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SEQUESTER: The Horror!
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SOTU Preview: Human Props, Budget Fights, and Wedge Issues
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Hello, I Must Be Going
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Weekend Political Wrap-Up, Paul Ryan Edition
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Esquire Blogger Sees Paul Ryan, Shreds His Safety Net
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The Spectacle Blog
I’m in complete agreement with Ross Kaminsky that the Bain-bashing from Newt Gingrich and the others has reached the point where it sounds as if Elizabeth Warren is seeking the Republican nomination. But we’re kidding ourselves if we think Barack Obama isn’t going to try the same tactics Ted Kennedy used to beat Mitt Romney in 1994, only more ruthlessly.
Put simply, Romney needs to be much more effective in answering these attacks than he was back then. If anything, this is a political climate even more hostile to layoffs and corporate fatcats than the year Romney lost his Senate race. Gingrich and company have probably passed the point where they are merely road-testing an issue that will be problematic in the general and are now reinforcing the eventual Democratic narrative. But Romney needs to come up with a rebuttal to this critique and there is no time like the present.
Pete| 1.10.12 @ 2:54PM
He has had 18 years to come up with one and can't. Romney will lose to Obama. Meet the second Mc Cain.
somnolence| 1.10.12 @ 3:03PM
The election is about Obama and the three plus years of devastation he has wreaked upon America. It doesn't have a thing to do with challenger Romney, as Romney's ads against Obama in the fall several times a day will reinforce over and over again. They will be about the forgotten Americans, the ones who have completely dropped out of the job market, as well as the peril awaiting returning veterans, who will have a tough road to hoe also, as Obama has declared war on them, eliminating 500,000 from the armed forces. So, tell me again, that Romney won't be able to articulate a path to victory. I'm all ears.
Pete| 1.10.12 @ 3:06PM
Remember McCain? Well Romney could not even beat him.
John Navratil| 1.10.12 @ 3:38PM
Pete,
Romney couldn't beat McCain for the same reason that Santorum (for example) can't beat Romney - establishment backing - it's his turn.
somnolence| 1.10.12 @ 3:24PM
That was in 2008 B.O. Quite a different world now, 3 years removed, and triple the deficit plus 15.5 percent REAL unemployment. That is just for starters in Mitt's ammo pile.
Trinacria| 1.10.12 @ 5:24PM
Romney Rebuttal:
My opponent has accused me of being a ruthless corporate raider during my time at the helm of a global managment consulting company. He's accused me of focusing on making companies more profitable and increasing shareholder value by selling off under performing assets, increasing efficiency and productivity, and optimizing investment in capital and long-term assets. The truth is - he's right! And as President of the United States, that's precisely what I intend to do.
I intend to maximize the value of this country to it's shareholders - namely, you, the tax payers, by eliminating under performing assets like the Deparment of Education, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency; by maximizing the utilization of resources like the vast untapped supply of oil and natural gas under US soil; by increasing efficiency and productivity through eliminating incentives for people not to work; by decreasing business costs through the elimination of reams of burdensome regulations and the reform of the tax code; by improving morale through the institution of a merit-based pay system where achievers are rewarded - not punished - for performance and success; and finally, by acting as a leader who encourages and inspires each individual to achieve his full potential, rather than promoting class warfare and fostering envy and discontent.
In short, I will turn America from an under-performing, debt-laden country in decline to an efficient economic powerhouse that will once again offer maximum value to it's shareholders.
Guilty as charged.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 1.10.12 @ 6:39PM
Trinacria: Romney should memorize this, and use it, as his answer to this question!!
somnolence| 1.10.12 @ 6:41PM
Trinacria: Anyone as eloquent as you deserves a raise.
Clint| 1.10.12 @ 7:42PM
The Problem Is Mittens Orchestrated RomneyCare , Supported TARP And Had The Third Lowest State Job Growth When He Was Governor Of Massachusetts.
The Tea Party Rebellion Is On The East Coast.
Michael Avari | 1.10.12 @ 8:14PM
The issue is not which companies fail or succeed in a private equity environment; such is the creative disruption of capitalism, IF driven solely by market forces in a perfectly free market.
The issue is rather to what extent Bain and other PE, VC, & hedge funds benefit from “carried interest” in their portfolios that is taxed at a 15% rate, while returns on labor and investment capital in other industries are taxed as high as 39% (individual or corporate tax rates). This favored treatment of carried interest encourages destructive, predatory behavior and misallocates capital.
It is hypocritical of Romney to suggest that he would reduce the capital gains tax only on the “middle class”, while keeping all other tax rates the same (see points 1 & 2 of his 59 point plan), all the while benefiting and having benefited from a government subsidized tax rate.
The way to restore free market capitalism to allow creative disruption to occur salubriously and distortion-free is to abolish the corporate tax and, with it, all government-favored treatment of business costs (such as corporate subsidies, direct and indirect) and of returns on capital (such as carried interest).
Let the market decide how to allocate capital without government intervention or incentive.