"A Big New GOP Idea"

By Dan Reed, American Citizen

The 2012 presidential campaign has begun, and conservative Republicans have officially nominated Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan as their party’s candidates. So, once again, Americans are learning about the GOP’s Bold New Idea’s: Cut taxes, Increase Defense Spending, and reduce Regulations on Business!

Candidate Mitt Romney’s bold new idea’s include a 20% income tax cut, reducing corporate taxes from 35% to 25%, increasing defense spending, and eliminating regulations on business!

TAX CUTS - Romney’s promised tax cuts would represent the “Fifth Installment” of massive tax cuts enacted by GOP conservatives since 1981. During this thirty-two year period, America’s national debt has exploded from $900 billion in 1981 to $16 trillion today! Meanwhile, America’s infrastructure has decayed, the rich got very rich, and the middle class and poor got poorer! Here is the history:

1.     Public Law 97-34 – The Economic Recovery Act of 1981, cut individual tax rates by 25%, and lowered the top tax rate from 70% to 50%

2.     Public Law 99-514 – The tax reform Act of 1986, significantly cut the progressive tax system by eliminating eleven of the top fifteen tax brackets that had been in place for 70 years, and lowered the top tax rate from 50% to 28%.

3.     Public Law 101-508 – The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, which created a new 31% income tax bracket.

4.     Public law 107-16 – The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, significantly reduced individual, corporate and capital gains taxes. EGTRRA was so complicated that complete texts were written to just explain the massive number of  “reforms” encompassed within the Act. The law was extended through 2012, and is due to expire on 12-31-2012.

Furthermore, The We Believe In America Crowd continues to blackmail the United States by stashing $2.5 trillion of taxable profits offshore, while demanding a repatriation-tax holiday that would reduce their tax rate obligation, from 35% to 5%. To put it Bluntly, they are trying to rob $70 billion from the United States Treasury, while chanting; USA, USA, and USA…!

 INCREASE DEFENSE SPENDING - We have now heard candidate Romney’s tough talk on foreign policy, where he criticizes president Obama’s handling of: Iran’s nuclear program, missile defense in Poland, Israel security, and Russian president Vladimir Putin. 


Candidate Romney’s tough foreign policy talk sounds very similar to the Bush-43 administration Neo Cons that lead America into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. These Neo Con policies drove defense spending from about $400 billion too $700 billion during eight years of the Bush-43 administration.

Current defense spending includes the war in Afghanistan, Star wars missile defense, Naval policing of Global ocean trade routes, military bases and ports in over 128 countries, and a limitless smorgasbord of weapons systems that create jobs in politically powerful congressional districts. The vast majority of current defense spending was created during the Reagan, Bush-41, and Bush-43 administrations.

Romney has promised to increase current levels of defense spending. However, he has not provided any specifics. So what will Romney do? Based on thirty-two years of GOP history, Romney will go to war with Iran, increase spending on star wars missile defense, continue spending on weapons systems, and restart the cold war with Russia!

REDUCE REGULATIONS ON BUSINESS - Conservatives believe that government regulation of business represents a major government intrusion into the free market! They believe the free market is self-correcting, and therefore does not require any government involvement.

Candidate Romney repetitively promises to remove cumbersome regulations on “Small Businesses job creators”. So, which regulations would Romney eliminate? Based on his many comments, we can speculate on a few: Dodd-Frank Banking Regulations,  Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Hazardous Waste Act.

To clarify, many business regulations were either eliminated, or not enforced during the administrations of: Reagan, Bush-41, and Bush-43. Deregulation clearly helps business increase profits! However, there have been economic consequence associated with GOP deregulation mania, here are twelve examples:

1. U.S. Savings and Loan Banks Collapsed,
2. Enron, Country Wide, Tyco, Adelphia, Perguine Systems, World Com, and Leman Bros frauds, etc. These large unregulated corporations robbed investors of Billions!
3. Bogus Corporate financial statements
4. Bernie Madoff frauds,
5. The sub-prime mortgage housing scam,
6. Bogus OTC Derivatives,
7. Bogus Credit Default Swaps,
8. Junk Bonds, repackaged into Collateral Debt Obligations (CDO’s), known as toxic assets,
9. Wall Street Banks collapsed
10. $1 trillion in tax payer bailouts of corrupt banks,
11.  No title mortgage foreclosure frauds,
12. $2.5 trillion offshore tax frauds.

Letter to Candidate Mitt Romney - Are You Serious?

From; Dan Reed, American Citizen

Dear Mr. Romney,

I carefully read and outlined your letter to President Obama, titled; Romney issues Ohio Challenge, published on 5-4-2012, in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Upon grasping your main points, I couldn’t help asking myself: Mr. Romney are you serious, were you asleep the past thirty-one years?

Click image to view Romney letter

First, you asked: where are the jobs? As you know, beginning in 2006 and continuing through early 2009, millions of U.S. jobs were outsourced too low wage countries! Workers in these slave wage countries have no freedoms, and are paid about $12.00 for a twelve-hour workday. U.S. Workers are free to collectively bargain for higher wages, and are paid about $150.00 for a twelve-hour workday. Furthermore, products produced in these slave wage countries are imported into the U.S. Market, free of tariff taxes. Net Profits of multinational corporate importers are taxed at an actual paid rate of 0% to 16%, while their wealthy stockholders dividends are taxed at the carried interest loophole rate of 15%. That’s where the jobs are!

Second, you claim to recognize Obama inherited an economic crisis. However, without describing the severity of the economic crisis, you assert that Obama had three years to turn around an economic crisis, which required eight years to create! Then, without explaining your understanding of the economic crisis, you allege that Obama’s policies have failed!

Compared to What?

1. In January 1981, Ronald Reagan became America’s 40^th U.S. President. Upon his inauguration, Reagan began a three-part assault on the U.S. economic system! First, in 1981, Reagan initiated the largest tax cut in U.S. history! Second, Reagan initiated his supply side economic policies, which reduced regulations on business. Third, in 1986, Reagan gutted the fifteen-bracket tax structure that had funded America’s amazing economic growth for 73 years! During the past thirty-one years, Reagan’s supply side economic policies have lowered U.S. tax rates by over 50%! Meanwhile, the U.S. population has increased 35% from 228 to 308 million people.

2. President Clinton modified Reagan’s supply side economic policies by increasing tax rates and cutting defense spending. Clinton’s policies unleashed a significant period of economic growth from 1993 until 2001. 

3. In January 2001, George Bush became America’s 43^rd President. Upon his inauguration, Bush-43 inherited:

• A large annual budget surplus,
• A balanced budget,
• A declining national debt of $5.2 trillion,
• The U.S. unemployment rate was below 5%,
• There were no wars, and the annual defense budget was around $400 billion. 

President Bush-43 immediately reinstated conservative supply side-trickle down economic policies: huge tax cuts, huge military spending, and limited enforcement of business regulations! 
XXX

4. In January 2009, Barack Obama became America's 44th President. Upon his inauguration, Obama inherited:

• A $10.5 trillion national debt,
• A new $1.3 trillion spending law Bush-43 signed on 10-3-2008 (Public Law 110-343),
• A 10% unemployment rate on December 31, 2008,
• U.S. Corporations were eliminating 700,000 jobs a month, which accumulated to eight million job losses from June 2006 through June 2009,
• The U.S. Automotive industry was on the verge of bankruptcy,
• Unregulated Wall Street Banks had collapsed, requiring $800 billion in tax payer bailouts,
• The banking crisis shut off credit to consumers and small businesses,
• The stock market had plunged from 12,000 to 8,000 and was still dropping,
• The Bank crisis triggered the worst home foreclosure crisis since the great depression,
• Two unfunded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan doubled defense spending to $700 billion,
• A huge unfunded Medicare prescription drug law,
• The U.S. Treasury was starving from devastating reductions in annual tax receipts.

SO WHY ARE THE ABOVE COMPARISONS IMPORTANT? They’re important because you and other Republicans refuse to accept responsibility for the miserable failure of your supply side economic policies! When President Obama and other Democrat’s attempt to describe the severity of the economic crisis, which Obama inherited, you and other Republicans whine that Obama is blaming everything on Bush-43!

Third, you claim your business experience has better prepared you to be President! So, please explain how directing orders to subordinates has prepared you to deal with: different world leaders, 50 state governors, 535 individually elected members of congress, and nine supreme court justices?

 

 

Fourth, I visited your website to learn more about your proposed changes to America’s economic direction. I learned your solutions look very similar to the supply side economic policies of the past thirty-one years: cutting taxes, reducing business regulations, and shrinking government!

Cutting Taxes – means permanently extending the Bush-43 tax cuts, further reducing tax rates on corporations, further reducing income tax rates on the super wealthy, and repealing the estate tax!

Reducing Business Regulations – means repealing the Dodd-Frank banking regulations, revoking the Sarbanes-Oxley law, which requires corporate CEO’s to assure the accuracy of their corporate financial statements, rescinding clean air and clean water regulations, reducing regulations on transporting atomic waste, reducing regulations on toxic waste disposal, and eliminating laws regulating drilling and or fracking on government owned land, etc.…

Shrinking Government – means dramatically reducing “prepaid” government obligations to seniors retirement programs: Social Security and Medicare! In addition, turning welfare programs over to the states, so each state can eliminate welfare.

Therefore Mr. Romney, please help everyone understand the severity of the economic crisis Obama inherited. Then explain how Obama’s policies have failed, and why you think they will continue to fail! Moreover, please explain how your path forward represents a change in direction from the economic policies of Bush-43, and why your economic policies will succeed where similar policies have clearly failed!