Think, you must think, before even considering this Man for President.
Think, you must think, before even considering this Man for President.
Mitt Romney: Slash Amtrak, PBS Funding, But Defense Cuts And Middle Class Tax Cuts Off The Table
WASHINGTON -- In an interview with Fortune Magazine that was published on Wednesday morning, Mitt Romney gave a bit more detail than normal about how he would fulfill his promise to get the nation on track towards fiscal balance.
But the proposals he laid out largely ducked the so-called "painful" choices that experts insist must be made, and seemed to be drawn from rosy assumptions about the immediate political and economic future. At one point, Romney was asked to respond to a Tax Policy Center analysis that concluded he would need to take away tax benefits that primarily help the middle class if he wanted his broader proposals to be deficit neutral.
"They made garbage assumptions and they reached a garbage conclusion," he responded, noting that he has never called for reducing the deductions middle-income taxpayers enjoy on home mortgage interest, charitable giving and health care coverage (he would eliminate them for the rich).
But that only further highlighted his campaign's unwillingness to put out a detailed plan of its own. And it raised again the question of how his overall tax plan -- which extends the Bush tax cuts, reduces individual rates by 20 percent, eliminates taxes on investment income for middle- and lower income taxpayers, repeals the alternative minimum tax and gets rid of the estate tax -- wouldn't balloon the deficit.
Romney's campaign has insisted that they can trim federal spending enough to achieve fiscal balance, but in the Fortune interview, the items Romney pinpointed appeared to be low-hanging fruit.
Romney identified subsidies for Amtrak, PBS, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities as things he would eliminate. The government spends $444 million a year on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (the parent organization of PBS); Amtrak received $1.56 billion in federal funding in 2010, with $1.3 billion in stimulus funds; while the National Endowment of the Arts lists the current level of federal funding at approximately $146 million.
Romney said he would block grant Medicaid and send programs like housing vouchers and food stamps back to the states. This, he argued, would save the federal government "approximately $100 billion a year within four years" (the House GOP budget claims to save $771 billion over 10 years). It would also mean dramatic cuts to each of these programs, as states are already dealing with major budget shortfalls.
Romney also told Fortune that he would reduce the number of federal programs by 10 percent through attrition, while tying the compensation of federal workers to that in the private sector. "That saves about $47 billion a year, by the way," he said.
All told, the savings that Romney identified for Fortune would add up to roughly $750 billion over 10 years (depending on the baseline comparison). On Monday and Tuesday, Romney announced that he would restore roughly the same amount ($718 billion) to Medicare as part of his plan to repeal the health care law President Barack Obama put in place.
Theoretically, Romney could find savings to help pay for his tax plan in the defense budget. In his Fortune interview, he acknowledged that there were "enormous opportunities for efficiency and cost savings in the military." But in the very next breath, he committed himself to using those "those savings" not towards reducing the deficit "but instead will be necessary to increase the number of active-duty personnel by approximately 100,000, to restore our military equipment which has been destroyed in conflict, and to invest in the coming technologies of warfare."
In sum, Romney's plan would put off entitlement reforms for 10 years, and rules out reductions in defense spending and major changes to the current tax code, while promising to bring federal spending below 20 percent of GDP by 2016. The Washington Post's Ezra Klein argues this is either fantasy mathematics, or Romney would essentially have to cut every single federal program by 40 percent.
Among those programs would be those that invest in infrastructure, which consume a fair amount of the budget. But Romney has been unwilling to say he'd make that cut. In his Fortune interview, he pledged "very substantial investments over the coming decade" on items like "highways as well as rail and air and communications infrastructure."
Where the money would come from to pay for that, he didn't say.
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Those who do not see, those who do not hear, shall not make it to the middle of the river of change.
DO NOT give in to astonishment when it happens, let go of the Bank and seek those mid stream.
All will be as promised,
As Above
So below
Something WUNDERFUL is going to Happen.
As I turn to you, you smiled at me
How could we say no?
With all the fun to have, to live the dreams we always had
Oh, the songs to sing, when we at last return again
Sending off a glancing kiss, to those who claim they know
Below the streets that steam and hiss,
The devil's in his hole
Oh to sail away, To sandy lands and other days
Oh to touch the dream, Hides inside and never seen.
Into the sun the south the north, at last the birds have flown
The shackles of commitment fell, In pieces on the ground
Oh to ride the wind, To tread the air above the din
Oh to laugh aloud, Dancing as we fought the crowd
To seek the man whose pointing hand, The giant step unfolds
With guidance from the curving path, That churns up into stone
If one bell should ring, in celebration for a king
So fast the heart should beat, As proud the head with heavy feet.
Days went by when you and I, bathed in eternal summers glow
As far away and distant, Our mutual child did grow
Oh the sweet refrain, Soothes the soul and calms the pain
Oh Albion remains, sleeping now to rise again
Wandering & wandering, What place to rest the search
The mighty arms of Atlas, Hold the heavens from the earth
The mighty arms of Atlas, Hold the heavens from the earth
From the earth...
I know the way, know the way, know the way, know the way
I know the way, know the way, know the way, know the way
Oh the mighty arms of Atlas, Hold the heavens from the earth.
Your right about the law faltering. Computers are starting to use multi core cpu's.
Enjoy your day.
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleepin'
We could dream this night away.
But there's a full moon risin'
Let's go dancin' in the light
We know where the music's playin'
Let's go out and feel the night.
Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon.
When we were strangers
I watched you from afar
When we were lovers
I loved you with all my heart.
But now it's gettin' late
And the moon is climbin' high
I want to celebrate
See it shinin' in your eye.
Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon.
Pat, you're a man after my own heart.
Thanx for that reminder.
O yeah!!!!
She walks like a gunslinger - laughs through the shots
Got some lead from the hips - she's so hot she can't stop
She loves like a steam train - out all the time
She fights like a bobcat - got some fame on her mind
Tell me why - oh, tell me why
Fire where the heart is - sweet home on the range
The call of the wild - see the beast with no name
Tell me why - oh, tell me why
The world is waiting here for you, you, you
Can't you see it anymore
The world is waiting there for you, you, you
Can't you see them anymore, anymore, anymore
The world is waiting there for you, you, you
Don't you just hear it anymore
The world is waiting there for you, you, you
Don't you feel it anymore, anymore, anymore
She's tall in the saddle - got a rose in her teeth
She's my hell incarnate - just walkin' down your street
You've seen the line on the glory from the heart of the flame
From the ... I don't know a story - but your song never change
Tell me why - oh, tell me why
The world is waiting there for you, you, you
Can't you feel it anymore
The world is waiting there for you, you, you
Can't you feel it anymore, anymore, anymore --
Shoot, shoot - she walks like a gunslinger
Shoot, shoot - I will I see your shots
Shoot, shoot - she walks like a gunslinger
Shoot, shoot - she laughs, laughs, laughs --
The Swift Boat tactic is well,..not drawing the interest as Americans know what a real CnC does.
Leads.
**********************************************
I mean the Guy hasnt wore a Flight suit once neither.
Obama/Biden 2012 Semper Fi.
From the Man, not some Idiotic Swift Boat Like characters.
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