And once again, the toxic Mitt is telling us that he is not going to "Save the planet" So, he is assuring us that he will turn the gulf into a cesspool, for the benefit of the Koch Brothers and whoever owns BP these days.

Willard has many grandchildren that he wants to leave as millionaires. He also tolds us that he plans to cut the capital gains for the "middle class" Who isn the heck has "capital gains"in the middle class???

Mitt ROmney is just working to be a President for the benefit of him and his many members of his family.

What a morning! Neither could answer the very direct questions regarding which loopholes would be closed and continued to state that they would work with Congress on their invisible plan. Kudos to George and Nora for continuing to press on the issue!

Side note ... and I'd really like to know. Ryan stated that he had visited the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan ... I've been googling that and can't find a thing stating he did. Does anyone have a source???

Obama/Biden 2012

The Republican motto: Don't Do Math!

Layton, he visited them during his marathon, New York to Iraq to Afganistan in under 4 hours!

Why illusion???

When the GOP cuts taxes, the government has less to spend, but the entitlements have kept increasing..because Congress has kept voting to expand them..also because babyboomers are huge in number.

Worse yet...Reagan and Bush themselves pushed for more entitlements, such as Reagan's EITC (earned income tax credit) and Bush's senior medicare prescription drug benefits - believe me, these are good policies, but they do expand federal spending, and these GOP presidents kept cutting taxes---were they crazy

Plus all the unfunded wars - the massive spending had to come from somewhere...right? Funny it's the conservatives crying about it. Voters too

Fiscal conservatism?? hardly...more like fiscal lunacy.

Why can't these GOP politicians understant arithmetic? Or don't cry about the deficit - if you did all these tax-cutting and borrowing.

Eric ... funny you! (and I was so excited for a source!)

Incredible that Romney gets away with repeating that lie about "Obama cut $716 billion from Medicare".

Romney ain't lying when he says he doesn't care about fact-checking, though.

Ryan's plan DOES cut $716 from Medicare, and then uses it to pay down the deficit and pay for the military!

How much more brazen lying are we going to put up with from this crew?

At least they're gone after November.

That's why dick cheney used to say that "deficits don't matter", because he could never add them up anyway!

scott,

This recession was twice as deep as any recession since FDR at minus 9% GDP growth.

Even in the second worst recession in 1980 the GDP growth was only minus 4% with 3 times the manufacturing and export industry to help jump start and rebuild the economy.

What's up in Ohio?

How about he cut out the 10% tithing he willingly gives to the LDS church?

Ann said they have never felt "financial hardship" but they understand and she compared it to MS. Well I don't have MS and I have NO CLUE how someone who does have MS feels.

Pay for what? Oh my plan. That should be Romney's new slogan:

Romney/Ryan "My Plan "2012.

DB,

He signed the spending bills including the off the budget wars that caused the trillion dollar deficit.

Why should Dick Cheney be quoted about the deficit??

Is Dick a Nobel winning economist...?

Remember when Cheney was up to something, we all got DICKed.

Home • The FactCheck Wire • Medicare's 'Piggy Bank'

Medicare's 'Piggy Bank'

Posted on August 24, 2012

Republicans claim the president's $716 billion "cuts" to Medicare hurt the program's finances. But the opposite is true. These cuts in the future growth of spending prolong the life of the Medicare trust fund, stretching the program's finances out longer than they would last otherwise.

Mitt Romney has claimed that President Barack Obama has "robbed" Medicare. Rep. Paul Ryan, Romney's running mate, said Obama "turned Medicare into a piggy bank to fund Obamacare," promising to "stop the raid on Medicare." And the Republican National Committee is promoting on its website a feature it calls "Obama's Countdown to Medicare's Bankruptcy," which lists the days, hours, minutes and seconds left until the Medicare Part A trust fund is exhausted. But there would be even fewer days until the fund's exhaustion if Obama's health care law hadn't included those $700 billion in spending reductions.

It's true that experts, including Medicare's chief actuary, doubt that some of those spending cuts will actually be implemented. But if they are, Medicare would spend less each year than it had been expected to otherwise, allowing Medicare to stretch further the income it receives from payroll taxes and premiums.

How a Cut Helps the Medicare Budget

To some voters, it may sound counter-intuitive at first to think that cutting money from Medicare would improve, not weaken, its finances. But, again, this is a reduction in the future growth of Medicare spending over 10 years. And spending less is a good thing for Medicare's finances — as it is for most people's.

For instance, let's say someone has a dedicated coffee budget but decides to drop a daily latte habit and instead buy regular coffee. That person's coffee budget took a big cut in spending, enabling the budget to last longer. Instead of one month of lattes, this java fan can have two months of coffee.

The biggest savings from the Affordable Care Act come from reductions in the future growth of payments to hospitals — about $415 billion over 10 years. That's Medicare Part A. Income for Part A comes mainly from payroll taxes. If Medicare doesn't need to spend that income immediately, it's credited to Part A's trust fund, and Medicare gets a Treasury bond that it can cash in later. Anytime Medicare needs to cash in that bond, Treasury must pay it. Even if Treasury spent the original money on something else, it must pay the bond.

So, campaign claims that imply that Obama has taken money out of Medicare, and Medicare won't ever get it back, are simply not true.

At an Aug. 21 campaign stop in West Chester, Pa., Ryan said Obama and the Democrats "turned Medicare into a piggy bank to fund Obamacare. They took $716 billion from Medicare to pay for their Obamacare program." On the other hand, he added, Republicans are "being candid with our current seniors" and "saying stop the raid on Medicare."

Unfortunately for Medicare there isn't $700 billion in any kind of "piggy bank" to "raid." The trust fund doesn't have anywhere near that much money — the Part A trust fund only contained $244.2 billion at the end of 2011. And the president can't actually take money out of the trust fund. Medicare holds those Treasury bonds, and, as we said, it can cash them in anytime it needs the money.

The problem for Medicare is that the trust fund isn't going up — it's declining year after year. Some voters may get the mistaken impression that money they paid in to Medicare will pay their benefits once they retire. But as a practical matter the program functions as a pay-as-you-go system. And current income isn't enough to pay all current benefits.

Without the spending cuts in the Affordable Care Act, the Part A trust fund was expected to be exhausted in 2016. With the ACA cuts, that date was pushed back to 2024.

That makes the RNC's bankruptcy clock a bit curious. If the federal health care law hadn't included those cuts to spending, there would be even less time left on that countdown.

Bankruptcy Blunders

That doesn't mean that Medicare will be "bankrupt" — either in 2016 or 2024 — as both campaigns are fond of saying. Obama's deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter, and Romney supporter and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum offered these competing claims on CNN's "State of the Union":

Cutter: The last point on this, if they put that money — put that savings back into the system, it means that Medicare will go bankrupt in just four years. So if Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan get elected to the White House, Medicare will be bankrupt by the end of their first term, that is what that means.

Santorum: And I just listened to the Obama spokesperson before this, I mean my head was spinning. To suggest that adding $700 billion back to the Medicare program is going to cause its financial collapse, that — you can only make that statement if you have been in Washington way too long.

Santorum is off base, as we've explained. If $700 billion isn't cut from the growth of future Medicare spending, Medicare will spend money out of that trust fund more quickly, leading to its exhaustion at a much sooner date. But Cutter goes too far in saying that the program would be "bankrupt."

Part A could still spend what it takes in from payroll taxes, though it would not be enough to cover all benefits. The Medicare trustees say that the tax "would cover only 87 percent of estimated expenditures in 2024 and 67 percent in 2050." And that's only Part A. Physician and drug costs, which are covered by Parts B and D, are covered by general revenues and premiums paid by seniors. Treasury must pay whatever is necessary to meet the costs for Parts B and D each year. (For more on Medicare's finances, see our Aug. 22 article, "A Campaign Full of Mediscare.")

Also, the trustees have been warning about the exhaustion of the Part A trust fund since 1970, but Congress has never allowed the fund to be depleted. Congress has always taken some action, often raising payroll taxes to extend the life of the fund.

Double-Counting

The Romney campaign's real complaint is that the Affordable Care Act counts those Medicare savings as money that can cover other aspects of the law. But the money can't pay for two things at once.

When we asked the campaign how it could argue that Obama's spending reductions didn't extend the life of the trust fund, a spokesman replied that it didn't extend the fund "unless the administration is ready to admit their law blows a huge hole in our deficit."

The fact remains that Obama can't take away the Medicare trust fund bonds. But both the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and Richard Foster, Medicare's chief actuary, have said that the law can't extend the life of the trust funds and pay for other measures at the same time. Foster said in 2011 testimony: "In practice, the improved HI [hospital insurance] financing cannot be simultaneously used to finance other Federal outlays (such as the coverage expansions) and to extend the trust fund, despite the appearance of this result from the respective accounting conventions."

What happens in government accounting is that after Treasury issues a bond that it will have to pay later, it can spend the money it received on other things. And it often does, whether that's coverage expansion, as called for in the health care law, or any number of things. The Romney spokesman said it was "a shell game."

But that doesn't mean that the Medicare trust fund will be slashed or its "piggy bank" "robbed" or "raided," or any other claim we'd put firmly in the category of "senior scare."

Romney not only has 'bad math', but also has 'bad breath'

we can't trust whatever comes out of his mouth....

Huge News.

Two officials intimately involved in the GOP campaign said Ohio leans clearly in Obama’s favor now, with a high single-digit edge, based on their internal tracking numbers of conservative groups. Romney can still win the presidency if he loses Ohio, but it’s extremely difficult.

George W. Bush’s narrow win of Ohio in 2004, with 50.81% of the vote, ensured him re-election. Obama won the state with 51.38%. Right now it looks like Obama is likely to prevail again in the Buckeye state.

http://pollways.bangordailynews.com/2012/09/09/national/five-reasons-why-obama-doing-so-well-in-ohio/?ref=blogswidget

____________

At their convention, Obama campaign officials were leaking news to certain reporters that their internals were showing Obama up nine points in their daily trackers. It didn't get broad attention because 1) it seemed a bit crazy, and 2) it doesn't fit the narrative that this is a close race. Now, we're hearing that conservatives are also seeing Obama Ohio leads in the "high single digits".

When the GOP main case is that the foreigner Obama doesn't understand America or its values, yet the president gets higher marks than Romney on those matters, perhaps you've just flushed $150 million down the toilet.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/09/1129529/-Romney-campaign-admits-it-they-re-losing

I agree with the President about how GOP doesn't understand math - saying:

'It was like two plus one equals five' ( a quote from the news)

actually the GOP lives in this world of 'two plus one equals five.'

You know, ONE rich GOP guy PLUS TWO wives to produce FIVE kids??? promiscuity and degeneracy.

Just ask Clint Eastwood? actually his number is more impressive than the above.

#1.33 cont.

Mr. President, in the GOP world, as you know, two plus one does equal five -

ONE rich GOP guy PLUS TWO wives to produce FIVE kids??? promiscuity and degeneracy

...so much about the GOP, a party of family values!!!!!!!!!

Hi Pat,

Romney’s Electoral Map just got smaller as both his campaign and the Super PAC’s that support him have pulled ads in Pennsylvania and Michigan. Ryan’s home state of Wisconsin could be next since the Romney campaign call it an “opportunity” in the below Politico article.

POLITICO: In the end, what gives both camps the sense that Obama is better positioned is the map of 10 states they are fighting on. Two months ago, a top Romney official said they had to have at least one or two of these states in the bag, preferably Florida, to be on course to win. They don’t.

“Our problems are Virginia, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire,” a top official said. “Our opportunities are Michigan, Wisconsin, Colorado. We can’t trade our problems for our opportunities and win the presidency. If we trade our problems for our opportunities, we lose.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/80949.html?hp=t1

I have a very simple math tax plan for everyone. Too bad Congress will never agree to it. Here it is:Tax ALL income at the same rate (gross income, including wages, interest, capital gains, estate, alimony, etc.) based on the following formula. There are NO deductions, credits, subsidies, etc under this plan. Every individual files as exactly that...an individual. No married couple discounts, no dependent discounts, etc.

First $25K of income is tax FREE. From $25,000.01 to $250K taxed at 15%. From $250,000.01 to $750 K taxed at 30%, All income over $750K taxed at 45%. Very simple filing with this tax system. Attach your W-2 or 1099 (all monetary sources required to submit proper documentation of payouts to the individual, no matter how that payout is made, including cash payments.)

All non-individual sources of income would under this plan be tax-free, unless a corporation or other business/organization has a profit that is NOT being divested to its shareholders or being reinvested back into the business. Social Security would not be taxable as the individual would already have been taxed for it as part of the gross income. Savings/401K's, etc. would also not be taxable at time of withdrawal for the same reason. Pensions would be taxable, since those would have been a "tax-free" expenditure by the fund source (business) at the time of the money being placed in the pension fund.

All methods of income earned by all of these "financial planners", fund operators, etc. of our current WS madness would be considered as part of that individual's gross income, taxed at the rates noted above.

You want REALLY BAD MATH, "President" Obama. YOU increased the national debt by $4,939,000,000,000 (and your term is not even over yet)! That is more than the last the last 4 Presidential Adminstrations COMBINED!

How Feisty and others can support you is beyond my understanding. I would take Jimmy Carter at this point!

Dennis, Romney and Ryan aren't good for America and Americans see that clearly.

How could Romney pick a VP candidate who lies constantly, he REFUSED to work with our President, and voted for all of GWB's policies that got us into this mess to begin with.

If this news about Ohio turns out to be factual, then millions upon millions of dollars are going to be wasted on the Romney campaign.

But that's what the GOP is known for. Throwing money away.

And their negative ads are helping anyway. People are just turning these ads out.

And oh yeah, supporting our president.

_______________

I think the end began for Romney way back at the beginning of the year when Bob Schrum recalled the ad that Ted Kennedy's campaign used against Romney. That ad has stuck in our minds.

meant to say the negative ads "aren't" helping.

Arthur66

There have only been four 1 trillion dollar yearly deficits in our nation's history. ALL FOUR have been under President Obama. HE seems to be the one BAD AT MATH.

Great example of the absolute ignorance of the right. If anybody that made statements like these was truly involved in a business, I feel sorry for that business. If you have the slightest idea about financial momentum or prolonged obligations, you would be enlightened on the true sources for these deficits in a split second... but, alas, they are not at all "enlightened".

Let me give you a hint or two. If you start a 12 year war without funding it, it will generate debt for 12 years... especially if you hog-tie the next guy with a $500 Billion drop in tax revenue and a dying economy. Bush didn't just do a war though... he started TWO major wars, an ever expanding Homeland Security, Medicaid, and a sh!t load of dumbass tax cuts before he dumped the economy and handed it to the next guy. McCain would have had the IDENTICAL problem... a problem deeper than an math-challenged right winger could possibly understand!!!!

So if you wish to stand with the dumbasses... if you want to continue to excuse blatant lies... if you're stupid enough to trust a venture capitalist with "trust me" policies... go ahead. But don't think you going to drag our asses down with you.

You know, Pigotry, the juvenile namecalling that seems to be a mandatory element of your every comment, negates any trace of credibility they might contain. In other words, as soon as the rest of us encounter such tripe as"bad breath", "got Dicked", "the Vulture", we quit reading and go to the next comment, leaving you free, I suppose, to run out to the playgound and pick up some new "names" to use.

jc-101...' how dare you quote facts, that is not responsible journalism.

We only have ONE year of Mitt Romney's tax returns. One very well vetted document that was produced when he knew he was running for President.

I guarantee you his 2011 return will be similarly sanitized when he finally presents it.

What we need to see are the returns from years that weren't show documents. Give us the real ones, Mitt!

Dennis, as far as Wisconsin, I distinctly remember a Republican supporter here on First Read telling us (democrats) that we could "kiss Wisconsin goodbye".

Of course, the Republicans' economic policies are bad math.

The GOP's stances:

- Give the 1% additional Tax Cuts.

- Stay recalcitrant! Keep the Capital Gains tax rate at a low 15%.

- Unpatriotically, stand firm. Reward corporate job outsourcers

- Allow corporations such as GE, Verizon and Wells Fargo to make billions of dollars in U.S. profits, but pay Zero dollars in U.S. taxes.

- Allow the wealthy to continue to hide their assets in far away lands.

- Increase the tax rate for the middle class and the poor

- Eliminate tax credits and deductions for the "average" citizen

- Deregulate Wall Street and the banks further, so that Americans can be at the mercy of these dishonest institutions.

...as Clinton said in his speech, "You do the math."

Vote a Straight Democratic Ticket!

I'm not any better off than I was 4 years ago I actually earn less now good looking out obumba

Tweet, TOD:

GW Bush August jobs record from 2001-2008: (-5,000 jobs). President Obama jobs record for August 2012: (+96,000 jobs). pic.twitter.com/ocqmeh2v

Good Math and Logical Cause and Effect:

1) The Fortune 500 companies had record profits during this recession.

2) These same Fortune 500 companies had record LOW reinvestments back into their companies (i.e. no jobs)

3) The executives of these SAME Fortune 500 companies received record paydays during this recession... $100s of millions in some cases.

4) Off-shore accounts have increased at a record pace during this recession, with some estimates approaching $100 Trillion... which represents money taken OUT of businesses and OUT of our economy.

5) Income tax rates on personal income has been at an all-time low during this recession.

6) Many top executives are taking advantage of a relatively new trick that transfers fees and earned income to capital gains... basically taking the personal income at the top to 15% and less.

I'm no economic wonder boy, although I was a math major at one point, but this looks like direct cause-and-effect to me. Low taxes at the top ENCOURAGES and HAS RESULTED IN executives taking money out of businesses and our economy for they're own personal wealth caches.

This explains PERFECTLY why the rich got richer during this recession while the middle class lost 40% of it's net worth.

So... what do you think will happen if we lower the taxes at the top even more? More jobs? Not on your life. If we don't raise taxes back up to some reasonable level we can kiss any hope of a graceful economic recovery good bye. And forget the middle class. If trickle down turns into trickle out any more than it has, we're done.

It's just math.... and logic.

Arthur66--There have only been four 1 trillion dollar yearly deficits in our nation's history. ALL FOUR have been under President Obama. HE seems to be the one BAD AT MATH.

Bush started two unfunded wars, an unfunded Medicare drug program, and unfunded tax breaks for the wealthy. Repugs have done nothing in the last 4 years to pay for any of these fiascoes. The "trickle-down" didn't happen. The "trickle-down" doesn't work!!!!!!

What did you expect to happen??????

What did you expect to happen???????

George, they expected to do nothing and then blame President Obama.

And on top of it, they're now spending millions and millions and millions of their own dollars to relay that message.

Doesn't make one damn bit of sense.

Why all the worry about “Our”
debt?

If we don’t worry about “Our” Global
Climate change, who will be around to collect “Our”
debt?

I think we should worry about “our”
Global Climate first, then “our” Debt (if
needed).

Those who survive thru “our” climate
change won’t be thinking much about “our”debt!


Those with the most of ”Our” $/Gold have
the best chance of survival.

We (middle class and poor) will be
known as the “polluters”, because “we” don’t/didn’t
care about “our” environment.

F6Zman, the first paragraph in your post both caught my attention and then prompted me to dismiss anything else you had to say. Your claim to knowledge of the contents of "Dreams from my real Father" should have told me you didn't have a clue. The title is "Dreams from my Father".

Always willing to give benefit of doubt, I continued to read extremely outrageous claims purported to have come from the mouth of the President himself. Even the most casual reader would jot notes or highlight such shocking claims with direct quotes from the book itself. None were forthcoming.

My mother would sharply tweak my 5 yr. old nose for repeating harmful gossip from unreliable sources. How old are you? Where's your mother?

Kumar-889209

You want REALLY BAD MATH, "President" Obama. YOU increased the national debt by $4,939,000,000,000 (and your term is not even over yet)! That is more than the last the last 4 Presidential Adminstrations COMBINED!

Could you take a moment to tell us what the $4,939,000,000,000 was spent upon?

Beyond that, could you point to any statement by Obama that shows that he doesn't understand the size of the deficit, the national debt, or even that he is not concerned about the problems it causes?

DB

Wrong! Bush never signed the Budget, because Congress never sent him the budget. Why? He said he would veto it, and the democrats did not have 2/3's majorities in the House and Senate.

Quite a slant.

The financial cost of the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan are not part of the defense budget; they are appropriations.
The final spending bills for the budget were not signed into law until March 11, 2009 by President Barack Obama, nearly five and a half months after the fiscal year began. "I am signing an imperfect omnibus bill because it's necessary for the ongoing functions of government," Obama declared. "But I also view this as a departure point for more far-reaching change." [2] This final bill also featured 7991 earmarks totaling nearly 5.5 billion dollars.

And let's not forget that in the ensuing years we are still paying for the unfunded tax cuts and the unfunded Medicare Advantage Bush passed. The debts weren't swept clean in Jan 2009 like here Repubs would like to think.

Of all the falsehoods told about President Barack Obama, the biggest whopper is the one about his reckless spending spree.

As would-be president Mitt Romney tells it: "I will lead us out of this debt and spending inferno."

Almost everyone believes that Obama has presided over a massive increase in federal spending, an "inferno" of spending that threatens our jobs, our businesses and our children's future. Even Democrats seem to think it's true.

But it didn't happen. Although there was a big stimulus bill under Obama, federal spending is rising at the slowest pace since Dwight Eisenhower brought the Korean War to an end in the 1950s.

Even hapless Herbert Hoover managed to increase spending more than Obama has.

Here are the facts, according to the official government statistics:

• In the 2009 fiscal year — the last of George W. Bush's presidency — federal spending rose by 17.9% from $2.98 trillion to $3.52 trillion. Check the official numbers at the Office of Management and Budget.

• In fiscal 2010 — the first budget under Obama — spending fell 1.8% to $3.46 trillion.

• In fiscal 2011, spending rose 4.3% to $3.60 trillion.

• In fiscal 2012, spending is set to rise 0.7% to $3.63 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of the budget that was agreed to last August.

• Finally in fiscal 2013 — the final budget of Obama's term — spending is scheduled to fall 1.3% to $3.58 trillion. Read the CBO's latest budget outlook.

Over Obama's four budget years, federal spending is on track to rise from $3.52 trillion to $3.58 trillion, an annualized increase of just 0.4%.

There has been no huge increase in spending under the current president, despite what you hear.

(Posted originally by 
Thermen Mermen)

Democratic math: 16 trillion and counting.

What Liberals and Democrats fail to realize is this.... if 23million Americans go back to work in good paying jobs then the tax base will expand the deficit will be reduced and eliminated. If government agencies are cut back then the debt will be reduced over time. That is why Romney is focusing on the economy and jobs...to expand the tax base not raise taxes.

So you want to trust R & R to get the recovery moving. Lets look at the Romney way of doing it, at Baine after buying a company he borrows millions, gets local-state & federal tax breaks. Pays the investors 80 to 90 % of loan money, raids the retirement fund and cuts the work force. The US tax payer is left not only picking up the tax breaks but covering the depleted retirement fund. As POTUS who is Rawmoney going to get a loan from and who will cover the cost of the fired workers and retirement fund? >>>>>> That would be you and me and not the 1%.

In Mittens own words on M the P he said it would take him 8 years to balance the budget. So how is it he expected Obama to do it in 4? Don't give me that crap about we are not better off now, 4 years we were losing 750,000 jobs a month, DOW was at just over 3,000 and the housing market was in free-fall.

Looking back thru the past 4 years, many "Whens" pop up. Read them all to better understand where we are going as a country.

Oh Dear!

You know they're desperate when the bull@!$%# right wing e-mails starting flying! lol

No truth - No source - No common sense!

Better stock up on tin foil, you'll gonna need it!

huh! redhead, so you have a problem with a mormon, and are rooting for the muslim! just cause he parades about gays and abortions, it don't mean muslims are on their side, obama is just sweat talking you guys! but hey, that's why your feisty too huh! alright miss red carpet, change your name already, your just a troll now!

As a Vet, draft dodgers don't shine up to me, I see them as Losers !!!!!

Romney brought disgrace upon himself !!!!!!!!!!!

I do not know what the problem is. When it comes to whom to lower taxes on, and whom to raise them on, it really is pretty simple, and realistic: Lower taxes on CORPORATIONS - they are the ones that do the hiring; Raise taxes on the RICH - they hire very, very few people directly but just make their millions by investing.

Now comes the real heart of the situation: We do not need to coddle the very RICH PEOPLE! That excludes CORPORATIONS! There is a literal glob of trillions of dollars sitting around, waiting for good opportunities to invest in. This Glob does not consist of a small club of very RICH People, no! This Glob are the Institutional Investors: IRA accounts, 401K accounts! The money that many of us have stashed away for our retirement! It is there, and the amounts of money that they have access to is many times more than the total sum of the Very RICH! So, do we need to coddle the Very Rich PEOPLE? NO! We need to pay a lot more attention to the CORPORATIONS and the Institutional Investors! Go and think about that one for a little while!

1. "high income payers are going to have fewer deductions and exemptions" (THIS IS SHADY, CRAFTY LOOPHOLE TALK, IN ITSELF). DEFINE high income earners. $250,000 to $500,000? Do high income earners include "OBSCENE" 1% income earners?

2. Nobody needs ANY VOUCHER of THEIRS attaching itself to ANYTHING! exclamation mark (related to Medicare or not) Vouch: to furnish a guarantee; give personal assurance Voucher: a signed or stamped document that serves as "proof" that THE TERMS of a transaction have been met (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language) LOOPHOLE-LESS.

3. Remember that Pot always calls the Kettle black. It's just a hop, skip, jump and a mirror to reach REPUBLICAN NON-CREDIBILITY from their own projected "DISCREDITED".

4. That's the 12% Approved of Congress that these Guys want to work with, right? Not the 88% DISAPPROVED OF ones, RIGHT?

Hey Fiesty, where the hell you been hidin at girl? I've been hearing rumors that you've been out on a roadtrip with Al and Jesse.

Oh yeah, Out of the tens of thousands (if not more) loopholes and exemptions that exist how many less will there be? Please answer after first DEFINING high income earners.

Okay ... so no source or fact and I guess Lyin' Ryan LIED about visiting the troops and caring about them. (He also lied today about voting for the defense cuts). What a DORK!!! Like the rest of us "little people" can't look for facts????? Sheesh!

Joe the liberal

When Bain invests in most companies, they usually have no pension plan already.

79% of the companies that Bain has bought into are still running and still have their pension plans and 401K's.

Don't invest directly in the stock market, you won't do very well with your understanding of business.

Devonshire11

What Liberals and Democrats fail to realize is this.... if 23million Americans go back to work in good paying jobs then the tax base will expand the deficit will be reduced and eliminated. If government agencies are cut back then the debt will be reduced over time. That is why Romney is focusing on the economy and jobs...to expand the tax base not raise taxes.

Tell that to the Republicans in congress that have blocked every jobs bill for the 3 1/2 years Obama has been in office.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/19/us-usa-congress-jobs-idUSBRE86I1LJ20120719

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20118915-503544.html

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/11/03/GOP-blocks-jobs-bill-in-Senate/UPI-72241320361176/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9uGUySRtu0

There's more but this should prove a point.

DSB

You buy a lot of twisted logic.

$410 Billion in discrestionary is not a reasonable amount for 7 1/2 months when discreationary spending is 1/3 that. Most discretionary spending is wasted.

You fail to recognize that the stimulus DID NOT WORK. That was also added to the deficit.

Of their lack of specifics, Obama said, “That’s not bold leadership, that’s bad math.”

4 more for 44

Larry-2260635, # 1.76- EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!

Im sorry, but these Guys are nothing but INSULT TO INJURY, personified! (and continuing) Along with the entire Republican Party. And a huge part of the injury IS the insult. This continued scamming mentality that plays everybody for a fool like a continuous ASSAULT on intelligence infomercial!!!

Of their lack of specifics, Obama said, “That’s not bold leadership, that’s bad math.”

4 more for 44.

Cameo · After high school, he spent 30 months in France as a Mormon missionary.

He could of spent it in Vietnam, a war he supported. A lying coward as POTUS no way.

Obama/Biden 2012

Tell that to the Republicans in congress that have blocked every jobs bill for the 3 1/2 years Obama has been in office.

FALSE!

Try 1 1/2 years. There were 111 economic related pieces of legislation passed from 2009-2011 that included . Stimulous package was about saving jobs, mainly teachers, fire, and police, but also included those now infamous "shovel ready" jobs.

Most jobs bills that got blocked by republicans still landed on Obama's desk once the democrats identified how they were going to pay for those other than borrow more money.

Enter 2011-2012. The republicans have sent 36 jobs related bills to the Senate where Democrat Majority leader Harry Reid ordered them shelved. He calls them corporate welfare.

Harry Reid sent the house Passed his own jobs bills, which raised taxes on just the rich or didn't pay for them at all.

If you think about it, it is taxing the business owners to give the money back to them.

Patriotic American.

Yes Romney did defer, and most anyone with a justifiable reason can defer, but when the deferments were over he registered. His draft number was #300.

Yes Romney did defer,

Why have NONE of his sons, enlisted?

These country first loving hypocrits are getting too hard to stomach?

5 Sons trust fund babies and NOT a one of them loves their country enough to serve it!

Yes Romney did defer, and most anyone with a justifiable reason can defer,

I would hardly call Willard peddling around the French countryside trying to indoctrinate people into his cult, as a justifiable reason!

58,000 American DIED while this @!$%#, was on Willard's great adventure!

Time for these phony chicken hawks to PUT UP or STFU!

Professing to be a Christian and then blatantly lying through his teeth, thank you Mr. Ryan for such candid behavior...........we can only expect more of the same should you get into office.............Christian my butt!

I've known true Christians.........they are kind, they do not lie, they are giving and sharing and compassionate and very very tolerant of others..........they actually loved thy neighbors.............you sir are no more a Christian than my dog is and likely not nearly as loyal.

Mr. Romney the same goes for you.........lying is bad and on the scale you and Mr. Ryan do it is down right evil. Shame on the two of you and your party for assuming we are all too stupid to notice........guess you forgot that it is 2012 and not 1950....that we all have mass media capabilities and access to facts at the touch of a finger and at the speed of 4g............kind of makes it hard for guys like you and your bunch to get away with much.........

and using campaign ads that spew lies on the air over and over and over again...I think you should be sued for lying to sell a product...you are, after all trying to sell us something with lies.....misrepresentation of a product.....if you were as actual product on the shelf you and your party would be stamped with an expiration date of 1954.

Time to get human guys, and realize that if the US goes down you go down with it and right now with the way things in Europe are going the US is paramount to bringing stability to the world economy............and ALL of your ideas are counter productive to our nations stability.....the time of greedy power hungry uber rich white guys is over.............

you are dinosaurs in a jetson world.................you and your ideas have been dead for a long time........you just forgot to fall over..........so, just finish dying already!

Feisty, I always love your comments :)

Referee

There are two different types of "Rich".

There are those who worked there way up the corporate ladder. When they are drawing a salary, they pay the same taxes as you and I except part of their payment can be stock options.

IF they are smart they put their money into the hands of financial minds that know were to put money so they pay the least possible in taxes. This means investing in stocks and bonds. When the retire, they re-invest dividends and take money out by selling stock. The selling of stock long term held stock results in a capital gain, why by law is only taxable to 15%. Romney basically retired in 2002 and really hasn't taken anything more than the symbolic $1 Salary as President of the Salt Lake Olympics and Governor of Massachusetts. He is living off of the capital gains of his blind trust.

If you raise the capital gains tax, you will impede expansion of the larger job creators. You cannot reasonably distinguish between an individual or a corporation, so you cannot punish the individual for being smart.

The second type of rich is the small business owner. A small business can be just a couple of people in a consulting job or thousands of people working for a Partnership, Sole Proprietorship, or and S-Corp. They may Draw a salary, but in the end, IF they do not spend enough for what they bring in in profits, they have to report that as income. In every recession and depression, the small business people are the ones who create the majority of the jobs. The sooner they can build up cash, the sooner they hire.

Every piece of legislation passed from 2009 - 2011 would offer certain tax breaks, for a very limited conditions that most small businesses cannot use and then they are left to cover the increasing regulations, and fees that the Democrats have levied.

If Obama wins, the middle class will be extinct, and those on welfare, SSDI, and food stamps will continue to swell.

Db Akron-

There are two different types of "Rich".

You actually got this right :)

Republicans:
-The only measure of success is in your financial statement.
-Doesn't care who it hurts or what it does to the economy, they demand tax breaks.
-Pay people to lie about facts just to make themselves richer. Global warming anybody?
-Wants to do away with government programs that benefit those that are not already rich!
-They have money for retirement so why should they support senior citizens that don't?

Democrats:
Well this one is easy!
-I'll pay more if it will help Americans out.

There are those who worked there way up the corporate ladder. When they are drawing a salary, they pay the same taxes as you and I except part of their payment can be stock options.

-Or had daddy just give it to them, huh brainiac?
-Yeah until they become rich and pay around 13 percent right?
-Get rich to pay less tax..makes sense in a failing economy!

You cannot reasonably distinguish between an individual or a corporation

-HAHA, for real? Did you just throw this in there hoping nobody would see it or what? Freakin' stupid. No really...that's..lol..you actually have me giggling with this one. Ok, I was going to go through your entire post and point-out the stupidity, but after this I don't really see a need. I'll see if I can find one more. Something tells me this won't be hard :)

IF they are smart they put their money into the hands of financial minds that know were to put money so they pay the least possible in taxes.

-Like the Cayman Islands? That'll help America, huh? Do you think before posting or is it just one long process with no thinking necessary?

-Don't answer that, I already know the answer! :)

Andy Ritch ....

Democratic math: 16 trillion and counting.

Republican MATH ... we didn't add the wars we wanted to fund on the books ....

What Liberals and Democrats fail to realize is this.... if 23million Americans go back to work in good paying jobs then the tax base will expand the deficit will be reduced and eliminated. If government agencies are cut back then the debt will be reduced over time. That is why Romney is focusing on the economy and jobs...to expand the tax base not raise taxes.

Of course we realise that but we also realise following the same course that threw those 23 million onto the unemployment rolls isn't likely to put them back to work. Please explain how cutting 5 trillion in taxes mostly on the wealthy would create more hiring when if what he states is true that he'll offset those cuts by eliminating deductions and exemptions the same 5 trillion on this same wealthy class? Sounds like a push to me unless he's lying and intends to eliminate deductions on others than the wealthy. Just something to consider.

Who needs cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs when you have cuckoo-for-cameos. And to boot, a WHEN sandwich on Rye. Does that come with mayo and a sprinkle of celery-loony salt? Let me guess, the cameo post came from Limbaugh, Brietbart, or perhaps, the giant kosher Koch pickle. Worship is fascinating, whether from a rattle-snake bible thumper or a Queen Ann wannabe. Perhaps Cameo can one day tell us what it means to go through induction and seduction simultaneously.

@NaughtyMossy: you are the one who is "full of it"; the Obama campaign is the only one - other than Newt Gingrich .. and we all know how that turned out, who has seriously addressed science and technology in this campaign. M.T. Suit is a fraud when it comes to taking an actual position on the US space program in particular. His campaign has been given numerous opportunities to respond formally regarding his position and the only one anyone can discern, after they get past the plethora of weasel words, is that he would convene a committee of some sort to look over the plan and come up with a new plan. That's not leadership, that's nonsense.

Constellation was killed because it was an idiotic plan that had spent $9-12B (nobody every could figure out exactly how much they actually did spend ... one of the many problems on this fiasco) and hadn't launched a rocket any higher than 130,000 feet - at a cost of $450M, using spare parts and avionics from other rockets; it didn't even have a real 2nd stage - just a dummy. The independent Augustine Committee determined that even if somebody produced a magic wand (I wondered if called Christine O'Donnel in) and suddenly delivered the Constellation components to NASA for $0; there was no way they could afford to fly it as it was (optimistically) priced at over $1B per launch in operational costs. And there was no money in the program for the moon lander or all the other parts necessary to complete a mission. We'd have been better off stacking all the cash they blew on Constellation out on one of the old Shuttle pads, dousing it with left over liquor from the lobbyists involved, and the striking a match -- that's the only way we were going to see anything resembling a rocket launch out of that program.

The Obama administration has been battling multiple special interests in Congress (what a shock: they are primarily Republicans trying to keep the gravy trains running through their districts) to build momentum for the US commercial space industry for low earth orbit (LEO) missions - manned and cargo. This would free NASA to tackle some more difficult objectives in deep space such as asteroid, moon, and Mars exploration. In addition, they would have more capacity to devote to in-situ resource development on other bodies in the solar system; building on their body of research on ISS and moon missions. That sounds like heck of a lot better plan than "form another committee so could all view some more PowerPoint."

I hate to be a single-issue voter, but Romney's (and the GOP in general) position on this is non-existent; it's all double-talk and it shows how disconnected they are. There are valid engineering reasons to disagree with NASA's current plan, but at least they have one, it's working, and it's affordable within the budget they've been given. Until the GOP drops their membership in the Flat Earth Society and joins the 21st century, I can't back that nonsense they're peddling.

Lack of specifics???? Odummer has done nothing good for America. If you hired a investment broker and in 4 years he as lost more money than hes made and asked you for 4 more years to try and make you money would you let him? I didn't think so.

cameo7-

The mormon "religion" is nothing but a cult that was founded on some loser, Joseph Smith, wandering in the woods and POOF there were these shiny golden plates just waiting for him. Or was it the Salamander letter? Can't remember.

Go get a PELL grant and learn proper English and grammar.

On ABC News’ “This Week,” Ryan said Romney and he would consult with Congress before deciding which loopholes to cut. “We want to do this with the consent of the elected representatives of the people and figure out what loopholes should stay or go,” he said.
************************************

That's a great idea. Surprisingly, that's how we pass budgets here in the United States government. Elected representatives, in what we call "Congress" pass budgets and Presidents can sign them. The Mormon Church goes by edict from their living prophet the President of the LDS 'church'.
Romney must be busy studying some 5th grade civics books looking to learn about this job his masters are buying for him.

The Reagan policy was called "Starve the Beast..." Spend Like Crazy and Underfund.... When the dems take over they have to pay for it. Clinton fixed a lot of the damage... Bush reinstated the policy with King Orvell making a list and enforcing orthodoxy and Obama has had to function under that mess. If we want growth again in this country "Starve the Beast" must go.

Nothing but blame and excuses from Obama and the Democrats. Add to that endless promises and the Democratic Party of no solutions just keeps pulling out the same playbook every time an election rolls around. Democrats have been in control of the House for 46 of the past 60 years, and 40 of the past 60 in the Senate, but everything that is wrong with the country has nothing to do with them. How convenient.

DB Akron

Tell that to the Republicans in congress that have blocked every jobs bill for the 3 1/2 years Obama has been in office.

FALSE!

Try 1 1/2 years.

OK sorry. They only blocked every jobs bill for the previous 1 1/2 years. Thanks for clarifying.

Arthur66

Your claim that Obama's math was wrong..then just where did that place the republicans and Bush for his 8 years...with the huge debt he got us all...and the loss of thousands of jobs per month ? WHat kind of math can come up with those figures?

@debbie. Since you claim to be a Christian,try acting like one and stop the rhetoric and judgements.

Speaking of bad math, the President promised that the 2012 federal deficit will not exceed 229.27 billion dollars. To keep his promise the Obama administration must run a surplus of roughly a trillion dollars between now and the end of the month. I want the President to explain how this is going to be done.

So, we are now posting books !!!!

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The END Game...Is it already too late?

Obama's Second Term Transformation Plans

The 2012 election has often been described as the most pivotal since 1860. This statement is not hyperbole. If Barack Obama is re-elected the United States will never be the same, nor will it be able to re-capture its once lofty status as the most dominant nation in the history of mankind.

The overwhelming majority of Americans do not understand that Obama's first term was dedicated to putting in place executive power to enable him and the administration to fulfill the campaign promise of "transforming America " in his second term regardless of which political party controls Congress. That is why his re-election team is virtually ignoring the plight of incumbent or prospective Democratic Party office holders.

The most significant accomplishment of Obama's first term is to make Congress irrelevant. Under the myopic and blindly loyal leadership of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats have succeeded in creating an imperial and, in a second term, a potential dictatorial presidency.

During the first two years of the Obama administration when the Democrats overwhelming controlled both Houses of Congress and the media was in an Obama worshipping stupor, a myriad of laws were passed and actions taken which transferred virtually unlimited power to the executive branch.

The birth of multi-thousand page laws was not an aberration. This tactic was adopted so the bureaucracy controlled by Obama appointees would have sole discretion in interpreting vaguely written laws and enforcing thousands of pages of regulations they and not Congress would subsequently write.

For example, in the 2,700 pages of ObamaCare there are more than 2,500 references to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. There are more than 700 instances when he or she is instructed that they "shall" do something and more than 200 times when they "may" take at their sole discretion some form of regulatory action. On 139 occasions, the law mentions that the "Secretary determines." In essence one person, appointed by and reporting to the president, will be in charge of the health care of 310 million Americans once ObamaCare is fully operational in 2014.

The same is true in the 2,319 pages of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act which confers nearly unlimited power on various agencies to control by fiat the nation's financial, banking and investment sectors. The bill also creates new agencies, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, not subject to any oversight by Congress. This overall process was repeated numerous times with other legislation all with the intent of granting unfettered power to the executive branch controlled Barack Obama and his radical associates.

Additionally, the Obama administration has, through its unilaterally determined rule making and regulatory powers, created laws out of whole cloth. The Environmental Protection Agency on a near daily basis issues new regulations clearly out of their purview in order to modify and change environmental laws previously passed and to impose a radical green agenda never approved by Congress. The same is true of the Energy and Interior Departments among many others.

None of these extra-constitutional actions have been challenged by Congress. The left in America knows this usurpation of power is nearly impossible to reverse unless stopped in its early stages.

It is clearly the mindset of this administration and its appointees that Congress is merely a nuisance and can be ignored after they were able to take full advantage of the useful idiots in the Democrat controlled House and Senate in 2009-2010 and the Democrat Senate in the current Congress.

Additionally, Barack Obama knows after his re-election a Republican controlled House and Senate will not be able to enact any legislation to roll back the power previously granted to the Executive Branch or usurped by them. His veto will not be overridden as there will always be at least 145 Democratic members of the House or 34 in the Senate in agreement with or intimidated by an administration more than willing to use Chicago style political tactics.

The stalemate between the Executive and Legislative Branches will inure to the benefit of Barack Obama and his fellow leftists.

The most significant power Congress has is the control of the purse-strings as all spending must be approved by them. However, once re-elected, Barack Obama, as confirmed by his willingness to do or say anything and his unscrupulous re-election tactics, would not only threaten government shutdowns but would deliberately withhold payments to those dependent on government support as a means of intimidating and forcing a Republican controlled Congress to surrender to his demands, thus neutering their ability to control the administration through spending constraints.

Further, this administration has shown contempt for the courts by ignoring various court orders, e.g. the Gulf of Mexico oil drilling moratorium, as well as stonewalling subpoenas and requests issued by Congress. The Eric Holder Justice Department has become the epitome of corruption as part of the most dishonest and deceitful administration in American history. In a second term the arrogance of Barack Obama and his minions will become more blatant as he will not have to be concerned with re-election.

Who will be there to enforce the rule of law, a Supreme Court ruling or the Constitution? No one. Barack Obama and his fellow-travelers will be unchallenged as they run roughshod over the American people.

Many Republicans and conservatives dissatisfied with the prospect of Mitt Romney as the nominee for president are instead focused on re-taking the House and Senate. That goal, while worthy and necessary, is meaningless unless Barack Obama is defeated. The nation is not dealing with a person of character and integrity but someone of single-minded purpose and overwhelming narcissism. Judging by his actions, words and deeds during his first term, he does not intend to work with Congress either Republican or Democrat in his second term but rather to force his radical agenda on the American people through the power he has usurped or been granted.

The governmental structure of the United States was set up by the founders in the hope that over the years only those people of high moral character and integrity would assume the reins of power. However, knowing that was not always possible, they dispersed power over three distinct and independent branches as a check on each other.

What they could not imagine is the surrender and abdication of its constitutional duty by the preeminent governmental branch, the Congress, to a tyrannical chief executive devoid of any character or integrity coupled with a judiciary essentially powerless to enforce the law when the chief executive ignores them.

Steve McCann
May 12, 2012

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Romney-Ryan 2012 to take back America from the Progressives and the Radicals.

There have only been four 1 trillion dollar yearly deficits in our nation's history.

ALL FOUR have been under President Obama.

They may have been under Obama but they weren't due to Obama.

The first was in 2009. That budget was George W. Bush's. In fact, before Oabam even took office, the CBO knew the defeicit for 2009 was going to be > $1T due to George W. Bush's spending!

01/07/2009 MSNBC

The federal budget deficit will hit an unparalleled $1.2 trillion for the 2009 budget year and the U.S. economy will likely contract by more than 2 percent, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report.

lulu98

Not a Christian...........said I knew a lot of Christians.......

Not rhetoric.....fact

folks such as yourself, right wing?, you should read carefully and not just skim..........there is a difference between fact and rhetoric.........

Fact:..........Romney and Ryan are hypocrites.....Romney and Ryan lie so much even their own party calls them on it........

Fact...........Romney does NOT pay his fair share as we all are compelled to do

Fact...........Romney and Ryan will gut medicare, social security and programs for the poor and slap an added $2,000.00 tax hike on the middle class while allowing for the $700 Billion in tax cuts for the uber rich to continue........

Fact.........republican supporters seem either oblivious to the truth or completely apathetic to the situation.......or maybe they are all really as stupid as the party leaders think they are.......pick one...they are all bad. To vote for a group of people who will make your life more miserable and our economy weaker and get us further in debt and take away our medical services and gut education and privatize social security (we all know how well wall street does) who look at war as the first option even as our economy strains to support the wars that are ending.......well, gee, that is just...

STUPID!!!!

THE NEW MOTTO OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY............

even Ron Reagan, son of President Reagan, said this is NOT HIS FATHERS REPUBLICAN PARTY....liars, criminals, thieves and a party that puts so little value on American lives that they gladly and eagerly seek to get into more wars..............

STUPID!!!!!

now should be, finally, a time of peace..........a time of American investment, a time of tribute to intelligence (stupid doesn't really work, does it?) and a time for Americans to take care of Americans...that includes the poor and middle class, not just the rich.

People need to stop being so selfish, self centered, greedy and heartless...........helping people who are experiencing hard times or who are poor is not a sign of weakness.......but a sign of greatness!

I am so sick and tired of people calling liberals bad or weak or unpatriotic.........we fight the good fight, we pay our taxes, we give to charity, we support our troops, we support programs to help the poor and down trodden, we support education for all, we support the elderly and we believe in the separation of church and state but support a persons right to practice what ever faith they choose...we are Americans.........who believe in investing in Americans..........we do not turn our back on anyone............we do not believe in greed as a virtue or hatred as a philosophy............we believe we all are in this together and each person is entitled to a fair shot and help if needed......there is no us versus them--there is only we.....................and the rich have to be a part of the we which means paying their fair share as we all do to make this thing work.

I am proud to be a liberal, a democrat, a socialist.........what ever name you want to throw at it...........because it is the right thing to do to take care of all and want peace throughout the world....it is the right thing to be responsible and accountable............it is the right thing to look into the distant future and make a better world for the generations to come and not just work to make the next 10 years limp along and leave the future to greed, pollution and decay...........

I believe in doing the right thing for everyone..........shouldn't you?

shouldn't we all?

WE...........should be the only party name around.