Mitt Romney's Plan Reads Like A Failing College Term Paper
O.K, so you want to be a responsible voter and thoroughly read up on all of the Republican Primary Presidential candidates' positions on various issues facing America.
Once you finally make your way to Mitt Romney's official campaign website and pull up his 'Believe In America: Mitt Romney's Plan For Jobs and Economic Growth,' you will suddenly have sympathy for college professors who ethically have to read college term papers where the student clearly has not put enough time into the paper, but has instead filled pages with repeated statements of the problem without spending any significant time on substantive analysis to support their conclusion(s).
The first 39 pages of the 160 page plan are complete fluff - filled with paragraphs saying over and over why Obama is a loser and why Romney should be President of the United States. However, no detailed policies are given.
Intermittently throughout his plan are long quotes of other authors, charts, graphs, and a nice long bibliography at the end.
Really, there are only 26 pages that you need to read if you want to be thoroughly educated on Mitt Romney's policy positions.
Buried right in the middle of the plan on pages 40 to 46 is where you can find an opaque outline of Mitt Romney's Plan for tax policy which is:
1. Maintain marginal tax rates similar to the Bush tax cuts.
2. Eliminate capital gains tax for those making under $200,000.
3. Eliminate Estate Taxes
4. Lower Corporate Tax Rates
5. Transition To A Territorial Tax System
While those plans may sound appealing to middle-class voters, here is the kicker on the bottom of page 41:
"In the long run, Mitt Romney will pursue a conservative overhaul the tax system that includes lower and fatter rates on a broader tax base."
Translation: Raise taxes on everyone who makes under $200k so that those making over $200k and multinational corporations can pay less.
Regulatory reform pages 58-63:
And of course, being the only Wall Street candidate for President, Mitt Romney call for less regulation on Wall Street, repeal of Obamacare, tort reform, and less environmental regulations.
All of the Republican candidates call for similar types of deregulation and repeal of Obamacare.
Trade pages 75-80:
Mitt Romney takes a break from Obama bashing so that he can demonize China (and not the multinational corporations that use Chinese labor).
He wants to aggressively pursue and sign trade agreements purportedly to stimulate job growth in the U.S.
However, according the the Congressional Budget Office, the U.S. has been a net loser in all trade agreements since NAFTA (Yes, Ross Perot was right 20 years ago, we did hear a giant sucking sound).
Energy pages 91-96:
1. Streamline and Fast-Track Permitting Process
2. Reform Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.
3. Reform Nuclear Energy Regulations
4. Drill,Drill, Drill,"anywhere it can be done safely" including in the Gulf of Mexico off of Florida's coast.
5. Taxpayer subsidized research and development following the DARPA model.
After energy, Romney goes on about union busting, employee savings accounts, cutting federal spending to balance the budget, entitlement reform, and investing in human capital. Nothing in the proposals are innovative or standout, just the standard Republican Presidential candidate policy positions repeated for the last thirty years.
Source:
http://mittromney.com/blogs/mitts-view/2011/09/believe-america-mitt-romneys-plan-jobs-and-economic-growth
SIMILAR STORIES:
Herman Cain's 9-9-9 Plan Already Has Carve Outs, Exemptions
Source:
http://mittromney.com/blogs/mitts-view/2011/09/believe-america-mitt-romneys-plan-jobs-and-economic-growth
SIMILAR STORIES:
Herman Cain's 9-9-9 Plan Already Has Carve Outs, Exemptions