Economic Retardation

[LogikAndReazon]

By God, Romney was right and if anyone is insulted by the plain truth, they deserve to be insulted. Ross Kaminsky is also right: The "secret" video could be just what the Romney campaign needed to spark a serious conversation about Obama's economic failure. Our national debt is now $16 trillion, the annual budget deficit has exceeded $1 trillion for each of the past four years, and 47 percent of us aren't contributing a nickel to fix that problem. A big part of the problem -- and maybe you've noticed this -- is that the economy sucks. Even if you didn't make the mistake of pursuing a journalism career, it's kind of hard to work your way up when the unemployment rate is over 8 percent, a statistic that actually understates the problem. As James Pethokoukis has explained, the broader unemployment rate, including part-time workers who want full-time jobs, is 14.6 percent, and the rate would be even higher if not for a declining rate of "workforce participation." Among the factors in this decline is the extension of unemployment payments to 99 weeks, as well as a troubling rise in the number of working-age adults claiming disability. An additional 1.7 million are now receiving Social Security disability payments, a 23 percent increase since 2007. More and more people are being paid not to work, which reduces the number of taxpayers, and the government is borrowing more money to make more payments to more people, including the increasing number (47 million) on food stamps....

The American Spectator : Equality or Independence?

 

[VaYank5150]

I agree. I think Romney and Ryan should continue to bash the 47%ers at every campaign stop!

 

[TakeAStepBack]

But..but..but... Event he nonworkers pay taxes!

 

[Katzndogz]

I agree. I think Romney and Ryan should continue to bash the 47%ers at every campaign stop!

Do democrat voters make up more or less than 47%?

Romney should bash the democrats at every campaign stop even if they are the 47%.

 

[g5000]

Does anyone seriously believe Obama or Romney would balance the federal budget by 2016?

I sure as hell don't. It will be 2016 and Obama will still be running over a trillion dollars in annual deficits, and his anus worshippers will still be finding ways to blame Bush.

But I don't buy Romney will balance it either. Not with a borrow and spend Congress pandering to everyone who casts a shadow.

.

 

[DiamondDave]

I agree. I think Romney and Ryan should continue to bash the 47%ers at every campaign stop!

And this is why liberals want to increase the amount of people not paying income taxes or receiving government assistance, and shift the burden to the earners who continue to be vilified by the left... the more the # grows the more they will vote to keep from paying income tax and to keep receiving handouts

 

[VaYank5150]

I agree. I think Romney and Ryan should continue to bash the 47%ers at every campaign stop!

Do democrat voters make up more or less than 47%?

Romney should bash the democrats at every campaign stop even if they are the 47%.

I can't answer your question on the math, as these are simply Mitt's numbers, and based on the rest of his math for our country, I have seen few details.

 

[buckeye45_73]

We need a flat tax and eveyone pays a certain percentage, then when you raise taxes you cant pit groups against each other, but libtards will never go for it, just for that reason alone

 

[g5000]

We need a flat tax and eveyone pays a certain percentage, then when you raise taxes you cant pit groups against each other, but libtards will never go for it, just for that reason alone

I find myself more and more in favor of a flat tax and/or a consumption tax.

Among other advantages, you can't hide a tax increase in a flat tax and/or consumption tax. It is immediately evident.

.

 

[Full-Auto]

Does anyone seriously believe Obama or Romney would balance the federal budget by 2016?

I sure as hell don't. It will be 2016 and Obama will still be running over a trillion dollars in annual deficits, and his anus worshippers will still be finding ways to blame Bush.

But I don't buy Romney will balance it either. Not with a borrow and spend Congress pandering to everyone who casts a shadow.

.

Romney already stated it would take eight to ten years to balance.......


Can we hold out that long?

 

[beretta304]

I agree. I think Romney and Ryan should continue to bash the 47%ers at every campaign stop!

Hey bitch. Take out my trash and let the adults talk.

 

[beretta304]

I agree. I think Romney and Ryan should continue to bash the 47%ers at every campaign stop!

Do democrat voters make up more or less than 47%?

Romney should bash the democrats at every campaign stop even if they are the 47%.

I can't answer your question on the math, as these are simply Mitt's numbers, and based on the rest of his math for our country, I have seen few details.

Shut yer trap if you don't know what you are talking about!

 

[The Rabbi]

Does anyone seriously believe Obama or Romney would balance the federal budget by 2016?

I sure as hell don't. It will be 2016 and Obama will still be running over a trillion dollars in annual deficits, and his anus worshippers will still be finding ways to blame Bush.

But I don't buy Romney will balance it either. Not with a borrow and spend Congress pandering to everyone who casts a shadow.

.

I dont think anyone could. Nor do I think it's that important. What is important is getting the deficit down to some reasonable number. The present number is unreasonable, which is why we're seeing downgrades of US debt. At some point people will lose confidence in the dollar. We have to make sure that doesn't happen.

 

[Sinjorri]

Does anyone seriously believe Obama or Romney would balance the federal budget by 2016?

I sure as hell don't. It will be 2016 and Obama will still be running over a trillion dollars in annual deficits, and his anus worshippers will still be finding ways to blame Bush.

But I don't buy Romney will balance it either. Not with a borrow and spend Congress pandering to everyone who casts a shadow.

.

i think one might attempt and have a plan or a vision of a plan, but lets face it, its washington thats the problem and its the people that put these professional politicans back in. so whos to blame? WE ARE TO BLAME.

 

[beretta304]

Who are Mitt Romney's 47%? A breakdown

WASHINGTON (AP) - Just which 47% of Americans was Mitt Romney talking about? It's hard to say. He lumped together three different ways of sorting people in what he's called less-than-elegant remarks.

Each of those three groups - likely Obama voters, people who get federal benefits and people who don't pay federal income taxes - contains just under half of all Americans, in the neighborhood of 47% at a given moment. There's some overlap, but the three groups are quite distinct.

Confusingly, Romney spoke as if they're made up of the same batch of Americans.

A look at the three groups:


OBAMA VOTERS

What Romney said: "There are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what."

He's right on the nose, according to the latest Associated Press-GfK poll: Forty-seven percent of likely voters say they support Obama. And 46% say they support Romney, essentially a tie. This number fluctuates from poll to poll and week to week and could shift substantially before Election Day.

Who they are:

Most are employed: Sixty-two percent of the Obama voters work, including the 10% working only part time. A fourth are retired. Five percent say they're temporarily unemployed.

Most earn higher-than-average wages. Fifty-six percent have household incomes above the U.S. median of $50,000. Just 16% have incomes below $30,000, and about the same share (20%) have incomes of $100,000 or more.

They're all ages but skew younger than Romney's voters: Twenty percent are senior citizens and 12% are under age 30.

They're more educated than the overall population: Forty-three percent boast 4-year college degrees or above; 21% topped out with a high school diploma.


PEOPLE WHO GET FEDERAL BENEFITS

What Romney said: "There are 47% ... who are dependent on government ... who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it."

Whether they are dependent and believe they are entitled to anything is arguable, but Romney's statistic is about right - 49% of the U.S. population receive some kind of federal benefits, including Social Security and Medicare, according to the most recent Census Bureau data. Looking only at people who receive benefits that are based on financial need, such as food stamps, the portion is smaller - just over a third of the population. Many people get more than one type of benefit.

The biggest programs and their percentage of the U.S. population:

Medicaid: 26%

Social Security: 16%

Food stamps: 16%

Medicare: 15%

Women, Infants and Children food program: 8%


THOSE WHO PAY NO FEDERAL INCOME TAX

What Romney said: "Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax."

Romney's about on target - 46% of U.S. households paid no federal income tax last year, according to a study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Most do pay other federal taxes, including Medicare and Social Security withholding. And they're not all poor. Some middle-income and wealthy families escape income tax because of deductions, credits and investment tax preferences.

Why these people don't pay:

About half don't earn enough money for a household of their size to owe income tax. For example, a family of 4 earning less than $26,400 wouldn't pay.

About 22% get tax breaks for senior citizens that offset their income.

About 15% get tax breaks for the working poor or low-income parents.

Almost 3% get tax breaks for college tuition or other education expenses.

Who they are:

The vast majority have below-average earnings: Among all who don't owe, 9 out of 10 make $50,000 or less.

But some of the wealthy escape taxes, including about 4,000 households earning more than $1 million a year.


Who are Mitt Romney's 47%? A breakdown - CBS 5 - KPHO