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Published on Friday, January 13, 2012 by Common Dreams
Romney's Tax Plan: Coddle the 1%
Mitt Romney has issued charges of "class warfare" and "envy" when asked about inequality.
In an interview Wednesday on The Today Show, CNN reports Romney as saying:
"You know, I think it's about envy. I think it's about class warfare," the leading Republican presidential candidate said Wednesday on The Today Show.
When asked if there are any fair questions about wealth distribution, Romney replied, "It's fine to talk about those things in quiet rooms and discussions about tax policy and the like."
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Romney's tax plan reveals his presidential plan for tax breaks for the rich.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
Compared with current law, under which the Bush tax cuts – and some additional cuts passed under President Obama – would expire at the end of this year, Romney’s plan would result in a $600-billion reduction in federal revenue in 2015. If those cuts don’t expire, Romney’s plan would reduce revenue by about $180 billion.
Howard Gleckman, a resident fellow at the Tax Policy Center, wrote in an analysis of the center’s findings that “a Romney administration’s revenue agenda would look a lot like President George W. Bush’s, just more so.”
And as ThinkProgress notes:
Romney’s plan also gives nearly 60 percent of its benefit to the richest 1 percent of Americans, while preserving the loopholes that let the wealthy pay less than middle class families.
Romney’s constantly claims that he’s “not worried about rich people,” and that his tax plan is “focused” on the middle class. In fact, he’s absurdly claimed that he’s not proposing any tax cuts for the wealthy at all. But as it turns out, he would lavish even more tax breaks onto the rich than did George Bush, even after Bush’s tax cuts were a significant factor leading to today’s large budget deficits.
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26 Comments so far
Show AllGoing to eat the 99%, eh Mitt?
Someday, the 99% are going to wake up and realize that it makes absolutely NO difference whether they elect a Repugnicrat or a Demlican to Congress or to sit in the White House. Now more than ever, thanks to the USSC, the top 1% OWN the media, the banks, the Congress, the courts and the White House. The rest of us are merely serfs. America is increasingly a feudal society.
The American Dream is dead. Reagan wrestled it to the ground but Bush I, Clinton, Bush II and Obama have collectively driven a stake through its heart.
People, we cannot look to our leaders for help. We are merely a nuisance to them. We must look to ourselves. We must take our great nation back, cast the money changers out of the temples of power and repurpose our national mission to provide an environment of liberty for ALL inhabitants, just as our forefathers intended.
In furtherance of this objective, allow me to share with you the sentiments of President Eisenhower. Bear in mind, this man was a REPUBLICAN!!! My, how times have changed:
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
Bi-Polar, when your mind is clear keep in mind that Eisenhower's republican party was very little like today's. The differences between Obama and Romney are real, even if they are not as great as we desire. So many do not seem to understand that things could get worse, a lot worse.
Yes, the differences between Obama and Romney are real. Obama waxes eloquent with populist language and then gives the family jewels away to Wall Street, wages multiple simultaneous wars of aggression, and robs us of what few remaining civil liberties we have. Romney has the same policies but is not clever enough to hide them behind a curtain of rhetoric.
I hope people understand how bad romney is
he was a corporate raider, he would go in to a viable company
then they take loans out on the equity, give that money to investors and cause the company to be indebted
often this leads to the formerly viable company to have to declare bankrupcy
in the bankrupcy proceedings the "creditors" always get paid first
this leaves the workers screwed because they invariably say all the money they paid into their pensions is gone
and so they may get 10 percent of what they were supposed and then have to live in poverty all their lives
Yes, djb, and it's even worse than you state. The biggest money goes to those who put the deal together: i.e. Bain Capital. They take huge fees for lots of bs and they always get paid first. Many of the "investors" who put up the vast majority of the money (e.g. public pension plans) end up with little or nothing after the huge "fees" bankrupt the business. And to continue with this asshole, Romney, he refuses to release his income tax records apparently because of 2 things. His income is mostly called "carried interest" which is taxed at half the rate of ordinary businessmen, and his offshore accounts are likely embarrassingly huge and of no help to our nation. Romney got a $ 10 million 'fed bail out' and another worth $44 million. "Corporations are people." And this caring and loving soul had his dog on the roof of his station wagon for 12 straight hours. When brown liquid started running down the back of the vehicle Romney was nice enough to stop at the next gas station and hose down the dog and the car. Actually it is illegal to carry a dog on the roof of your car in Massachusetts, but I think laws are only for 'little people.'
He's a Mormon, he's an elitist. Obama has been pres long enough to become one of the 1%...so...that being said. Where is the thrid party candidate? And why isn't CD spending more effort on that?
I find it interesting the one of the most conservative Christian groups, the Mormons, now have a presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. Unfortunately, it appears that now in the U.S. no openly atheistic person could ever become president, but a member of that 200-year-old religion might make it. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the full name of the Mormon church) has grown rapidly, I think, because it provides an insular social club where people who are disaffected can always find themselves welcome--mainly if they are white or Hispanic. Blacks more and more are joining, however, but are leery because they were banned from the priesthood until 1977. The Mormons take care of one another. If they really believe that YOU believe, you will be taken care of. If not, you are slowly ostracized. In addition, if you are single, you are ostracized a bit. You can't admit you're gay and if you are hetero, but single, you will NOT become a leader of even the local churches, which are called bishops. To rise to the level of a local leader, or bishop, you must be married and have kids--the more the better. You also must be "self-sufficient" (read: doing well financially or affluent enough to support four or more kids). No one would become a bishop if he were jobless, single, or homeless. What is implicitly praised is wealth or affluence, child birth, marriage, and socializing and helping fellow members. Most "service projects" fall into the category of missionary work and helping each other move into new apartments. Romney has demonstrated "self-sufficiency" by being filthy rich. It doesn't matter how he got the wealth, which has been via highly questionable Bain group funds. Hispanics have joined the church in large numbers, even though many come from poor neighborhoods (the reason may be that Mormons believe that Jesus visited earth a second time in Central America, shortly after his appearance in the Middle East) Will they become bishops? Wait and see. Wait a long time. Let's see: rich, tall, good-looking, white, married, conservative Christian, kids, anti-gay, anti-poor people (being poor proves you're not self-sufficient), pro-babies. Yup, he's presidential timber.
Nasty predicament Romney is in. His religion sets him up as a potential saint, demands 10 percent of his annual income, and demands that he also do work within the church. So, he dumps on the jobless or poor when he could easily have helped them survive since fall 2008. That is the attitude of many of the elite: if you haven't found a job by now, you must be nasty, even non-righteous, even-criminal. This is how religion has twisted Americans, just as it twisted some Muslims into executing the 9/11 attack (a VERY small percentage).
So the billionaire elite, within their twisted thinking, believe they are being self-sufficient, righteous and Christ-like, while their antics literally kill millions in their own country. Millions they now believe, via RELIGION, are inferior to them and deserve to die. The elite come to believe they are more fit and adaptable, and that's why they should survive. But--wait a minute!!--isn't that evolution? Christians don't believe in evolution! And the Christian Fascist Right doesn't! That’s another riddle tearing at the glia of the elites' brains.
You're not paying very close attention. There are TWO Mormons running for the Republican nomination: Romney and Jon Huntsman. Huntsman is, by far, the best of the bunch and probably a far better candidate than Obama for the Oval Office. He's anything but an elitist.
I'd much rather put my faith in a candidate who believes that 200 years ago some shady character in upstate New York uncovered giant gold tablets that no one else has ever seen and that would have weighed way too much for a human to move but he took them with him anyway and then found these miraculous glasses that allowed him to read and understand what was inscribed (although no one else has ever seen those glasses, either) which, among other things, said that African-Americans were cursed with the "mark of Cain" and couldn't belong to his faith ... until 200 years later when, inexplicably, the Supreme Creator of the Universe changed His mind and let them join.
Yes, indeed. I'd much rather support that kind of candidate than support a candidate who -- horrors! -- admits he's an atheist, and who makes his decisions based on reason, science, intuition, experience, common compassion, and common sense. Talk about a threat to society!!!
Where is the third-party candidate? Where have you been? Rocky Anderson, two-time populist mayor of Salt Lake City, and one of the most honest and progressive politicians in the nation, is running on the Justice Party ticket after quitting the Democrat Party in disgust. https://www.voterocky.org/home http://www.justicepartyusa.net/ This is a candidate almost too good to be true. But the media, of course, ignore him.
Obama/Romney brought to you by: Goldman Sachs; JP Morgan; BofA; Citigroup; the MIC; BigOil.
No matter who "wins" the Oligarchy never loses. Keep your eyes on the spectacle and never look behind the curtain.
Boy, he is one slimy pig, isn't he? That man has never missed a meal, never had a callus; never will. He is so aristocratic, so royal, so patronizing and condescending toward anyone but the rich and sociopathic, he almost makes Obama look like a champion of the people, and that's not easy to do.
Romney's tax plan: Coddle the rich
Obama's tax plan: Coddle the rich while saying otherwise (and throw in weakening Social Security with a politically expedient payroll tax break)
The problem isn't these individuals so much as it is the corporate-military dominated system they serve. Do you honestly think any potential D or R president will undertake the kind of fundamental economic, social, political, moral and ecological change required to save life on Earth?
Look at Easter Island and wonder what they thought when they cut down their last tree to make their last dugout canoe. It's not d or r. It's short-term thinking and short-term gratification. If we're a bit smart (and lucky!) we may avoid the worst case scenarios we all can imagine.
The people of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) did not cut down the last tree for something as useful as a dugout canoe. They cut it down as a roller to move their giant stone Maui in obsessive homage to their gods and their clan rivalries. The political parties and the American people are doing the very same: destroying our natural and cultural resources in homage to the false gods of security, comfort and the unsustainable and unjust American Way of Life (AWOL) and class and ethnic rivalries.
Patrician arrogance comes to mind as a suitable term to describe Romney.
"Talking 'bout the 99%/Listening to the one per cent/Mitt got excited and called the Koch brothers." "Come on, Come on" won't somebody get us to a different kind of poltics?" Speciall thanks to CCR!
As a qualifier, which after seeing today's issue of USA Today, I'd be remiss not to. This issue has "our man" in the White House and his party garnering a solid 240 million dollars for the upcoming campaign and the GOP even with all these independent groups on their side "just keep time" as that old Spinners song would put it. Damn. With this being the case, does anyone seriously see that tidy sum is coming in from poor little old ladies or even anyone else in that category. Please! It's a bit late to keep believing the tooth fairy when this reactionary or worse and war monger in liberal and peaceniks clothing has gone so far to advance the Tea Party agenda. Let's do stop being frightened to death of the GOP getting into the White House. At least with a Republcan in the White House, people will be on their guard, something too many have dropped for the last over three years to the sorrow of the 99%. Mitt Romney really isn't going to be any more of a war monger, shredder of civil liberties, and destroyer of the social fabric of the USA than this president. That's just plain BS. This president now has the huge war chest W had before the 2004 election. If he had been a worthwhile incumbent, he could easily win without having a huge advantage in money. People have experienced the effect of his pro one per cent policies though. I'll back some Democrats, but they'll have to earn it, as they should. Hell in the presidential contest the GOP candidates are talking more like old Democrats than this president as Ted Rall has explained in an article on this web site.
Furthermore, Jeff Cohen sometime ago told us that this president wasn't on our side. Howard Zinn was the first prominent progressive intellectual to see through the president's BS back only about 100 days into his presidency. That was about the time I could see right through this phony. Now how about we deal with reality from here on in. The tooth fairy theory of politics is comforting, but so false and leads so completley down the garden path to the Lemming mind set and behavior. Self destructive with a vengeance!
As a qualifier, which after seeing today's issue of USA Today, I'd be remiss not to. This issue has "our man" in the White House and his party garnering a solid 240 million dollars for the upcoming campaign and the GOP even with all these independent groups on their side "just keeping time" as that old Spinners song would put it. Damn. With this being the case, does anyone seriously see that tidy sum is coming in from poor little old ladies or even anyone else in that category. Please! It's a bit late to keep believing the tooth fairy when this reactionary or worse and war monger in liberal and peaceniks clothing has gone so far to advance the Tea Party agenda. Let's do stop being frightened to death of the GOP getting into the White House. At least with a Republcan in the White House, people will be on their guard, something too many have dropped for the last over three years to the sorrow of the 99%. Mitt Romney really isn't going to be any more of a war monger, shredder of civil liberties, and destroyer of the social fabric of the USA than this president. That's just plain BS. This president now has the huge war chest W had before the 2004 election. If he had been a worthwhile incumbent, he could easily win without having a huge advantage in money. People have experienced the effect of his pro one per cent policies though. I'll back some Democrats, but they'll have to earn it, as they should. Hell in the presidential contest the GOP candidates are talking more like old Democrats than this president as Ted Rall has explained in an article on this web site.
Furthermore, Jeff Cohen sometime ago told us that this president wasn't on our side. Howard Zinn was the first prominent progressive intellectual to see through the president's BS back only about 100 days into his presidency. That was about the time I could see right through this phony. Now how about we deal with reality from here on in. The tooth fairy theory of politics is comforting, but so false and leads so completley down the garden path to the Lemming mind set and behavior. Self destructive with a vengeance!
"Howard Zinn was the first prominent progressive intellectual to see through the president's BS back only about 100 days into his presidency. That was about the time I could see right through this phony."
Odd that it took you and Howard so long. I didn't vote for Obama because it was evident during his 2008 campaign that he was a phony. Wishful thinking is a powerful elixir.
It might be well if we don't talk of those in the Third World colonized by the West to put together some kind of straw man attack on them. Those untouched by the West have done much better than we'll ever do. Let's not be so silly. They've lasted for 100 milennia at minimum. Has any Western nation or city state come even close?
So Robert you voted for bombing Iran and Sarah Palin, and you think that voting for the one percent is smarter than voting for the black guy? If the dip shit would not have been flying over a restricted area he wouldn't have spent five and a half years in enemy hands, and cost us three million in aircraft. So you just go vote for a war against women's rights, no more Social Security, no more heat assistance for the poor no health care killing nearly four thousand Americans each month, each and every month as many as 911, no more Medicare as we know it no more weatherization for elderly, but you will be voting for more tax breaks for the wealthy, subsidies for big oil, subsidies for big pharma, and corporations, along with the fucking Theiving Roberts court. Vote for the one percent and the teaparty, or koch brothers and Murdock greedy bastards. Ass hole.
In the end did any of us that did vote for Obama, end up with anything other than what you've outlined? With a cabinet made up of Goldman Sach's alumni I fail to see how voting for Obama had a different outcome.
There is a difference between a Republican and a Democrat. The Republicans a just a little meaner.
I am thinking many candidates like Mr. Romney need to be running for office in the Cayman Islands not here in the USA.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/mitt-romneys-blind-trust-blind/story?id=15188063
None of us can be sure how many are likewise sheltered, but I am guessing the majority of them.
A little more information on where the true allegiances lie in todays politics. Go figure this one is Wyoming. Wasn't Cheney from Wyoming?
"A Reuters investigation has found the house at 2710 Thomes Avenue serves as a little Cayman Island on the Great Plains. It is the headquarters for Wyoming Corporate Services, a business-incorporation specialist that establishes firms which can be used as "shell" companies, paper entities able to hide assets.
Wyoming Corporate Services will help clients create a company, and more: set up a bank account for it; add a lawyer as a corporate director to invoke attorney-client privilege; even appoint stand-in directors and officers as high as CEO. Among its offerings is a variety of shell known as a "shelf" company, which comes with years of regulatory filings behind it, lending a greater feeling of solidity.
"A corporation is a legal person created by state statute that can be used as a fall guy, a servant, a good friend or a decoy," the company's website boasts. "A person you control... yet cannot be held accountable for its actions. Imagine the possibilities!"
Among the entities registered at 2710 Thomes, Reuters found, is a shelf company sheltering real-estate assets controlled by a jailed former prime minister of Ukraine, according to allegations made by a political rival in a federal court in California.
The owner of another shelf company at the address was indicted in April for allegedly helping online-poker operators evade a U.S. ban on Internet gambling. The owner of two other firms there was banned from government contracting in January for selling counterfeit truck parts to the Pentagon."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/us-usa-shell-companies-idUSTRE75R20Z20110628
This says it all:
""Somalia has slightly higher standards than Wyoming and Nevada.""