RNC: Corporate America is the only thing we all belong to
Eroding and eventually eliminating the American Dream
posted about 12 years ago
Clint Eastwood's odd standup routine aside, the RNC was more of the same all in all. Romney of course was as evasive as ever on his policies. So we will have to dig further back to remember what those were.
For example, let us read an article from FactCheck.org about Romney's tax plan that will somehow benefit everyone (but is impossible to do):
http://factcheck.org/2012/08/romneys-impossible-tax-promise/
The article is long so I will just put down key points (emphasis added):
"Tax experts — including one who supports Romney’s plan — say the Republican presidential candidate’s promise to cut individual income tax rates <b>without either favoring the wealthy or losing revenue</b> isn’t mathematically possible.
That’s the conclusion of the Tax Policy Center in a report the Romney campaign attacked as “biased” (although the campaign previously praised the TPC as “objective,” when it issued a report critical of a rival’s tax plan)."
For example, let us read an article from FactCheck.org about Romney's tax plan that will somehow benefit everyone (but is impossible to do):
http://factcheck.org/2012/08/romneys-impossible-tax-promise/
The article is long so I will just put down key points (emphasis added):
"Tax experts — including one who supports Romney’s plan — say the Republican presidential candidate’s promise to cut individual income tax rates <b>without either favoring the wealthy or losing revenue</b> isn’t mathematically possible.
So we have three issues already:
1) Praising the TPC when it favors them but calling them biased when it doesn't - Typical Romney flip-flopping
2) Favoring the wealthy - nothing new to the Republicans
3) losing revenue? I thought the Republicans were all about paying off the National Debt???
Don't believe me? Let's take a look at this (emphasis added):
"Romney has insisted that under his tax plan — once he releases the rest of it — the wealthy would pay the same share of the tax burden that they do at present. “I’m not looking for a tax cut for the very wealthiest,” Romney told Bob Schieffer on June 17 on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Romney, June 17: … my view is the right way to do that is to limit them [tax preferences] for high-income individuals because I want to keep the progressivity of the code. One– one of the absolute requirements of any tax reform that I have in mind is that people who are at the high end, whether you call them the 1 percent or 2 percent or half a percent, that people at the high end will still pay the same share of the tax burden they’re paying now. I’m not looking for a tax cut for the very wealthiest. I’m looking to bring tax rates down for everyone, and, also, to make sure that we stimulate growth by doing so and jobs.
1) Praising the TPC when it favors them but calling them biased when it doesn't - Typical Romney flip-flopping
2) Favoring the wealthy - nothing new to the Republicans
3) losing revenue? I thought the Republicans were all about paying off the National Debt???
Don't believe me? Let's take a look at this (emphasis added):
"Romney has insisted that under his tax plan — once he releases the rest of it — the wealthy would pay the same share of the tax burden that they do at present. “I’m not looking for a tax cut for the very wealthiest,” Romney told Bob Schieffer on June 17 on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Romney, June 17: … my view is the right way to do that is to limit them [tax preferences] for high-income individuals because I want to keep the progressivity of the code. One– one of the absolute requirements of any tax reform that I have in mind is that people who are at the high end, whether you call them the 1 percent or 2 percent or half a percent, that people at the high end will still pay the same share of the tax burden they’re paying now. I’m not looking for a tax cut for the very wealthiest. I’m looking to bring tax rates down for everyone, and, also, to make sure that we stimulate growth by doing so and jobs.
But, when pressed for specifics, Romney told Schieffer that he will “go through that process with Congress as to which of all the different deductions and exemptions” will be eliminated or reduced. In that interview, he said the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform issued a report in December 2010 that proved it is “mathematically … possible” to reduce tax rates and reduce the deficit.
That’s true — but Romney failed to note that the commission’s illustrative tax-reform proposal “taxes capital gains and dividends as ordinary income” (see footnote on page 29), eliminating a tax break that benefits mostly those with high incomes. But Romney’s tax plan would “<b>[m]aintain current tax rates on interest, dividends, and capital gains</b>,” taking that option off the table. Under current law, capital gains (profits on sale of stock or real estate, for example) are generally taxed at a top rate of 15 percent, while ordinary earnings from salaries or business are taxed at a top rate of 35 percent of income over $388,350. (If the Bush-era tax cuts are allowed to expire, the rate would return to 20 percent.)"
Now this whole favoring the wealthy thing always runs counter to everything the American Dream stands for. A government who is already run by lobbyists from big businesses and special interest groups wanting to continue to favor those who are already wealthy? Wasn't this the Land of Opportunity? I thought this was the place where one could pick themselves up by their bootstraps, work hard, and earn a good, prosperous life. We don't have to be Old Money or just happen to have the right connections in order to make good money. This is the country where anyone can be anything they want to be if they give it everything they've got.
Now, it seems that everything done in the past century to ensure that the American Dream stays alive is being undone. The road to prosperity no longer comes from hard work, but from knowing the right rich people (or being fortunate enough to inherit riches), being a politician, the head of a Fortune 500 company, a Hollywood celebrity, or running a special interest group. Once there, the government will continue to give tax breaks and handouts to make these people even more wealthy.
Now this whole favoring the wealthy thing always runs counter to everything the American Dream stands for. A government who is already run by lobbyists from big businesses and special interest groups wanting to continue to favor those who are already wealthy? Wasn't this the Land of Opportunity? I thought this was the place where one could pick themselves up by their bootstraps, work hard, and earn a good, prosperous life. We don't have to be Old Money or just happen to have the right connections in order to make good money. This is the country where anyone can be anything they want to be if they give it everything they've got.
Now, it seems that everything done in the past century to ensure that the American Dream stays alive is being undone. The road to prosperity no longer comes from hard work, but from knowing the right rich people (or being fortunate enough to inherit riches), being a politician, the head of a Fortune 500 company, a Hollywood celebrity, or running a special interest group. Once there, the government will continue to give tax breaks and handouts to make these people even more wealthy.
This gives them less incentive to work and thus being an even greater drain on society at large. All of this continues while the hard working middle and working classes find their chances at prosperity slowly fading away. Their work is rendered meaningless as their hard earned tax dollars support slackers who won't do real work and have enough money already.
It puts the rest of us at their mercy as they away our inalienable rights and freedoms with each layoff or law that violates our civil rights. It allows them to be above the rule of law and leaves the people powerless to keep the government accountable. America belongs to the people, not Big Business interests who keep feeding the corruption in our government.
It puts the rest of us at their mercy as they away our inalienable rights and freedoms with each layoff or law that violates our civil rights. It allows them to be above the rule of law and leaves the people powerless to keep the government accountable. America belongs to the people, not Big Business interests who keep feeding the corruption in our government.
(edited about 12 years ago)
