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Outside groups have accounted for almost half of all ad spending during this presidential general election, according to a First Read analysis of data provided by ad-buying firm SMG Delta.
Groups supporting the presidential candidates but not affiliated with the campaign, including super PACs, have spent $267 million of the $605.7 million spent on television and radio ads.
As NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro discuss, both President Obama and Mitt Romney are facing unrest this week – Obama with continued protests in the Middle East and Romney within his own campaign.
(That overall number is sure to climb, as the Romney campaign is booking buys today.)
That means about 44 cents of every dollar spent on ads this election has come from outside groups.
There’s a big difference between who they’re supporting. Three-quarters of all money spent by outside groups -- $212 million -- has gone to support Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
Two-thirds of all the ads run to support Romney, including the campaign, have come from outside groups. By contrast, 20 percent of ads supporting President Barack Obama’s re-election effort have come from outside groups.
OVERALL SPENDING: $605.7 million
Team Obama $286,905,268
Team Romney $318,396,978
OUTSIDE SPENDING: $266,782,619 (44 percent of total)
Team Romney $212,458,408 (67 percent of total)
Team Obama $57,473,660 (20 percent of total)
Outside groups’ spending tracks with the campaigns in some ways with heavy spending in Florida, Ohio, and Virginia. But in states where the campaigns aren’t spending heavily, outside groups have stepped in to account for most of the political advertising to test out messages and try to move the needle, so to speak.
Florida, like with the campaigns, is seeing the most total spending from outside groups -- $58.6 million. That’s just about half of the $121 million total spent in the state.
Next up in total spending: Ohio $42.6 million, Virginia $33.3 million, Colorado $25.1 million, North Carolina $21.2 million, Iowa $19 million, Pennsylvania $14.4 million, Nevada $14.2 million, Wisconsin $13.4 million, New Hampshire $11.9 million, Michigan $10 million.
By percentage of total spending in that state: Michigan 99.9 percent, Wisconsin 92 percent, Pennsylvania 75 percent, Colorado 44 percent, Wisconsin 42 percent, Iowa 40 percent, Virginia 37 percent, North Carolina 37 percent, Nevada 37 percent, Ohio 36 percent.
Strikingly, in every state, outside groups have made up a majority of all ads supporting Romney. In Florida, in particular 73 percent of all ads supporting Romney have come from outside groups.
Though the Obama campaign has spent a whopping $46 million in Florida, outside groups have helped Romney even the score. The Crossroads groups have poured in more than $25 million, the Koch-brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity $9 million, Restore Our Future $8 million, America’s Future Fund $1.4 million, and the American Energy Alliance $850,000. They have combined with the Romney campaign for $60.3 million in the Sunshine State, about what Obama has spent with the help of outside groups -- $60.7 million.
The Obama campaign has gotten some help from outside groups in Florida, but not to the level Romney is benefitting. Priorities USA has spent $12.7 million there, followed by the SEIU $1.5 million, Planned Parenthood $450,000, and MoveOn.org $64,000.
Here’s how it breaks down by state (plus a grand total of how much each group has spent below that):
FLORIDA
OVERALL SPENDING: $121 MILLION
OUTSIDE GROUP SPENDING: $58.6 MILLION (48 percent of total)
OUTSIDE GROUP BREAKDOWN:
PRO-ROMNEY: $43.8 MILLION OF $60 MILLION (73 percent)
PRO-OBAMA: $14.7 MILLION OF $60.7 MILLION (24 percent)
OHIO
OVERALL SPENDING: $116.9 MILLION
OUTSIDE GROUPS SPENDING: $42.6 MILLION (36 percent)
OUTSIDE GROUP BREAKDOWN:
PRO-ROMNEY: $29.9 MILLION OF $53.3 MILLION (56 percent)
PRO-OBAMA: $12.7 MILLION OF $63.6 MILLION (20 percent)
VIRGINIA
OVERALL SPENDING: $90.3 MILLION
OUTSIDE GROUP SPENDING: $33.3 MILLION (37 percent)
OUTSIDE GROUP BREAKDOWN:
PRO-ROMNEY: $22.4 MILLION OF $42.4 MILLION (53 percent)
PRO-OBAMA: $10.9 MILLION OF $47.9 MILLION (23 percent)
COLORADO
OVERALL SPENDING: $57 MILLION
OUTSIDE GROUP SPENDING: $25.1 MILLION (44 percent)
OUTSIDE GROUP BREAKDOWN:
PRO-ROMNEY: $16.4 MILLION OF $27.5 MILLION (60 percent)
PRO-OBAMA: $8.6 MILLION OF $29.5 MILLION (29 percent)
NORTH CAROLINA
OVERALL SPENDING: $57.7 MILLION
OUTSIDE GROUP SPENDING: $21.2 MILLION (37 percent)
OUTSIDE GROUP BREAKDOWN:
PRO-ROMNEY: $21.2 MILLION OF $35.5 MILLION (60 percent)
PRO-OBAMA: $10.9 MILLION OF $47.9 MILLION (23 percent)
IOWA
OVERALL SPENDING: $48 MILLION
OUTSIDE GROUP SPENDING: $19 MILLION (40 percent)
OUTSIDE GROUP BREAKDOWN:
PRO-ROMNEY: $15.8 MILLION OF $25.4 MILLION (62 percent)
PRO-OBAMA: $3.2 MILLION OF $22.9 MILLION (14 percent)
PENNSYLVANIA
OVERALL SPENDING: $19.3 MILLION
OUTSIDE GROUP SPENDING: $14.4 MILLION (75 percent)
OUTSIDE GROUP BREAKDOWN:
PRO-ROMNEY: $11.2 MILLION OF $11.2 MILLION (100 percent)
PRO-OBAMA: $3.2 MILLION OF $8.1 MILLION (40 percent)
NEVADA
OVERALL SPENDING: $38.6 MILLION
OUTSIDE GROUP SPENDING: $14.2 MILLION (37 percent)
OUTSIDE GROUP BREAKDOWN:
PRO-ROMNEY: $13.3 MILLION OF $20.4 MILLION (65 percent)
PRO-OBAMA: $874,000 MILLION OF $18.2 MILLION (5 percent)
WISCONSIN
OVERALL SPENDING: $14.5 MILLION
OUTSIDE GROUP SPENDING: $13.4 MILLION (92 percent)
OUTSIDE GROUP BREAKDOWN:
PRO-ROMNEY: $10.2 MILLION OF $10.6 MILLION (96 percent)
PRO-OBAMA: $3.2 MILLION OF $3.9 MILLION (82 percent)
NEW HAMPSHIRE
OVERALL SPENDING: $28.2 MILLION
OUTSIDE GROUP SPENDING: $11.9 MILLION (42 percent)
OUTSIDE GROUP BREAKDOWN:
PRO-ROMNEY: $11.9 MILLION OF $14.1 MILLION (84 percent)
PRO-OBAMA: $0 OF $14 MILLION (0 percent)
MICHIGAN
OVERALL SPENDING: $10 MILLION
OUTSIDE GROUP SPENDING: $10 MILLION (99.9 percent)
OUTSIDE GROUP BREAKDOWN:
PRO-ROMNEY: $10 MILLION OF $10 MILLION (100 percent)
PRO-OBAMA: $10,000 OF $10,000 (100 percent)
Here’s the total of how every group is spending:
Obama $233,604,018
Crossroads GPS $59,977,352 (pro-Romney)
Romney $87,648,202
American Crossroads $48,441,218 (pro-Romney)
Americans for Prosperity $46,517,357 (pro-Romney)
Priorities USA $48,176,176 (pro-Obama)
Restore Our Future $44,408,615 (pro-Romney)
Republican National Committee $18,723,265 (pro-Romney)
Concerned Women for America $4,783,656 (pro-Romney)
America's Future Fund $4,580,908 (pro-Romney)
Americans Energy Alliance $3,201,354 (pro-Romney)
SEIU $2,497,313 (pro-Obama)
Planned Parenthood $1,447,734 (pro-Obama)
Priorities/League of Conservation Voters $979,048 (pro-Obama)
MoveOn.org $166,891 (pro-Obama)
Jill Stein (Green Party presidential candidate) $38,175
TOTAL $605.7 million
*** UPDATE *** The ACLU spending has been taken out of the "pro-Obama" category. The group contends it wasn't advocating for one candidate or the other. The ad it ran advocates for health-care benefits and abortion care for servicewomen who are victims of rape.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Numbers USA spending has also been taken out of the "pro-Romney category. The group is running ads that are anti-immigration, not explicitly support Romney or attacking Obama.
Leave a Comment:
I'm so SICK of THIS!!!! GET RID OF ALL political advertising and GET RID OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE!!!!!! I've had it with all of these clowns!
Now, there's a really good idea. Just let MSNBC tell us whom to vote for. Or better yet, just the incumbent politicians.
Get serious.
Unless the money is going into someones pocket, how are negative ads helping a candidates get elected ? Seriously, are Americans so stupid that a simple 30/60 second ad can sway a vote ?
Yes, Americans are precisely THAT STUPID! To confirm that fact, simply look at the number of "reality shows" that have replaced all other TV. It takes very little to entertain the human mind anymore. The people laugh with the canned laughter tells them to and so on. Anyone who can find entertainment value by watching "Honey Boo Boo, or Pawn shop shows, or Repo shows, or any of the other TV material now available is truly dead from the shoulders up.
Super Pacs and corporations are "just people" too--like me and you--right? And the Supreme Court decision to allow them to be considered the same as me and my neighbors who give $5 or $20 to a candidate is fair and equal, right?
We have entered a new and very scary era of democracy dominated by billions of dollars spent by the 1%. And the one person one vote voice of the average person, like me and many of you reading this post, is being drowned out and buried alive by stacks of "outside interest" monies--in every race, at every level of government.
If this Supreme Court decision cannot be reversed, we should all be very afraid of what will happen to the future of democracy in our country. Are we to become a dictatorship of the 1%? Are we already?
Romney must not use negative ads. So let's keep this postive
Gas at $4+ a gallon...thanks
Real unemployment at 12%...thanks
Respect of the world in the tank...thanks
Healthcare for socialists...thanks
Housing recovery solved...thanks
Debit at historic numbers...thanks
Guns to the Mexicans that kill us...thanks
Credit rating on the way down...thanks
Millions more need food stamps...thanks
Air hours on Air Force One at all time high...thanks
Everybody else is a racist...really
Hello Muslims, goodbye Christians...
Just keep printing that paper...thanks.
Don't be negative. It is really not that bad. And Obama has so many more promises he mentioned in 2008, remember? Give thanks for these conditions. This is the new America.
Amen. Who needs leadership when barry can deliver hope and change like that?
BIG DEAL...... I pay more tax than 47% of the country combined.
Wonder who and what they are buying?
Here's what's funny. Outside spending in Pennsylvania is at 75%. 75% of that is from conservatives. Guess what that means. over 75% of Pennsylvanians are smarter than the people spending 75% of the money because Obama is up by 7% and climbing. Someone check my math.
What I find most telling is that the majority of Obama's donations come from the 99%. So we are the ones he "owes", which is fine by me, because we are the largest constituency. His donations come from the little guys, the working stiffs, the truck drivers and the waitresses and the nurses and the teachers. He won't owe the large corporations anywhere near what Romney will owe. And he will owe us a lot more. So we have some pull with Obama. We have no influence and absolutely no importance to Romney.
When this election is over, we need to begin a drive to add an amendment to the Constitution that will require all contributions come from living, breathing human beings. Those contributions should be limited to $5000. or less. Then we will be guaranteed that every President will be forced to listen to the people, not to the money.
We also need to pass laws that forbid any elected official from going to work for any organization or business that he wrote beneficial legislation for. Because sometimes payback comes from very well-paid employment positions that are just fake jobs so they can pay off their legislators.
Really?
And why are you so bent upon gutting what's left of the First Amendment?
Are you serious positing that Obama owes the unions less than Romney owes "corporations"? (By the way, what do you think unions are, if not corporations?) Romney's a self-made rich man. He has more money than he knows what to do with. Why are you so small that you think that he feels beholden to anyone?
As for contributions coming from living, breathing human beings, where else do you think they come from? What do you think unions and corporations are other than living, breathing people exercising their First Amendment rights of association and speech, petitioning their government for redress of grievances?
The only thing 'self made' about Willard is that he is a spoiled brat,a bully and a horses rear.
Comparing what is left of the Unions with Corporations is like comparing a peewee league baseball team to the New York Yankees.
Unions are organizations of workers who band together so they may bargain from a position of equality with their employers over wages, hours and conditions of employment.
What's wrong with that?
Invisible Hand,
So let me get this straight. You're in favor of corporations (unions) so long as they do things that you approve of.
Free speech for thee but not for me.
How magnanimous.
Perhaps the government should appoint you commissar of speech.
Trust Mitt: Your lying; Trust the GOP & Paul Ryan TeaWackers, Mitt R. Bain, Citizens United and all the Alec corps : that pays off the RepublicanPUKES Politicians. Its all about the Wealthy getting richer and all the middle class getting poorer.....They don't want to help the poor...Who are the one's that leach off the taxpayer. The Wealthy: they get welfare both for themselves an for the Corps. ...But it seems that the Wealthy get away with it ..They steal billions and the few poor steals a few thousands. So what does the GOP want, is Screw the MIddle Class to get even with the few. As I say its the me me me and F everyone else.... The failures of the Republicans party trying to take away SS & Medicare & Health care for Woman so they can give their wealthy Blackmailers more money...To hell with the Poor and Needy. Let them freeze in the winter and stave the Old and Babies,let them die from bad water, do away with the EPA and thats what you'll have, just like all you TeaWakers want...You make me sick with your Me Me Me altitude. Greedy and you all call yourself a REAL AH! Morman. What a laugh: Wake up...Sounds like Mitt!!!!!!Fuss up your tax Return: Stop your lieing RYAN:
So a few billionaires want to buy the presidency, I mean they will not ask for anything in return once King Willard gets elected right?
Republinazi party: Government by Corporations for Corporations and Bailouts.
It has come to light that 3 days before the attack on our embassy that lead to the death of 4 Americans that the Libyan's had met with our consulate and warned them of threats beyond the control of the Libyan's! Yet the Obama administration said there was no warning! No pre-planned event! It was the movie! People we are being lied to yet again by the Obama administration! They left these people unprotected on the anniversary of 9/11 how could they do this and why did they do this? Obama and Hillary Clinton need to be held accountable! This is not a small matter we were attacked and 4 Americans were killed because of this administration! Obama and Hillary are inept and unprepared to handle the Middle East! If terrorist know they can attack our embassies and kill 4 Americans and Obama is going to blame a movie they then know that they can carry out further attacks because Obama is weak! If you dont think they are not planning or dreaming about another attack here, then you are as stupid as Obama!
Funny I heard the attack was funded by the Republican party, duno kinda fishy if you ask me.
And I am sure it had nothing to do with the movie, because well those peaceful muslims do not get upset about little things like insulting their prophet or anything, they can take a joke right?
F-i liar: get your facts..Not off Fox news and listening to Rushdumbo
Rick, if you want anyone to consider your angry misguided ranting, you got to at least include 50% of facts.
Movie. Almost none of those on those streets have a TV, much less the Internet. It is report that there are several hundred "movies" disrespecting the prophet, out for months and years, and no terrorist attack?
Did anybody remember that it was NINE ELEVEN. The Libyan PM even confirms the planned attack.
America has a short memory and it will show. One more thing; have the candidates presented their birth certificates for this election? What?
There is no way that ORDINARY people, 98% of the population, in ANY Democratic nation would vote for a party like GOP and its Fat Cat platform. GOP tries to indoctrinate the ordinary people by spending on false, negative campaign/advertisement, funded by the Fat Cats (who GOP/Romney is catering to).
Obama/Biden - 2012
Hey Romney, show us your tax returns - 15 years back
Show us how you push our tax laws into the gray
He STILL hasn't even delivered on his 2 years worth of tax returns.
It would be downright comical if there weren't people that think that's OK since we haven't seen Obama's report cards.
The teawackers are a bunch of foooooools....My pet bird has more brains...
Hank, it is sad that some people are misled (by GOP) into thinking that a young student's report card is equal to an adult person's tax returns over a 15 year time period.
Decibella/Hank
Romney...show us your tax returns.
Ya, let's trade those tax returns for ANY of Obama's secret records...birth, high school, college, senator. What, there are NO records. Isn't that strange for the president of the United States of America? Wow, NO records. He must be from Chicago. Anybody see the Godfather? I wonder what BHO will have in his presidental library next year. His book. Well that won't take a large library will it. One little shelf in the corner.
Anyone who knows math, understand that Romney (GOP) is funded by a FEW VERY WEALTHY people. Thus, GOP/Romney will become the puppets to Big Money/Big Corporation/Fat Cats.
Obama, on the other hand, is mostly funded by the people. Thus, Obama/Democratic Party is the voice of the people.
Just saw the next Obama for President commercial. It was a surreptitiously made video of Willard speaking to a group of millionaire/billionaire donors. He said that half the U.S. population who are reliable Obama voters are just a bunch of moochers on the government dole, thinking they're entitled to free food, free medical care, free housing, etc. from the government.
I'm here to state categorically that this Obama supporter, retired from the financial-services industry, pays taxes at a higher rate than does Willard. My wife and I have always paid our own way, without help from our parents or the government. We've also helped our children to finance their college education and even given them money for the down payment on their first home. And they also pay their taxes AND their student loan payments, AND their even repaying us for the money we gave them for their down payment.
All of our family are Obama supporters.
So other than your lack of common sense you're telling us you've dragged your whole family to the edge of this cliff? Nice job..........I was taught to make up my own mind. Your survivors will come to their senses when they learn for themselves that you don't...that's DON'T..... need anyone else to dictate to them how they should or should not think to be happy and productive or prosperous.
We are also studying, working and paying our taxes, etc.
Romney's version of the American people is an insulting lie.
My family (incl. extended family) are all Obama supporters as well.
Chip, why do you assume that family members are forced to vote for a certain candidate? That was a typical Republican lame a$$ assumption.
Yeah, I saw that video. Can you name one thing he said that wasn't true?
There are exceptions to every generalization, but do you deny that 47% pay no income taxes? Or that the majority of them are Obama supporters? That the vast majority of his supporters have a great sense of entitlement?
Taken as generalizations, Romney's comments are spot on. Usually when politicians are caught telling the truth, they're embarrassed, but I think Romney has nailed it and should stick by every word.
Google "SMG delta" and you'll find that this one-sided analysis is owned by...guess...NBC. Yup, another bias-article by the liberal media.
Sheesh..........can you guys at least hide your liberal views instead of passing them off as non-partisan news
This is a basic recounting of where the money is coming from. There is nothing one-sided about money. If you get it from the corporations and the uber rich, then that is where it is coming from. How exactly is this biased. Should they just pretend that this money all came in the form of $10 donations from the poor? You think the truth is biased. Truth is not biased. Truth is just truth.
That's the real problem with you extremists. You want the media to lie to you and for you. You can't handle the truth.
FACTS DON'T LIE:
The federal government reports that since President Barack Obama took the oath of office in 2009, unemployment has risen from 7.8 percent to 8.3 percent nationwide. The median income has dropped from $55,000 to $51,000, national debt has risen from $10.6 trillion to $16 trillion (34 percent), and gas prices have risen from an average of $1.84 to $3.82 a gallon (110 percent).
The Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office statistics report that from President George W. Bush’s last year in office, 2008, until now, the budget deficit has risen from $458 billion to $1.29 trillion. That’s a whopping 283 percent! Statistics don’t lie. If a football coach were to have 3 1/2 years of failure, he would be fired. We need to fire Obama and let a new coach try to do better. It certainly couldn’t be worse.
Hope, when I read you post, I think of the political cartoon where W Bush holds a sign asking if you are better off now than 4 years ago - W Bush holds the sign up-side-down.
YES we are better off now - W Bush was an idiot, who deregulated the American industry, sent jobs over sea and ran our nation into the ground, adding 5 Trillion to our National Debt. W Bush pulled us DOWN, President Obama is helping the American people get UP and OUT of the Republican mess.
If you know anything about numbers, statistics and economics, you will also find out that the W Bush financial fiasco gave USA (and the world!) such a punch in its belly, that it will take more than 4 (even more than 8) years to get well.
Decibella.....can you please tell me how one "sends jobs overseas"? ...did you mean to say that we over tax them, and over regulate them to the point that they have no choice but to leave if they don't want to declare bankruptcy?? Is that what you meant to say?? Dems are all about playing the blame game...blame Bush for Obama's economic failures, blame a movie for lack of security at the embassies, blame businesses for not legislating policy changes that would make them want to stay in the US, etc., etc., etc....
...I feel bad for the Obama sheep that hang on to his every word and don't look things up for themselves and make an educated decision......um-ummmm
Hopeisgone
You are absolutely right. NOBAMA didn't claim in 2007 that he was able to do this economic repair in 8 years, 12 years or 16 years. Look it up, it was outlined for the next four years. Even Democrates in business fire people who have such a poor records, except of course unless they are political personalities with a D behind their name.
We will never recover from any mess if people will not vote the best person for the office, but rather look down the list for a D. And 47% already do that because it means free Dinner.
It is so bogus that Republicans are catering to the rich. Anyone heard of Buffet--Hollywood--Unions. Oh don't mention them and their millions. Just give us D's abortions, contraception, take God out of everything incuding the D platform, free dinner and work free welfare. Then we can keep hating Repubicans.
So if the Republicans are for the rich and the Democrats are for the poor and elections are won by votes, doesn't that mean that the Democrats want to make more people poor and the Republicans want to make more people rich? For them to do the opposite would be to destroy their own power base. I'm not rich, but why would I vote for someone that wants to make me poor?
The Democrats are for the 99% who are not super wealthy and seeking still more tax breaks to get even wealthier, and this at the expense of the 99%. So no, the Democrats are not seeking to make more people poor. The Republicans and their owners like big oil, the Koch brothers and Adelson are trying to increase poverty because they want the 16% of the country's wealth that is still held by the middle class and the poor.The Republicans are bought and paid for by the 1% and the rest of us belong to the Democrats. At least those of us who still have working brains.
But again, if the Republicans have to rely on the super wealthy for votes and there aren't that many of them (1% vs. 99%), that means the Republicans lose all the elections which would be suicidal. So how does it benefit Republicans to increase poverty when poverty gives power to Democrats? Something is not adding up there; especially if Republicans are so damned power-hungry and greedy. Power-hungry people don't willingly give up their power, so it does seem like the Democrats (the politicians that hold authority and power, not the voters who vote Democrat) would want to increase poverty by destroying the middle class and the Republicans (again, the politicians in power, not the voters) would want to increase everyone's wealth thereby gaining additional power.
..and Democrats consider you "rich" if you have a family income of over $65,000 per year!! I guess the dems haven't looked at the inflated prices of gas, bread, milk,beef, etc. under the obameconomy??
Anilof, the gap between middle class and poor in non-existing, together we are the 99%. The GAP between us and the 1%, the super wealthy, is HUGE....and that HUGE GAP is growing every year. It makes sense to shift the tax burden a little bit toward the wealthy. Some wealthy people actually want that - they like to see the middle-class do better. Then you have the GREEDY super wealthy people who want to USE our system, including the 99%, to BENEFIT the super wealthy. These are people who ship jobs oversea and like to cut social and environmental programs.
If you cut education, make fast food cheap, have many dumb TV programs or other cheap entertainments, AND invest Big Money into false campaigning, you can make a poor vote for GOP.
That's our own society doing that, not a political party or a person. In a truly free society, wealth ends up in the hands of a few simply because it is human nature to "want". Steve Jobs made us "want" a cheaply made iToy and sold it to us for hundreds of dollars a pop because we wanted it soooo bad. How many people went into debt to buy this iToy? Did they actually need it? The super wealthy don't have to take money from other people, they willingly give it to them time and time again. Nobody twisted anyone's arms to buy PS3's, iToys, expensive cars, designer purses etc. We live in a consumer-driven society and when people's wants become their life, they end up with no money. It's not that people are fools (A fool and his money are soon parted...there's a sucker born every minute), it is that our society as a whole refuses to practice self-control and as a result the gap between rich and poor will continue to get wider regardless of how many times you shift the five grains of sand of tax burden onto the wealthy from the beach to the desert.
Anilof,
You need say no more! Either you get it or you don't and at least 47% don't...and growing.
Wow the Romney video killed him. Saying 50 percent of Americans are deadbeats. Even the taxpaying ones because you are not rich. The same Romney that got 44 million IN WELFARE we call a bailout. The same Romney that got TAX ENTITLEMENTS to the point he is ashamed to show his tax returns. The real deadbeat IS ROMNEY!!
45% of Americans pay no federal taxes!!.......I bet I know what 45% is supporting Obama!
As usual, a lot of this is contextual. He did make some remarks that he shouldn't have, but the basic message was that his message of lowering taxes isn't going to resonate with the 45% - 48% of Americans that pay no taxes because he's not really offering them anything. He didn't have to go into all the entitlement blather though as was out of line there.
He makes a good point though about his campaign message. If his entire campaign is about lowering taxes, and 45% of voters don't pay taxes and therefore wouldn't care an iota about lowering them, then he's screwed in the general election. He better get something else going besides that message.
Hope, your comment is stupid. As if all Democrats don't pay taxes. WOW, your ignorance is disgusting.
Take it to the next level. WHY cannot people pay taxes - they have too low wage/salary. WHY is that so, if they work hard? Why can Big Corporations like Walmart, which makes huge profits, pay their employees low salaries? So low that they have to ask for food stamps and use Medicaid. It would not surprise me if that Walmart worker vote for Romney, believing his lies.
Decibella,
You almost had a decent argument until your last 10 words. You almost made it.
Anilof...you might be onto something. Judging by how the dems are creating poverty at such a fast and furious pace......hmmmmm
Hope, seriously, "onto something"...what, that Romney is contradicting himself? Lowering taxes on people who don't pay any taxes? but the wealthy will pay even less and that will lower our National Debt HOW??? WOW, you missed 5th grade math, right?
Romney keeps spilling out that Fat Cat GOP platform. The campaign supporters must pull their hair - they bet all money on Romney and between the lies, he reveals the GOP hidden agenda. Romney has a hard time becoming a Fat Cat puppet.
I thought by the headline to the article it was going to be about all the peso's the illegal Mexicans were sending to their comrade Obama.
Just a couple of comments on what I've read here....
First, for those of you to the left of me- no, we should not get rid of the Electoral College. The people, as one, do NOT vote for the President. As he/she is running for President of the UNITED STATES, each individual state gets to vote for President, and then that vote translates into that state's electoral votes, which are based on population of the state in question, just as their number of representatives in the USHOR are based on the same criteria. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE. GET OVER IT.
Second, for those of you to the right of me- tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations do not create private sector employment. Tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations do not create private sector employment. Tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations do not create private sector employment. Is this at least beginning to drill through your skulls, to the nothing that is apparently inside them? If tax cuts for these entities created private sector employment, we'd have ZERO PERCENT unemployment right now. With the exception of a couple of years at the beginning of the 1980's, we have the lowest REAL (as in, "what they ACTUALLY pay as a percentage of income") income taxes on the wealthy and corporations since 1912, at this point. All tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations create are extra yachts, and more profits that make stock options worth more money (that is to say, MORE extra yachts).
No one is going to hire you as the result of a tax break, unless the ONLY way for them to get said tax break is to hire you....and even then they probably STILL won't hire you, unless that tax break will make them profit more from hiring you than they can without hiring you (you know, THE REASON why they'd hire ANYONE in the first place, unless the company is run by idiots). The supply-side fairy tale is horsesh*t perpetuated by the wealthy....because they don't want to pay taxes, and they figure half of us are stupid enough to buy what they're selling.....and they're apparently correct, unfortunately. If anything, the opposite is true- tax increases create employment, because they force these people to spend their money on their businesses, instead of on.....more yachts....this concept is not hard, if you DO understand economics.
If only the current idiot in chief would have spent some of his political capital buying tax increases, instead of a half-as*ed excuse for a "health (insurance company) care plan", he and we would be in a lot better shape right now. This is why I am hoping for a right wing sweep in November, especially if it includes more of the "Ayn Rand tin foil hat" fan club. Get rid of the Fed, get rid of taxes altogether, get rid of unions, get rid of equal rights for anything other than old, fat white men.....all of that will do absolute wonders for the economy....the total collapse can't come soon enough for me. At least I know HOW to grow food....
I'm hoping for the opposite. I'm hoping for a left wing sweep in November, especially if it includes more of all of Soros' tin foil hat fan club. Make the entire country government workers, make taxes 100% of income (this conveniently takes care of overpopulation issues as many people starve to death), every job must be unionized to the point of bankrupting all companies (the Fed needs more employees and these damn companies are just utilizing that human capital to make money for themselves, when it could be used to feed the Federal government instead), make it a law that only minorities can work or earn money (although you get into a kind of problem here because after all the old, fat white men starve to death the next largest population is no longer the minority and I'm not sure what the left will do then)...the total collapse would only take a few weeks at most I'm guessing, after a lot of the people start starving to death since the government is taking all of their money. At least I know HOW to grow food too.
Anilof, I am sorry but your hopes are simply too far-fetched; did Romney tell you this would happen...?
Our messed up tax system plus over regulation has killed off jobs & higher pay rates.
When the total income of a business nears 50%, things are slowed down. In the Carter years the business I worked for had a per unit charge of $8, with an average cost of doing business of $6 per unit, leaving a $2 profit. When we hit a 50% rate the owners cut back on any expansion, hours, advertising, & all things possible. With just $1 left over the liability risk, a possible workers comp claim, equipment wear & tear, insurance costs, made it a lost cause.
Lower tax rates will add jobs & income for more Americans, but it is easier to tell the masses the bosses need to pay more to get the vote of the many at the cost of the few. Problem is the many work for the few, & the few can always shut down & do just fine.
Our economy is sputtering right now because banks, business, and individuals are hording cash to survive. The added unknown such a Obamacare just help to convince business to look elsewhere in the world market for opportunity. Even Denise Rich left the country to avoid about $52 million in taxes this year...large supporter of Clinton and Obama. A major insurance company moved to Ireland during the last 4 years and saved one billion dollars per year on taxes...so our tax rate being the lowest since 1912 is just another progressive lie in an attempt to stir up class warfare. It works great along with claims of racism, bigotry and another name and innuendo the progressives can spew out of their mouths to divide and conquer. Are you going to be conquered?
No matter how many times you repeat it Corporations don't pay tax...they just raise the cost of the product or service and pass it on to the consumer. When the cost of the tax allows foreign business to out-compete national business...the business moves or closes...it is a world market no matter how much you want to put the genie back in the bottle.
Yeah, and Ireland is out of business, because no one pays any taxes. Of all the unpatriotic people, these people are the worst....oh, and Obamacare is on paper, in black and white. It's only an "unknown" to a whiner who is too lazy to figure out what it says...
This article has too set new lows for upChuck Todd and Gang in attempting to garner support for their candidate Obummer. The bias is so obvious it makes you want to upchuck. Sorry Liberals it ain't going to work this time. Just throwing out money and hiding Obama's figures will not pass muster with most Americans. Obama has his record to run on and that will not get it done. Way too many people suffering under the Obama White House. Change is in the air.
Romney/Ryan 2012 Move over Rover and let Mitt take over.
Anyone who knows math, understands that Romney (GOP) is funded by a FEW VERY WEALTHY people. Thus, GOP/Romney will become the puppets to Big Money/Big Corporation/Fat Cats.
Obama, on the other hand, is mostly funded by the people. Thus, Obama/Democratic Party is the voice of the people.
Both parties have stolen from the individuals who have given them money for the election...Obama it just better at stealing from the masses...that is how he got elected. Remember his promise not to increase taxes on the middle class? Obamacare is the largest tax on the middle class in years (Supreme court says it is a tax). George Soros is a major contributor and a convicted insider trading felon in Europe who has used his wealth and resources to kill several economies for profit. He is doing the same thing here through his proxy President Obama.
President Obama says we need to reform the campaign finance laws...but I need to raise a billion dollars to win...nice double talk. If you are not part of the solution you are the problem.
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Watching children journalist wannabes on tv is a waste of my time. They have forgotten how to report news, unbiased and to seek truth. Now, the highest bidder controls how they "create" news and spread the word - even if it is knowingly inaccurate, biased or incomplete. Loud-mouths. Despite their attempts....kick ass in the debates Romney and let the Spirit guide you.
Even the paid Republican trolls must be feeling sick when they read these numbers. (That is why this board is so slow):
Anyone who knows math, understands that Romney (GOP) is funded by a FEW VERY WEALTHY people. Thus, GOP/Romney will become the puppets to Big Money/Big Corporation/Fat Cats.
Obama, on the other hand, is mostly funded by the people. Thus, Obama/Democratic Party is the voice of the people.
The Religious Right claims God is a Republican.
That may be true, but Jesus is a Democrat.