="http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.100.3.763"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">comparable</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;"> in size to the Reagan cut.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;"><o:p><img alt="" height="117" id="100000001851443" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/10/19/business/19economist-tysonA2/19economist-tysonA2-blog480.jpg" width="480" /></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;">Job growth at the
state level after national tax cuts for high-income earners confirms the
absence of a strong link between such cuts and the pace of job creation in the
next two years. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;">The next graph shows
no substantial link between tax cuts for the top 10 percent and the pace of job
creation at the state level. Employment growth in states with a large share of
rich people, such as Connecticut or New Jersey, was not much faster, on
average, than it would have been otherwise after the Reagan and Bush tax cuts
for the top 10 percent and wasn't much slower, on average, after the Clinton
tax increase on this group.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;"><img alt="Each data point includes the changes in tax liability include the changes from the previous two years." height="340" id="100000001851498" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/10/19/business/19economist-tyson2/19economist-tyson2-blog480.jpg" width="480" /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">If there really were
a strong link between job creation and tax cuts for high-income "job
creators," we should be able to see the effects somewhere. But we have
found no evidence that such cuts lead to substantially faster employment growth
at the national, state or even </span><a href="http://owenzidar.wordpress.com/2012/06/04/the-richest-zip-codes-in-america/"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">ZIP-code</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;"> level. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Tax cuts for
everyone else are a much more effective path to job creation. Our research found
a statistically significant and positive relationship between tax cuts for the
bottom 95 percent and job growth at both the national and state levels. The
graph below shows the relationship for the national data. Our results indicate
that almost all of the </span><a href="http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.100.3.763"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">stimulative effect</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;"> of income and payroll tax cuts on job
creation in the short to medium run result from such cuts for the bottom 95
percent. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><img alt="For each year given, the changes in tax liability include the changes from the previous two years." height="337" id="100000001851499" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/10/19/business/19economist-tyson3/19economist-tyson3-blog480.jpg" width="480" /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Lower-income
taxpayers spend a higher share of their tax cuts. Many of these taxpayers often
have more difficulty borrowing money and tapping into their housing wealth than
higher-income individuals. These </span><a href="http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~cromer/What's"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">demand-side
forces</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;"> explain why consumption goes up much more after tax cuts for
the bottom 95 percent than after equivalently sized cuts for the top 5 percent.
An increase in consumption, which still accounts for about 70 percent of
G.D.P., fuels increases in demand, and that leads companies to create more
jobs. In survey after survey, businesses confirm that changes in demand are the
primary determinant of their employment decisions.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;">Investment also
increases after tax cuts for the bottom 95 percent, suggesting that shifting
moderately size tax cuts to the bottom 95 percent from the top 5 percent isn't
a zero-sum trade-off between consumption and investment.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Instead, an increase
in demand and economic activity because of an increase in consumption also
makes investment more attractive, </span><a href="http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/Programs/ES/BPEA/2012_spring_bpea_papers/2012_spring_BPEA_delongsummers.pdf"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">especially</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;"> in difficult economic conditions.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Over all, </span><a href="http://owenzidar.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/tax-cuts-for-whom-heterogeneous-effects-of-income-tax-changes-on-growth-employment/"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">our research</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;"> shows that tax cuts for the bottom 95 percent are
much more effective than tax cuts for the top 5 percent at increasing job
creation in the subsequent two years. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Other analysts reach
similar conclusions. For example, the </span><a href="http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/11-15-Outlook_Stimulus_Testimony.pdf"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Congressional Budget Office</span></span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;"> and </span><a href="http://www.economy.com/mark-zandi/documents/Tax_Cuts_091510.pdf"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Mark Zandi</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;">, Moody's chief economist, find that tax cuts for
lower-income recipients generate larger increases in employment per dollar cost
to the federal budget than comparable tax cuts for high-income taxpayers in the
short run. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">What about the long
run? A </span><a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/news/business/0915taxesandeconomy.pdf"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">recent report</span></span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;"> by the Congressional Research Service found no
clear relationship between cuts in marginal tax rates that primarily benefit
high-income taxpayers and economic growth and job creation. A </span><a href="http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/saez-slemrod-giertzJEL12.pdf"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">recent review</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;"> by three distinguished academic economists also
found no convincing evidence that real economic activity responds materially to
tax-rate changes on top income earners, although such rate changes do affect
their tax-avoidance behavior. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Cross-country </span><a href="http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/piketty-saez-stantcheva12thirdelasticity_nber_v2.pdf"><span style="color: #004276; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">comparisons</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;"> also do not show a close link between top marginal
rates and growth. While these studies don't find large effects in the long run,
we note that these long-run effects are harder to measure and are thus more
uncertain. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;">Nevertheless, if the
priority is to create a substantial number of jobs over the next presidential
term, evidence from the last half-century strongly suggests that tax cuts for
the top 5 percent won't work. Tax cuts for working families, tax cuts directly
aimed at expanded hiring or increases in infrastructure investment would have
much more bang for the buck and would cost much less in terms of forgone
revenue and deficit reduction in the future.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #660000;">With elevated
unemployment, weakness in <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place> and slowing
growth in emerging economies, fiscal measures that actually increase economic
activity and employment in the near term are required. Our research shows that
tax cuts for the rich do not meet this standard.</span></span></span></div>
The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-73384191093130383782012-10-17T15:14:00.000-04:002012-10-17T15:14:55.915-04:00Obama and Romney Await the Economic Recovery Train<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/tom-toles-gallery-for-october/2012/10/01/e609ae16-0c1f-11e2-bd1a-b868e65d57eb_gallery.html" sb_id="ms__id2382" sizcache04199890304221449="26" sizset="37"><img alt="" height="342" sb_id="ms__id2383" src="http://img2.wpdigital.net/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/10/16/Editorial-Opinion/Graphics/toles10172012.jpg" width="400" /></a>The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-63118770808873520692012-10-16T13:11:00.000-04:002012-10-16T13:19:32.891-04:00Some Thoughtful Comments About Economic "Mojo"<span style="font-family: inherit;">Economics Nobel Laureate Michael Spence explains to WSJ Live’s Simon Constable what it will take for the U.S. to get back its economic mojo, plus why he favors Obama’s economic policy over Romney’s. (Please just ignore the commercial lead-in.)<br /><br /> </span>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="288" scrolling="no" src="http://live.wsj.com/public/page/embed-8C9233EE_E887_4486_8CA8_5DA83D51F9D3.html" width="512"></iframe>The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-40637592142447891362012-10-13T10:53:00.000-04:002012-10-13T13:42:36.029-04:00Einstein and "Insanity"We've heard a lot of discussion about job growth during the Bush
Administration's years under its economic policies (including deregulation and
lower taxes for "job creators"). Many of those same policies are currently
being touted by the Romney/Ryan team as the "be all and end all"
for continued economic recovery and growth. But a close look at the data
suggest that the years of lower taxes and less regulation (particularly with
respect to the financial services industry) didn't, in the past, bring the
nirvana the Republicans now say will occur with the same lower tax and
deregulation policies. As Albert Einstein has been credited as saying,
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different
results."<br />
<br />
The chart below shows the non-farm jobs growth under Clinton (when taxes were higher), Bush (with lower taxes and less regulation) and Obama (with continued lower taxes and less regulation in the early period of his administration) ...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F8-UFZU_aBI/UHl_wu9IBYI/AAAAAAAAAko/m9N8LYgPNms/s1600/Job+Growth+-+Jan+1993+-+October+2012.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F8-UFZU_aBI/UHl_wu9IBYI/AAAAAAAAAko/m9N8LYgPNms/s640/Job+Growth+-+Jan+1993+-+October+2012.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-5561765807945147652012-10-06T20:05:00.000-04:002012-10-07T09:56:29.214-04:00Is Mr. Romney a Candidate Worthy of the American Electorate's Trust?<span style="font-family: inherit;">The American people should expect their Presidential candidates to abide by some basic ethical rules (such as honesty) in the quest to be the leader of this Country. However, it seems Mr. Romney is either clueless as to what the truth really is, or worse, ethically challenged and intentionally lying in this campaign. Now is the time for the American electorate to consider Mr. Romney's character and decide if his lack of truthfulness (no matter the reason) disqualifies him to become POTUS.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In this regard, consider the following ...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">From Joe Conason (editor in chief of NationalMemo.com) ...</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">“It’s not easy to debate a liar,” complained an email from one observer of the first presidential debate – and there was no question about which candidate he meant. Prevarication, falsification, fabrication are all familiar tactics that have been employed by Mitt Romney without much consequence to him ever since he entered public life, thanks to the inviolable taboo in the mainstream media against calling out a liar (unless, of course, he lies about sex).</span></li>
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
<li>Yes, President Obama ought to have been better prepared for Romney’s barrage of blather and bull. The Republican’s own chief advisor, Eric Fehrnstrom, had glibly described the “Etch-a-Sketch” strategy they would deploy in the general election, to make swing voters forget the “severe conservative” of the primaries. Romney executed that pivot on Wednesday night, but he could do so only by spouting literally dozens of provably fraudulent assertions — which various diligent fact-checkers proceeded to debunk. </li>
</span></ul>
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Concerns along these lines were not uncommon following the first Presidential Debate. In fact, note David Gergen's (senior political analyst for CNN and an adviser to four U.S. presidents) take from Wednesday night:</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">"I think [President Obama]
was so surprised, he thought Romney was just flat-out lying."</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And from Steve Benen (political writer and blogger), who chronicles the various misstatements (now at 50!) of Mr. Romney ...</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">1.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> In reference to the unemployment
rate, Romney said, "The reason it's come down this year is primarily due
to the fact that more and more people have just stopped looking for work."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/romney-mistates-reason-for-unemployment-rate-drop"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">That's not true</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">2.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> On Fox News last night, Romney
said in reference to the president, "[W]hat I find so offensive about his
tax plan is by raising taxes on small business, as he does, he will kill
jobs."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">In reality, Obama has repeatedly
cut taxes on small businesses -- by some counts, 18 times -- and if given a
second term, his tax plan would have no effect </span><a href="http://on.msnbc.com/RnUS7a"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">on 97%</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;"> of small businesses.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">3.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Speaking yesterday at the
Colorado Conservative Political Action Committee Conference, Romney said,
"this sequestration idea ... came out of the White House."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">No, </span><a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/30/13570869-gop-denounces-gop-defense-cuts?lite"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">it didn't</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">.
This sequestration idea emanated from House Republicans.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">4.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> In the same speech, Romney said
Obama "spending more and more, borrowing more and more, putting us on a
road to <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Greece</st1:place></st1:country>."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-were-not-greece/2012/06/20/gJQA15KJrV_story.html"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">That's painfully
untrue</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">5.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> In Wednesday night's debate,
Romney said, "I don't have a $5 trillion tax cut. I don't have a tax cut
of a scale that you're talking about."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Independent analysts determined
the proposed across-the-board rate cut would </span><a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/04/14220691-about-that-5-trillion-tax-cut?lite"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">cost $5 trillion</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">6.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney said, "I'm not going
to reduce the share of taxes paid by high-income people. High-income people are
doing just fine in this economy."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">That's not true. The wealthy would
receive a massive, disproportionate </span><a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/01/13070897-romneys-middle-class-tax-hike?lite"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">tax break</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
under the Romney plan.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">7.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney said, "[G]asoline
prices have doubled under the president."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">To blame gas prices on the
president's policies is </span><a href="http://on.msnbc.com/Q8QyEN"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">ridiculously
untrue</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">8.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney said, "I'm not going
to cut education funding. I don't have any plan to cut education funding and
grants that go to people going to college."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2012/10/05/romney-said-he-wont-cut-education-romney-lied/"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">That's a lie</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">9.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney argued, "Energy is
critical, and the president pointed out correctly that production of oil and
gas in the <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country>
is up. But not due to his policies. In spite of his policies. Mr. President,
all of the increase in natural gas and oil has happened on private land, not on
government land."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/04/1139896/-Romney-s-energy-claims-at-debate-match-many-of-his-other-claims-They-re-bogus"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Wrong</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">10.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> On taxes, Romney said, "I do
want to reduce the burden being paid by middle-income Americans. And to do that
that also means that I cannot reduce the burden paid by high-income
Americans."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">This is </span><a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/10/romneys-successful-debate-plan-lying.html"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">ridiculously
untrue</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (and more than a little incoherent).</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">11.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> On taxes, Romney argued, "I
will not reduce the share paid by high-income individuals. I -- I know that you
and your running mate keep saying that, and I know it's a popular things to say
with a lot of people, but it's just not the case."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Yes, </span><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-first-debate-mitt-romneys-five-biggest-lies-20121004"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">it is the case</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">12.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney said, "I will not
reduce the taxes paid by high-income Americans."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">That's slightly different than the
other lie. It's also </span><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/04/1140243/-Mitt-Romney-calls-Mitt-Romney-a-liar-Taxes-edition-with-video"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">equally wrong</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">13.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney said, "I will not,
under any circumstances, raise taxes on middle-income families." He cited
"six studies" to back him up on this.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">There's ample evidence that Romney
will have no choice but to raise taxes on middle-income families and the six
studies </span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/10/03/fact-check-the-tax-fight/"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">don't</span></i></b><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> back him up</span></b></span></span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">14.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney said, "I saw a study
that came out today that said you're going to raise taxes by 3 to $4,000 on middle-income
families."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">The study is wrong, and </span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/10/03/footnoting-the-debate/"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">that's not what
it said</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">15.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney said on tax rates,
"Mr. President, you're absolutely right, which is that with regards to 97
percent of the businesses are not taxed at the 35 percent tax rate, they're
taxed at a lower rate. But those businesses that are in the last 3 percent of
businesses happen to employ half -- half -- of all of the people who work in small
business."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">That's a new one. It's also </span><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/10/04/958801/at-last-nights-debate-romney-told-27-myths-in-38-minutes/"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">not true</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">16.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney said, "[Y]our plan is
to take the tax rate on successful small businesses from 35 percent to 40
percent. The National Federation of Independent Businesses has said that will
cost 700,000 jobs."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/07/17/fact-check-industry-financed-study-gets-president-s-tax-cuts-wrong"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Oh, please</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">17.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney said, "What things
would I cut from spending? Well, first of all, I will eliminate all programs by
this test -- if they don't pass it: Is the program so critical it's worth
borrowing money from <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country>
to pay for it? And if not, I'll get rid of it."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">The implication here is that <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country> debt is financed by the Chinese, but this
isn't true -- <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country>
only holds </span><a href="http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/21/who-owns-america-hint-its-not-china/"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">about 8%</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
of the nation's debt.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">18.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> In reference to how he'd balance
the budget, Romney said he'll "get rid of" the Affordable Care Act.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">This is incoherent and absurd.
"Obamacare" </span><a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/07/25/12947096-cbo-obamacare-still-cuts-deficit?lite"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">cuts the deficit</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
to the tune of about $109 billion over the next decade. It's simply incoherent
to say you'll cut the deficit by eliminating a law, which would in turn
increase the deficit. That's like promising to put out a fire by using more
kerosene.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">19.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney said, "The president
said he'd cut the deficit in half. Unfortunately, he doubled it."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Maybe Romney doesn't know what
"double" means. The deficit on Obama's first day was $1.3 trillion.
Last year, it was also $1.3 trillion. This year, it's projected to be $1.1
trillion. When he says the president "more than doubled" the deficit,
as he has many times, Romney's lying.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">20.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney argued, "The
president's put in place as much public debt, almost as much debt held by the
public as all prior presidents combined."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">He's said this before, but it's </span><a href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/debates/presidential/2012-10-03#sha=21002741b"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">not even close</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
to being true.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">21.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> On subsidies, Romney said to the
president, "[Y]ou say Exxon and Mobil -- actually, this $2.8 billion goes
largely to small companies, to drilling operators and so forth."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Nice try, </span><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/10/04/960461/why-its-hard-to-trust-romney-on-oil-subsidies/"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">but no</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">22</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">. Romney said to Obama,
"[Y[ou put $90 billion -- like 50 years' worth of breaks -- into solar and
wind."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">That's </span><a href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/debates/presidential/2012-10-03#sha=82ee6d65d"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">not quite right</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">,
and much of the $90 billion was appropriated </span><a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/romneys-attack-on-clean-energy-true-with-an-asterisk/"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">by George W. Bush</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">,
not Obama.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">23.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney argued to the president,
"[Y]ou said you get a deduction for getting a plant overseas. Look, I've
been in business for 25 years. I have no idea what you're talking about."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Romney's admitted cluelessness
notwithstanding, he's simply wrong to argue the tax deduction doesn't exist. </span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/factchecking-the-first-presidential-debate-of-2012/2012/10/04/9d47934e-0d66-11e2-bb5e-492c0d30bff6_blog.html"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">It's real</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">24.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> On entitlements, Romney argued,
"[N]either the president nor I are proposing any changes for any current
retirees or near retirees, either to Social Security or Medicare. So if you're
60 or around 60 or older, you don't need to listen any further."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">That's </span><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/08/24/739271/seniors-will-pay-60000-more-for-medicare-under-romneyryans-plan-report-finds/"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">demonstrably
wrong</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">. Under Romney's policy, the cost of prescription drug
prices and preventive care for seniors would go up immediately -- for current
and future retirees. For that matter, since Romney's plan </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/us/politics/costs-seen-in-romneys-medicare-savings-plan.html?_r=3&smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto&pagewanted=all"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">hastens Medicare's
insolvency</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;"> -- soon -- seniors should listen closely.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">25.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Defending his Medicare plan,
Romney said the idea originated in part with Paul Ryan and Sen. Ron Wyden
(D-Ore.), "who's a co-author of the bill."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">According to Ron Wyden, that's </span><a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/14/13276285-mcluhan-moments-wyden-edition?lite"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">ridiculously
untrue</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">26.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> In reference to Dodd-Frank,
Romney said, "[I]t designates a number of banks as too big to fail, and
they're effectively guaranteed by the federal government. This is the biggest
kiss that's been given to <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>
banks I've ever seen. This is an enormous boon for them.... I wouldn't
designate five banks as too big to fail and give them a blank check."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">This simply has </span><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/10/04/959141/romney-wall-street-reform/"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">no basis in fact</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">27.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> In reference to Wall Street
reform, Romney said, "It wasn't thought through properly.... [I]t's
killing regional and small banks.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/10/04/obama-romney-debate-dodd-frank/"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">No, it's not</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">28.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> In reference to the Affordable
Care Act, Romney said, "It cuts $716 billion from Medicare to pay for it.
I want to put that money back in Medicare for our seniors."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">As I suspect Romney knows -- he'd
already endorsed these same cuts earlier in the year -- he's </span><a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/04/14222249-shining-a-light-on-medicare?lite"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">just not telling
the truth</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">29.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> In the next breath, Romney says
of the health care law, "[I]t puts in place an unelected board that's
going to tell people, ultimately, what kind of treatments they can have."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">This is getting awfully close to
the "death panel" argument, and </span><a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/24/14070343-ryan-doesnt-call-them-death-panels-but?lite"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">it's not true</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">30.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney vowed to "sit down
with Democratic leaders as well as Republican leaders -- as we did in my
state."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">That's wildly misleading. In his
one term, Romney issued more than 800 vetoes, over 700 of which were
overridden, and demonstrated a "</span><a href="http://mobile.nationaljournal.com/magazine/mitt-romney-man-in-charge-20111110?page=1"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">relative
disinterest in bipartisan collaboration</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">."</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">31.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> According to Romney,
congressional Republicans unveiled a "bipartisan" health care reform
plan in 2010. "It was swept aside."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There was no "bipartisan
plan" from GOP lawmakers. Romney just made this up.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">32.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Asked what he would replace the
Affordable Care Act with, Romney's exact words were, "Let, well, actually,
actually it's , it's, it's a lengthy description."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">That's a lie. Romney's online
description of his health care reform plan is </span><a href="http://www.mittromney.com/issues/health-care"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">just 369 words</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">33.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney said, "Pre-existing
conditions are covered under my plan."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">I really wish that were true. </span><a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/04/14221300-romney-vs-romney-on-pre-existing-conditions?lite"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">It's not</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">34.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney, offering
"proof" that the president's agenda is "not working," said,
"23 million people are out of work."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">That's not true. As of the time of
the debate, there were 12.5 million Americans unemployed.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">35.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> In reference to public support
for green-energy companies, Romney argued, "These businesses, many of them
have gone out of business. I think about half of them, of the ones have been
invested in, they've gone out of business."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">As Romney's own aides later
admitted, this is </span><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/10/04/960881/romney-admits-pushing-misinformation-in-debate/"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">demonstrably
false</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">36.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> In a TV campaign ad released this
week, Romney said "Obama and the liberals already have ... raised taxes on
the middle class."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">That's obviously untrue; Obama has
repeatedly cut taxes on the middle class. In fact, Romney </span><a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/26/14111196-romneys-startling-confession-on-taxes?lite"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">admitted as much</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
just last week.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">37.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> In the same ad, Romney accused
Obama of creating "government-run health care."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As Romney knows -- his own state
health care law served as the blueprint for the president's plan -- the
Affordable Care Act relies on private insurers, and is not "government-run
health care."</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">38.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> The same ad claims consumers will
be forced to "pay more for your medicine."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Actually, the only change in the
cost of medication came for seniors -- and "Obamacare" closes the
donut hole to make sure they pay less, not more.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">39.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> The commercial goes on to say the
Affordable Care Act "includes a trillion dollars in higher taxes -- even
on the middle class."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">This is apparently in reference to
the individual mandate. And if the claim is true, then Romney's <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state> law </span><a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/07/02/12524341-romney-campaign-endorses-obama-line-on-tax-penalty?lite"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">also includes
higher taxes</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;"> -- even on the middle class.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">40.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> In his weekly podcast, Romney
said Obama's vision of international affairs is premised on seeing the <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country>
"as merely one among many nations rather than as an exceptional
nation."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Obama is the only president in
American history to </span><a href="http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2011/01/31/obama-has-mentioned-american-exceptionalism-more-than-bush"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">publicly and
explicitly endorse</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> the principle of American exceptionalism.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">41.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney also argued "our
moral standing has declined" around the globe.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">No, it hasn't. Respect and support
for the <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country>
around the world </span><a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_03/028609.php"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">has improved</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
under Obama.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">42.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney went on to say Obama no
longer supports "standing with <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country>."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/07/31/13054824-barak-on-barack?lite"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Israelis say
otherwise</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">43.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney also said the president
"refuses to meet with <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country>'s
prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Obama has met with Netanyahu </span><a href="https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1385&bih=735&oq=Obama+Netanyahu+&gs_l=img.3..0i24l10.1136.3240.0.3421.13.9.3.1.1.0.94.670.9.9.0...0.0...1ac.1.enT1T2AiJk8&q=Obama%20Netanyahu"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">many times</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">44.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> He went on to say, hoping to draw
a contrast with the president, "I will never apologize for <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country>."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">How is it possible the </span><a href="http://on.msnbc.com/VVysbY"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">whole "apology" lie</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;"> hasn't
gone away yet?</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">45.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> At a campaign event in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Wayne</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Pennsylvania</st1:state></st1:place>,
Romney said the president is "planning on cutting our military by about a
trillion dollars over the next decade."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">No, he's not. Obama is planning to
cut defense spending, on the recommendation of the Pentagon and the Joint
Chiefs, by about $500 billion over the next decade. There are other cuts
looming, but they were </span><a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/30/13570869-gop-denounces-gop-defense-cuts?lite"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">crafted by
Romney's party</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;"> and endorsed by his own running mate.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">46.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> At the same event, Romney argued,
"[T]he president adds about a trillion dollars a year to the national
debt."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">It's true that in recent years,
about a trillion dollars a year to the national debt, but </span><a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/05/13681106-the-drivers-of-the-16-trillion-debt?lite"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">it's not the
president who's doing it</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">47.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney went on to say, "Do
you realize that our Navy is smaller in terms of the number of ships than any
time since 1917?"</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">This one again? Romney dropped </span><a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2012_01/what_romney_doesnt_know_about034865.php"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">this lie</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
a while back, but it's apparently made a comeback.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">48.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney also vowed, "I will
not raise taxes on middle-income Americans."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">There's ample evidence that Romney
</span><a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/05/13683728-fact-checking-a-fact-check?lite"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">will</span></i></b><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> raise taxes</span></b></span></span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
on the middle class.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">49.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney went on to promise,
"I've got a plan. I've got a plan to help free people pursue their dreams
and get this economy going. And the good news is this: It'll create 12 million
jobs."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">Putting aside the pesky detail
that Romney doesn't actually have a specific jobs plan, the fact remains that
if we do nothing, we're on track to </span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/romney-my-one-page-plan-will-create-12-million-jobs/2012/08/03/85b51d3a-dd84-11e1-8e43-4a3c4375504a_blog.html"><b><span style="color: maroon; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">create 12 million</span></span></b></a><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
new American jobs over the next four years anyway.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">50.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Romney added, "I want to
take that big cloud off of the small business world that's hanging over them.
Three-quarters of them say they don't want to hire more people because of this
cloud and that cloud is Obamacare."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: maroon; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Romney's referring to a
"survey" conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce if its members.
The claim, however, is a misleading joke -- the Chamber, a pro-Republican
lobbying institution heavily invested in helping Romney, put up an unscientific
online survey. Treating this as a legitimate poll of businesses is
fundamentally dishonest.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: maroon; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit;">
</span>The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-27117542518436132132012-10-04T11:44:00.000-04:002012-10-04T12:01:57.789-04:00Did Mitt Romney Just Shake His Etch-a-Sketch?For months now, Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney has represented that he will reduce Federal income tax rates across the board by 20% and eliminate the Federal estate and gift taxes, which according to basic arithmetic would result in a $5 trillion reduction in Federal tax revenues. In order to avoid increasing the Federal deficit through these proposed tax reductions, Mr. Romney must come up with $5 trillion in cuts in tax expenditures and program spending cuts. He has failed to offer any specifics and, apparently, just wants the American electorate to trust him --- something that is difficult to countenance given his propensity to "flip-flop" on every issue of significance to the American people (see my prior post @ <a href="http://theviewfromthemiddleoftheroad.blogspot.com/2012/07/we-need-president-we-can-trust.html">http://theviewfromthemiddleoftheroad.blogspot.com/2012/07/we-need-president-we-can-trust.html</a>).<br />
<br />
In last night's first Presidential Debate, Mr. Romney walked away from his proposal to reduce Federal income tax rates and to eliminate Federal estate/gift taxes by claiming he didn't know where President Obama came up with the $5 trillion number. Was Mr. Romney just being disingenuous, or is his team (including the self-proclaimed budget "wonk" and VP candidate Paul Ryan) really without a clue as to the cost of their tax reduction/elimination proposal, or was he being an unprinicipled say-anything-to-get-to-be-POTUS liar?<br />
<br />
Here's an excerpt from the New York Times editorial page that focuses a little attention on the misrepresentations Mr. Romney made in last night's debate with respect to the tax issue ...<br />
<br />
<span style="color: maroon; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>Virtually
every time Mr. Romney spoke, he misrepresented the platform on which he and
Paul Ryan are actually running. The most prominent example, taking up the first
half-hour of the debate, was on taxes. Mr. Romney claimed, against considerable
evidence, that he had no intention of cutting taxes on the rich or enacting a
tax cut that would increase the deficit. </em></span></span><br />
<span style="color: maroon; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em></em></span></span><br />
<span style="color: maroon; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span><span style="color: maroon; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>That simply
isn’t true. Mr. Romney wants to restore the Bush-era tax cut that expires at
the end of this year and largely benefits the wealthy. He wants to end the
estate tax and the gift tax, providing a huge benefit only to those with
multimillion-dollar estates, at a cost of more than $1 trillion over a decade
to the deficit. He wants to preserve the generous rates on capital gains that
benefit himself personally and others at his economic level. And </em></span><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-10-03/romney-looking-at-different-caps-on-tax-breaks" title="An Associated Press report"><span style="color: maroon;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>he wants to cut
everyone’s tax rates by 20 percent</em></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>, which again would be a gigantic
boon to the wealthy. </em></span></span><br />
<span style="color: maroon; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em></em></span></span><br />
<span style="color: maroon; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span><span style="color: maroon; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>None of
these would cost the Treasury a dime, he insisted, because he would reduce
deductions and loopholes. But, as always, he refused to enumerate a single
deduction he would erase. “What I’ve said is I won’t put in place a tax cut
that adds to the deficit,” </em></span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/us/politics/transcript-of-the-first-presidential-debate-in-denver.html" title="A complete transcript"><span style="color: maroon;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>he said</em></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>.
“No economist can say Mitt Romney’s tax plan adds $5 trillion if I say I will
not add to the deficit with my tax plan.” </em></span></span><br />
<span style="color: maroon; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em></em></span></span><br />
<span style="color: maroon; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span><span style="color: maroon; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>In fact, many economists have said
exactly that, and, without details, Mr. Romney can’t simply refute them. But
rather than forcefully challenging this fiction, Mr. Obama chose to be polite
and professorial, as if hoping that strings of details could hold up against
blatant nonsense. Viewers were not helped by a series of pedestrian questions
from the moderator, Jim Lehrer of PBS, who never jumped in to challenge either
candidate on the facts.</em></span></span>The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-65042537827468453382012-10-01T08:47:00.000-04:002012-10-01T13:41:25.235-04:00The "Job Creators" Manifesto?<h3 property="dc.creator">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">By </span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/2011/02/24/ABPqBzI_page.html" rel="author"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Steven Pearlstein</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">, <span class="timestamp updated processed" contenttype="article" datetitle="published" epochtime="1348942874000" pagetype="leaf">Published: September 29, 2012</span></span></span></h3>
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am a corporate chief executive.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am a business owner.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am a private-equity fund manager. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am the misunderstood superhero of American capitalism, single-handedly
creating wealth and prosperity despite all the obstacles put in my way by
employees, government and the media. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am a job creator and I am entitled. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to complain about the economy even when my stock price, my
portfolio and my profits are at record levels.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to a healthy and well-educated workforce, a modern and
efficient transportation system and protection for my person and property, just
as I am entitled to demonize the government workers who provide them. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to complain bitterly about taxes that are always too high, even
when they are at record lows. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to a judicial system that efficiently enforces contracts and
legal obligations on customers, suppliers and employees but does not afford them
the same right in return. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to complain about the poor quality of service provided by
government agencies even as I leave my own customers on hold for 35 minutes
while repeatedly telling them how important their call is.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to a compensation package that is above average for my
company’s size and industry, reflecting the company’s aspirations if not its
performance.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to have the company pay for breakfasts and lunches, a luxury
car and private jet travel, my country club dues and home security systems, box
seats to all major sporting events, a pension equal to my current salary and a
full package of insurance — life, health, dental, disability and long-term care
— through retirement. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to have my earned income taxed as capital gains and my
investment income taxed at the lowest rate anywhere in the world — or not at
all. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to inside information and favorable investment opportunities
not available to ordinary investors. I am entitled to brag about my investment
returns.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to pass on my accumulated wealth tax-free to heirs, who in
turn, are entitled to claim that they earned everything they have. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to use unlimited amounts of my own or company funds to buy
elections without disclosing such expenditures to shareholders or the public.
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to use company funds to burnish my own charitable
reputation.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to provide political support to radical, uncompromising
politicians and then complain about how dysfunctional Washington has become.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Although I have no clue how government works, I am entitled to be consulted
on public policy by politicians and bureaucrats who have no clue about how
business works. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to publicly criticize the president and members of Congress,
who are not entitled to criticize me.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to fire any worker who tries to organize a union. I am entitled
to break any existing union by moving, or threatening to move, operations to a
union-hostile environment. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to a duty of care and loyalty from employees and investors who
are owed no such duty in return.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to operate my business free of all government regulations other
than those written or approved by my industry. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to load companies up with debt in order to pay myself and
investors big dividends — and then blame any bankruptcy on over-compensated
workers. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to contracts, subsidies, tax breaks, loans and even bailouts
from government, even as I complain about job-killing government budget
deficits. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to federal entitlement reform.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to take credit for all the jobs I create while ignoring any
jobs I destroy. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to claim credit for all the profits made during a booming
economy while blaming losses or setbacks on adverse market or economic
conditions.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to deny knowledge or responsibility for any controversial
decisions made after my departure from the company, even while profiting from
such decisions if they enhance shareholder value. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to all the rights and privileges of running an American
company, but owe no loyalty to American workers or taxpayers. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to confidential information about my employees and customers
while refusing even to list the company’s phone number on its Web site.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to be treated with deference and respect by investors I
mislead, customers I bamboozle, directors I manipulate and employees I view as
expendable. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to be lionized in the media without answering any questions
from reporters. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to the VIP entrance. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">I am entitled to everything I have and more that I still deserve.</span>The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-68462696058290742412012-09-19T11:57:00.002-04:002012-09-19T18:33:23.309-04:00Good News (sort of) Regarding Credit Card DebtGood news, Americans are strengthening their balance sheets by paying down credit card debt...<br />
Oops, bad news --- Americans are spending their "excess" funds on reducing debt rather than buying things and promoting our economic recovery ...<br />
But more good news --- because of lower debt levels, Americans will have the capacity to spend more in the future which will support economic growth ...<br />
Oops, but maybe more bad news --- our partisan Congress doesn't seem too interested in doing anything significant to foster economic recovery --- and what are the prospects that will change after the November elections?<br />
<br />
<img alt="fredgraph2.png" height="378" src="http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/files/2012/09/fredgraph2.png" width="630" />The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-8804579579646426772012-09-19T09:24:00.000-04:002012-09-19T10:35:26.887-04:00The Republicans Charge "Class Warfare" -- They're Right<a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a><span style="color: #660000;">New York Times Editorial, September 18, 2012</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">It turns out that Mitt Romney was right. There is class warfare being waged in the 2012 campaign. It is Mr. Romney who is waging it, not President Obama, and he’s stood the whole idea on its head.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">When you think of class warfare, you probably think of inciting anger, resentment and jealousy among the have-nots against the haves. That’s what Mr. Romney has accused Mr. Obama of doing, but those charges have always been false. The truth is that Mr. Romney has been trying to incite the anger of a small slice of the richest Americans who need no government assistance but get it anyway, against the working poor, older Americans, the disabled workers and veterans, and even a significant chunk of middle-class Americans.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">That was the message of remarks that Mr. Romney made in May at a private fund-raiser held at a private equity manager’s estate in Florida, a moment when he thought he was safe from annoying reporters and cameramen, and other Americans who are not rich enough to have bought a ticket to the event. </span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/secret-video-romney-private-fundraiser" title="See the video and others here"><span style="color: #660000;">A video made public on Monday</span></a><span style="color: #660000;"> by the magazine Mother Jones showed a Mitt Romney who felt free to speak candidly about his campaign and how he would conduct a presidency. In that safe zone, Mr. Romney spoke with a bone-chilling cynicism and a revolting smugness. If he is elected, he said, capital will come back and “we’ll see — without actually doing anything — we’ll actually get a boost in the economy.” That’s the state of trickle-down economics in the 21st century. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Gone was the pretense that he will be a president of all Americans. Mr. Romney rather neatly divided the country between the people who matter and the 47 percent he does not care about. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">To Mr. Romney, that 47 percent consists of people who do not make enough money to be required to pay federal income tax. They are freeloaders, he said, “who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.” It is not his job, he said, as a candidate nor apparently as president if he is elected, “to worry about those people.” </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">By his definition, those undeserving freeloaders include workers in low-paying, menial jobs (sometimes more than one job) who don’t even earn $9,750 a year, the amount at which they would start to owe federal income tax. Also included are older Americans whose Social Security pensions are too low to be taxed, disabled veterans and people who were maimed on the job. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">This group also includes some middle-income Americans who make, say, $50,000 a year but are not required to pay taxes after they take advantage of child credits, marriage penalty relief and other tax breaks, many of which are part of the Bush-era tax cuts that Mr. Romney backs with a blind ideological fervor. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">But, of course, Mr. Romney was not talking about the Americans who make so much money that they are able to avoid paying any tax at all or who, like him, are able to shelter their incomes in overseas banks or tax loopholes that permit them to pretend that ordinary income comes from investment and thus pay lower taxes. Mr. Romney has been paying, by his own account, about 13 percent to 15 percent of his enormous income in federal income taxes. Just compare that with your own tax return.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">E</span><span style="color: #660000;">verything about </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/us/politics/in-leaked-video-romney-says-middle-east-peace-process-likely-to-remain-unsolved-problem.html" title="A Times article"><span style="color: #660000;">Mr. Romney’s characterization</span></a><span style="color: #660000;"> of this mythical slice of lazy, shiftless Americans was wrong. A vast majority of Americans pay federal taxes, either income tax or payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare — or both — as well as other federal fees. They also pay state and local taxes and sales taxes.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The government’s revenue problem does not start with the poor but with the richest people, through the Bush tax cuts and other changes. The tax cuts for the richest people should expire now, and the middle-class cuts should do so eventually. But that will not happen as long as people like Mr. Romney protect the rich by turning the working poor and middle class into the enemy. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Mr. Romney may have been talking about electoral tactics: those people are going to vote for Mr. Obama, so let’s concentrate on our kind of people. It’s also possible that he was mouthing the words of the extreme right without really believing them. But all the possible explanations say terrible things about Mr. Romney’s character. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The right wing has long been whining about people who don’t pay taxes and who, therefore, don’t deserve a say in government. They have it backward. The shame is not that those people don’t pay income taxes. The shame is how many poor people there are when the top 1 percent can amass uncountable fortunes fed by tax breaks and can donate tens of millions of dollars to political candidates to keep it that way. </span><br />
<span id="goog_1447170776"></span><span id="goog_1447170777"></span><br />The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-23483520731555392632012-09-11T08:35:00.001-04:002012-09-11T08:35:20.064-04:00Remember the Day!<img height="295" id="il_fi" src="http://www.yellowstonewolf.com/wtc/65.jpg" style="padding-bottom: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="382" />The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-79602286011257750742012-08-31T11:04:00.001-04:002012-08-31T13:16:05.859-04:00I Prefer This Eastwood ... The One Who Challenges Americans To "All Pull Together"<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_PE5V4Uzobc?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-60036182969735661362012-08-30T08:42:00.000-04:002012-08-31T15:35:42.024-04:00A Good Question ...<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Embedded image permalink" height="640" src="https://p.twimg.com/A1i-BGMCIAAR0gA.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="455" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: small;"><strong>And how would you deal with a repeat of the same partisan</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-size: small;"><strong>extremism </strong></span><span style="color: #660000; font-size: small;"><strong>that you're encountering in your first term?</strong></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-46522634928132557962012-08-29T08:52:00.000-04:002012-08-30T11:26:09.257-04:00Here's The Thing - We All Built It!<span style="color: #134f5c;">Recent political dialogues (or, perhaps, monologues) have been about who "built" businesses and other entities that are integral to our n</span><span style="color: #134f5c;">ation's economic dynamism. Many conservatives have been challenging President Obama's recent assertions that we're all in this together, that there is an acceptable role for government and that no man is an island (see John Donne for a pre-Obama perspective).</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;">The extreme conservatives (and libertarians and Ayn Randians) really would have you believe that each individual is fully and only responsible for his/her own success - that there is no reason to give credit (or tax $) to a goverment that has provided an infrastructure and a judicial system and a protection system (think police and fire departments) and an education system so that economic success can be achieved by the hard working/persevering individual. And, while I would not want to detract from the credit due to hard work and perseverance and the economic success that flows from those efforts, I also believe that such success is a function of individual industriousness combined with the framework that we, as a nation, have built over the past 230+ years. And yes, "luck" and being at the right place at the right time is important.</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;">It's time to reject the YOYO strategy ("you're on your own") of extreme conservatives and libertarians and Ayn Randians (and, yes, of Romney and Ryan if they want to be embrace a YOYO strategy for this country). It's time for bi-partisan recognition of what an efficent, effective government can accomplish for the 100% of this nation's citizenry.</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;">The Nicholas Kristof article that follows is an excellent thought-provoking piece on entrepreneurial success...</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">August 28, 2012<br /><strong>The Secret Weapon: All of Us</strong><br /><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">By </span></span><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/nicholasdkristof/index.html"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF</span></a><nyt_text> </nyt_text><br />
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<nyt_correction_top></nyt_correction_top><br />
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<span style="color: #660000;">The Republican National Convention opened by smacking President Obama with the theme “We Built it.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">To pound that message, Republicans turned to a Delaware businesswoman, Sher Valenzuela, who is also a candidate for lieutenant governor. Valenzuela and her husband </span><a href="http://www.nationalsmallbusinessweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012year/Program2012_websize.pdf#page=13"><span style="color: #660000;">built an upholstery</span></a><span style="color: #660000;"> business that now employs dozens of workers.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Valenzuela presumably was picked to speak so that she could thunder at Obama for disdaining capitalism.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Oops. It turns out that Valenzuela relied not only on her entrepreneurial skills but also on — yes, government help. </span><a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/08/23/how-she-built-it-foxs-rnc-theme-undercut-by-key/189537"><span style="color: #660000;">Media Matters for America</span></a><span style="color: #660000;">, a liberal watchdog group, documented $2 million in loans from the Small Business Administration for Valenzuela’s company, plus $15 million in government contracts (mostly noncompetitive ones).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">In a </span><a href="http://www.wwb.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/WWB.5.14.ppt"><span style="color: #660000;">presentation earlier this year</span></a><span style="color: #660000;">, Valenzuela described government assistance as an entrepreneur’s “biggest ‘secret weapon.’ ”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Someone has set up a </span><a href="http://www.firststatemanufacturing.com/"><span style="color: #660000;">parody Web site</span></a><span style="color: #660000;">, using the name of Valenzuela’s company, First State Manufacturing, to mock the Republican message. The site, </span><a href="http://firststatemanufacturing.com/" target="_"><span style="color: #660000;">FirstStateManufacturing.com</span></a><span style="color: #660000;">, declares, “Thank God government was there for me.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">In short, the Republicans are inadvertently underscoring the point that President Obama was expressing in his “</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=192oEC5TX_Q"><span style="color: #660000;">you didn’t build that</span></a><span style="color: #660000;">” comment in July. Obama noted then that “if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.” He pointed to public investments in roads and bridges that enable businesses to flourish, and then he inelegantly added, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Fox News erupted in outrage, </span><a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/07/16/fox-amp-friends-deceptively-edits-obamas-commen/187146"><span style="color: #660000;">selectively editing the clip</span></a><span style="color: #660000;"> to confirm Republican prejudices that Obama doesn’t understand the private sector. This fits into the Republican narrative that business executives are heroic job creators when they aren’t held back by regulations and taxes imposed by quasi-socialist Muslims born in Kenya.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Democrats tried to highlight a flaw in that narrative when they released a new ad pointing to Mitt Romney’s </span><a href="http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/08/dnc-fires-back-with-you-didnt-built-that-you-destroyed-133458.html"><span style="color: #660000;">outsourcing of jobs</span></a><span style="color: #660000;"> and telling him, “You didn’t build that — you destroyed it.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Yet to me, that Democratic line of attack on Romney as a serial job destroyer feels unfair. Sometimes the way to save a company is to cut labor costs or outsource jobs, and almost nobody wants to ban trade or overseas production even though they can cost jobs.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">What is fair is to observe that the Republicans’ claim that they are the great job creators is a fiction. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;">Prof. Robert S. McElvaine of Millsaps College examined </span><a href="http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/has-obama-made-the-job-situation-worse/?src=me&ref=general"><span style="color: #660000;">employment data</span></a><span style="color: #660000;"> for the 64 years from the beginning of Harry Truman’s presidency to the end of George W. Bush’s. He found that an average of two million jobs were created per year when a Democrat was president, compared with one million annually when a Republican was president.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">More pointedly, and unfortunately for Romney, business executives have only a mediocre record when transferring their skills to government. In the last great economic mess, this country was led by a Republican who had been stunningly successful in business: Herbert Hoover. Hmm. More recently, President George W. Bush staffed his cabinet with C.E.O.’s who had been stellar in the private sector — and that didn’t work out so well, either.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Obama’s point about our shared undertaking was made last year, more eloquently,</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOyDR2b71ag"><span style="color: #660000;"> by Elizabeth Warren</span></a><span style="color: #660000;">, the Massachusetts Democrat running for Senate: </span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"> “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own — nobody!” she said. “You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you all were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. ... </span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"> “You built a factory, and it turned into something terrific or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is, you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">In short, taxes don’t just smother. They can also fuel growth — when they’re invested in highways or the Internet, in colleges or early childhood education. They can create opportunities, as they did for Sher Valenzuela.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Or for Romney himself. He built his Bain empire partly because he was smart and hard-working, but also because of a great education and because of </span><a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21543545"><span style="color: #660000;">tax breaks for debt financing.</span></a><span style="color: #660000;"> Tax loopholes helped him build his fortune, and other loopholes gave him the low tax rates to retain it. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;">If the Republican convention wishes to highlight and explain Romney’s success, it should have a moment of silence to honor our infernal tax code.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Who built this country? Entrepreneurs, yes. But so did schoolteachers and railway construction workers. Doctors and truckers. Scientists and soldiers. You didn’t build it, Mitt Romney — we all built it.</span> </div>
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The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-81642840148627893702012-08-23T09:14:00.001-04:002012-08-23T14:03:39.210-04:00A Good Question ...<div style="clear: right; float: right; height: 402px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify; width: 291px;">
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WHEN Mitt Romney was governor of liberal Massachusetts, he supported abortion, gun control, tackling climate change and a requirement that everyone should buy health insurance, backed up with generous subsidies for those who could not afford it. Now, as he prepares to fly to Tampa to accept the Republican Party’s nomination for president on August 30th, he opposes all those things. A year ago he favoured keeping income taxes at their current levels; now he wants to slash them for everybody, with the rate falling from 35% to 28% for the richest Americans.<br />
<br />
Read more ... <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21560864">http://www.economist.com/node/21560864</a>The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-11055172974365695992012-08-23T09:06:00.002-04:002012-08-23T09:06:50.369-04:00One Reason Our Economic Recovery Isn't<img alt="Bill Day - Cagle Cartoons - Congress at Play - English - Congress, Anti-Obama, legislation, GOP" src="http://media.caglecartoons.com/media/cartoons/118/2012/08/22/117347_600.jpg" />
The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969316314839906387.post-68397831853410662142012-08-17T09:00:00.000-04:002012-08-17T09:06:10.912-04:00Executives Say Obama Better for World Economy: Reuters Poll<span style="font-family: inherit;">From my Twitter post @rgwilliams824 ---</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Executives Say Obama Better for World Economy: Poll Reuters | August 17, 2012 | 05:44 AM EDT"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">See article at </span><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE87G07D20120817" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE87G07D20120817</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And if it's good for the world economy, what's the downside for the US economy?</span>The View From the Middle of the Roadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784012990972865294noreply@blogger.com