Fortunately for the Democrats, Obama has no ethics when it comes to electioneering. Unfortunately for Democrats, his attacks in 2008 (criticizing Hilary for endorsing an individual mandate for healthcare, calling Bush unpatrioitc for increasing the national debt by $4 Trillion over 7 years) are still on tape while he runs on generating $5 trillion in additional debt in 3 years and his individual mandate is in front of the Supreme Court. Swift-boating Romney by lemon-picking the small percentage of firms that eventually failed (as opposed to the vast majority that succeeded) is simply par for his course. Obama hismself is at 50% (GM and Solyndra) with taxpayers left holding the bag in both.
I love the cartoon, but would point out that even liberal economists are supply-siders under the skin. The reason Obama doesn't address the deficit himself is that he knows the Republicans are right about dampening the economy if you take money away from investments. He is mortgaging the future for the next generation by allowing the problem to grow so he can win, selling a you-can-have-everything message if we soak the rich. Ultimately, the broad middle class will pay and social services will be reduced. The longer it takes to address the problem, the worse it will get.
Romney was recruited by Bain after graduating with dual degrees from Harvard in Law and Business. They were not the only ones to offer him a job and reaped enough success through his work to propose that he run a separate company called Bain Capital for them, something he initially refused until they gave him an ironclad contract that eliminated his vulnerability. This and his initial funding was all based on his talent, not his money. It was his conservative nature and unwillingness to put his family's welfare at risk that made him hesitant in the first place.
While I'm not fully in the Greenspan camp, I do agree that what Romney did was good for the country and for the companies he helped through his firm. If he hadn't done what he did, they would have either failed or stagnated. Bain Capital made him and all their other investors rich precisely because his average for improving the value of the companies was extraordinarily high.
When the original Bain Company was in trouble, they turned to Romney to rescue them because they knew that he would do whatever it took to help them survive, and they followed his advice to the letter in order to achieve that victory. In my mind, he has more in common with George Bailey in being the reliable person others turned to, than some isolated cold-hearted Potter only concerned about his money (It's a Wonderful Life, if you are not a movie lover).
Just as he completely closed down Bain to hunt for the last daughter of one of his partners, his personal priorities come from a good heart, and it is that heart combined with his good business sense and ownership of any problem he addresses that made the Salt Lake Olympic Committee turn to him instead of to the otherwise excellent Jon Huntsman who was already there and willing to help.
I agree that there are many things that can go wrong between now and November, but think Romney will be a much better candidate now than he was in 2008, and he has done very well with female voters in the past. We will see. I expect both candidates to say and do anything to win, and would be wasting the money of their supporters to do anything less
Fair enough in all respects, nucanuck, except, I hope, in the last one. I intend to do everything I can in this election to put people in office who care more about working together for the good of the country than a party line. Both Romney and President Obama are good strategists in achieving their goals, but Romney has a much better resume in terms of leading broken systems of individuals to a mutually satisfactory solution while expecting them to sacrifice whatever is necessary to accomplish the goal. I trust him more than anyone else in addressing the deficit while maintaining necessary services and defence.
Seven good things to say about Romney: he is a conservative pragmatist who treats his clients' money with respect whether in the state house, rescuing the Olympics, or helping a business succeed; his personal character and love for & loyalty to this country is beyond question; his personal humanity has been proven many times in under-publicized acts of helping others; he will work with anyone to solve problems and offer the leadership to get it done; he finds and encourages diverse experts to look at each problem from different angles and plays the devil's advocate until a good solution is found; the one thing that never shifts for Romney the politician is ownership of whatever problem he decides to tackle; he knows how to listen when it counts.
If any man can be said to have been born for the presidency at this time, it is Mitt Romney with a long history of strong effective leadership during crises. Americans truly have a choice this year.
The bigger question is whether the U.S. Congress will be made up of patriots or traitors. Patriots set aside divisive rhetoric and endorse bills that can win enough support to move the country forward. Traitors block any legislation that might earn sufficient support. Under Bill Clinton, patriots accomplished a great deal. Under Barack Obama, traitors have made our government a gridlocked object of shame, something completely polarized and dysfunctional.
Unless we elect patriotic representatives and senators who care more about a functrional government than their partisan agenda, it will not matter who we elect to be president.
Another us-against-them editorial. In this view, the country is divided between those who take care of themselves and those who don't, and that it is unfair to expect the former to pay for the latter. In the real world, businesses depend on a strong middle class to buy their goods and services, and rewarding the haves while starving the have-nots creates stagnation and frequent disasters not healthy growth. It is no accident that our two worst financial breakdowns came at times when wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few.
The Bush presidency with its tax cuts both raised the deficit and dramatically reduced job creation while making the rich richer and the poor poorer. The payroll tax was also a bad idea because it is unfunded. Organizations focused on deficit reduction like the Concord Coalition agree that the best solution will have to incude increased revenue from taxes. The American people deserve better than what drastic cuts alone would do to our country. We are not so poor that taxes cannot go a little higher to get beyond our present crisis.
That said, the end of those tax cuts would go down much better if the Democrats in the Senate and Obama could come up with a deficit reduction plan comparable to the outline laid out by Ryan and the House Republicans. Just as with the Affordable Care Act, the Ryan plan addresses an unpleasant reality with a difficult solution.
I don't want to hear how bad it or ACA is, I want to compare it to the better alternative that is written and fully vetted in the public arena, and that can and will be signed into law.
By the logic used to destroy the Bessie Smith Strut, the city should close all the River front venues and Coolidge Park rather than seeking methods with businesses and neighbors to aid the law-abiding majorities who just want to have a good free time together on city streets.
Cheap Shots
Fortunately for the Democrats, Obama has no ethics when it comes to electioneering. Unfortunately for Democrats, his attacks in 2008 (criticizing Hilary for endorsing an individual mandate for healthcare, calling Bush unpatrioitc for increasing the national debt by $4 Trillion over 7 years) are still on tape while he runs on generating $5 trillion in additional debt in 3 years and his individual mandate is in front of the Supreme Court. Swift-boating Romney by lemon-picking the small percentage of firms that eventually failed (as opposed to the vast majority that succeeded) is simply par for his course. Obama hismself is at 50% (GM and Solyndra) with taxpayers left holding the bag in both.
The Tin Man
I love the cartoon, but would point out that even liberal economists are supply-siders under the skin. The reason Obama doesn't address the deficit himself is that he knows the Republicans are right about dampening the economy if you take money away from investments. He is mortgaging the future for the next generation by allowing the problem to grow so he can win, selling a you-can-have-everything message if we soak the rich. Ultimately, the broad middle class will pay and social services will be reduced. The longer it takes to address the problem, the worse it will get.
Romney vs. Obama for president in 2012?
Romney was recruited by Bain after graduating with dual degrees from Harvard in Law and Business. They were not the only ones to offer him a job and reaped enough success through his work to propose that he run a separate company called Bain Capital for them, something he initially refused until they gave him an ironclad contract that eliminated his vulnerability. This and his initial funding was all based on his talent, not his money. It was his conservative nature and unwillingness to put his family's welfare at risk that made him hesitant in the first place.
While I'm not fully in the Greenspan camp, I do agree that what Romney did was good for the country and for the companies he helped through his firm. If he hadn't done what he did, they would have either failed or stagnated. Bain Capital made him and all their other investors rich precisely because his average for improving the value of the companies was extraordinarily high.
When the original Bain Company was in trouble, they turned to Romney to rescue them because they knew that he would do whatever it took to help them survive, and they followed his advice to the letter in order to achieve that victory. In my mind, he has more in common with George Bailey in being the reliable person others turned to, than some isolated cold-hearted Potter only concerned about his money (It's a Wonderful Life, if you are not a movie lover).
Just as he completely closed down Bain to hunt for the last daughter of one of his partners, his personal priorities come from a good heart, and it is that heart combined with his good business sense and ownership of any problem he addresses that made the Salt Lake Olympic Committee turn to him instead of to the otherwise excellent Jon Huntsman who was already there and willing to help.
I agree that there are many things that can go wrong between now and November, but think Romney will be a much better candidate now than he was in 2008, and he has done very well with female voters in the past. We will see. I expect both candidates to say and do anything to win, and would be wasting the money of their supporters to do anything less
Romney vs. Obama for president in 2012?
Fair enough in all respects, nucanuck, except, I hope, in the last one. I intend to do everything I can in this election to put people in office who care more about working together for the good of the country than a party line. Both Romney and President Obama are good strategists in achieving their goals, but Romney has a much better resume in terms of leading broken systems of individuals to a mutually satisfactory solution while expecting them to sacrifice whatever is necessary to accomplish the goal. I trust him more than anyone else in addressing the deficit while maintaining necessary services and defence.
Romney vs. Obama for president in 2012?
Seven good things to say about Romney: he is a conservative pragmatist who treats his clients' money with respect whether in the state house, rescuing the Olympics, or helping a business succeed; his personal character and love for & loyalty to this country is beyond question; his personal humanity has been proven many times in under-publicized acts of helping others; he will work with anyone to solve problems and offer the leadership to get it done; he finds and encourages diverse experts to look at each problem from different angles and plays the devil's advocate until a good solution is found; the one thing that never shifts for Romney the politician is ownership of whatever problem he decides to tackle; he knows how to listen when it counts.
Romney closer to GOP win
If any man can be said to have been born for the presidency at this time, it is Mitt Romney with a long history of strong effective leadership during crises. Americans truly have a choice this year.
Who for president? Soon!
The bigger question is whether the U.S. Congress will be made up of patriots or traitors. Patriots set aside divisive rhetoric and endorse bills that can win enough support to move the country forward. Traitors block any legislation that might earn sufficient support. Under Bill Clinton, patriots accomplished a great deal. Under Barack Obama, traitors have made our government a gridlocked object of shame, something completely polarized and dysfunctional.
Unless we elect patriotic representatives and senators who care more about a functrional government than their partisan agenda, it will not matter who we elect to be president.
Chuck Fleischmann v. ObamaCare
Another us-against-them editorial. In this view, the country is divided between those who take care of themselves and those who don't, and that it is unfair to expect the former to pay for the latter. In the real world, businesses depend on a strong middle class to buy their goods and services, and rewarding the haves while starving the have-nots creates stagnation and frequent disasters not healthy growth. It is no accident that our two worst financial breakdowns came at times when wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few.
Are you happy about taxes?
The Bush presidency with its tax cuts both raised the deficit and dramatically reduced job creation while making the rich richer and the poor poorer. The payroll tax was also a bad idea because it is unfunded. Organizations focused on deficit reduction like the Concord Coalition agree that the best solution will have to incude increased revenue from taxes. The American people deserve better than what drastic cuts alone would do to our country. We are not so poor that taxes cannot go a little higher to get beyond our present crisis.
That said, the end of those tax cuts would go down much better if the Democrats in the Senate and Obama could come up with a deficit reduction plan comparable to the outline laid out by Ryan and the House Republicans. Just as with the Affordable Care Act, the Ryan plan addresses an unpleasant reality with a difficult solution.
I don't want to hear how bad it or ACA is, I want to compare it to the better alternative that is written and fully vetted in the public arena, and that can and will be signed into law.
About the Bush-Obama Cuts:
Don't kill the Bessie Smith Strut
By the logic used to destroy the Bessie Smith Strut, the city should close all the River front venues and Coolidge Park rather than seeking methods with businesses and neighbors to aid the law-abiding majorities who just want to have a good free time together on city streets.