What is Romneys' plan to get America back on the right track?

@rojo How did you decipher his plans, given how he’s never given a single detail to how he is going to proceed. I figured he was going to throw the retired people to the dogs, cut all assistance to the poor, and make all the 47 percent leeches do hard labor in chain gangs.

Irrelevant because he’s sure to lose.

I’m guessing sell it off in parts.

@ucme Don’t underestimate the stupidity of the American voter. You’re across the pond. I’m nervous.

@Adirondackwannabe I don’t know for certain but he sure was/is proud of the company he formed that specialized in this type of caper.

@Adirondackwannabe Oh i’m not, but even so…..there’s no way, surely!

A global view on who should be president.

@Adirondackwannabe Since the Romney campaign hasn’t been forthcoming with any details, it would be my assumption that @rojo took a look at Romney’s resume and projected his actions based upon that. A strong indicator (IMHO) is the business principle known as the Growth-share matrix, also known as the BCG matrix (so named after the Boston Consulting Group, where it was created, and where Romney worked for several years in the early 1970’s as a management consultant). In short, this matrix is a graph that ranks businesses on their relative market share and growth rates. They are then rated as cash cows, dogs, question marks, or stars.

His plan would probably (again IMHO) look at government programs in the same light and apply the growth-share matrix, and attempt to run the government like a venture capital group

Oh you’d like to see Mitt Romney’s economic plan? Hold on, he’s not quite done scribbling George W Bush out of the name spot at the top…...

Well, here’s what the Romney campaign has outlined.

What I see here is:
– hallmark greeting card statements (“Attract and retain the best and brightest from around the world.”)
– more deregulation (“Eliminate regulations destroying the coal industry”, “Stop the increases in regulation that tangling job creators in red tape.”)
– re-kill an already-dead labor movement (“Protect workers and businesses from strong-arm labor union tactics.”)
– allow health insurance companies to not cover pre-existing conditions, allowing people to continue to go bankrupt because of health problems

Can we stop pretending this “race” is about Obama and Romney? It’s about Democrats and Republicans, period. Romney’s vision is the Republican vision. Sure, he doesn’t provide any details. But when he does, he is just saying, “You know how we’re all in shit mess because of deregulation, excessive military spending, and tax cuts for the wealthy? Well, I’d like to expand on that. I’ll ask you how much your ass hurts on 11/5. For now, just vote for me. C’mon guys. You already voted for me in 2000 and 2004.”

So, why don’t polls taken within the US look like the charts in @ucme‘s link? What the heck is wrong with Americans, anyway? The choice could not be more obvious.

Cut taxes. Thats about it.

There are no plans. There is a philosophy. There is a philosophy that you let the free market take care of it, and don’t worry about collateral damage. Too much caring about people stifles the free market.

Then there’s the side that says we need to care about people, even if it limits the freedom of entrepreneurs to do what they want to do. Even if it takes money away from entrepreneurs and everyone else in order to care for people who need it.

The rest of the so-called plan is pretty much a waste of paper. Plans can never be enacted as envisaged. They might be a starting point, but whatever happens won’t resemble the plan closely enough for most politicians to say they carried out their promises.

Why people expect promises can be carried out, I don’t know. It’s very unrealistic. The key is the philosophy, because that is what gives you an idea of what they will negotiate for and how they will try to solve problems.

@glacial As my gran used to say, “They can’t see the wood for the trees.”

why does he think we should be beefing up on warships right now. Those and other things that usually need to be replaced because of obsolescence or loss in combat?

@tom_g GA for hallmark! and I assume you’re just reporting, not necessarily espousing!
Originally I wanted to answer those remarks individually. But as I started to do that I noticed they all pointed to the goal of the corporatist Neo-conservative movement in this country for the last 40 years. To quote Grover Norquist, they’re ”...not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”

These Neo-conservatives are not really conservative, as in Barry Goldwater, George Will or William F. Buckley. I think they are more corporatists. Their saint, Ronald Reagan, described conservatism this way: “The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom.”
This is really a far cry from William F. Buckley’s definition: (paraphrasing) one who stands athwart history yelling “stop!”

Romney’s idea(s) – to bring back the era of the Robber Barons, to reduce any existing regulations out of existence, to get rid of the Minimum Wage, to increase the Military Budget, to reduce Soc.Sec. benefits, to eliminate Medicare, to eliminate Medicaid, to eliminate Food Stamps, to eliminate any sort of Welfare, to eliminate Roe v. Wade, to increase taxes on the average American (who can least afford it), & to reduce the taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

He will let big business run everything so they can make more money. That’s what is important to them. Power and money.

Anybody else notice that the chart provided by @ucme contained no info on how any middle eastern countries (unless you include Turkey with them and I don’t think they like that) feel about who should be president?
The scary thing about it is that your average Republican will look at it and say to himself “Well if that’s what THEY think then I’m gonna vote for Romney for sure”.

@rojo The poll also included Pakistan. A country pretty widely accepted as being part of the middle east.

Irony of the day, the country on the list most in favor of Mitt Romney is Kenya….

I think he will run it like a business, or a church, and we will show a profit again eventually, if he is elected, which I’m skeptical about.

I am very familiar with business practices on showing profit, and more than likely he will trim govt fat, possibly in sectors Democrats do not approve of, and we will move on. He said in the debate that famous PBS line, he’ll ask if it’s important enough to borrow money from China, and if not, it’s cut.

Finances 101, earn more than you spend, it’s a no-brainer. That’s why we have so many churches here, they are extremely profitable and not subject to the tax a regular business is.

@ucme You really do overestimate the intelligence of many Americans. Suffice it to say, we still have a rather large number of people who honestly believe Obama was born in Kenya, totally disregard facts in favor of dogma, and believe every word Romney says except for those words that make him look bad. Not all Americans are rational, and like @rojo says, the fact that Obama is widely preferred abroad will make a certain type of person vote for Romney.

@jerv Like I said, there’s no such thing as american intelligence, so there’s nothing to overestimate. Despite the vast quantities of morons willing to sign up for Romney, I think it’s a shoe-in for Obama, relax people.

@KNOWITALL I see your approach… But I sincerely doubt Romney will do those things. The guy is a snake oil salesman, he will say what you want to hear to get your vote. You’re for that position? Hey so is he! Even though a week ago he was against it. At different times during his last year of campaigning he’s said he is going to reform welfare, and that he won’t touch welfare. He’s going to cut taxes on the rich, he’s going to leave the rich taxed as they are. He’s going to cut spending, he’s going to increase military spending. He’s for anti-abortion laws, he’s against them… no he’s for them again.

That’s the one solace I have if Romney wins. I don’t believe he will do half the shit he’s campaigning on. My fears though, are that a very right wing Republican party will push him to do crazy shit, or worse, he’ll do the budget plan he’s talking about and I’ll either see my tax deductions vanish… or our debt will be 2x as bad as it is with Obama.

@tedd That is why the party stuck Ryan in there, to get the crazy shit done. Remember the Cheney presidency?

tedd Yeah well, some of us realize Obama is no dream and ‘hope and change’ are not a ‘strategic plan’. I am not deluding myself about the last few years, that is the main difference between me and Obama voters. My accountant specifically said Obama was responsible for me losing a major deduction ($2k), so don’t expect me to support that guy. If Romney fails like Obama has, we’ll vote someone else in.

@jerv It’s ignorant to suggest that Americans not voting for Odummy are not rational or intelligent. Obama may win and if he does, I sincerely hope he learned something from the last few years, and this race. Taking care of American people and preserving the American Dream is what this is about, Obama doesn’t seem to remember what that is anymore.

@KNOWITALL It’s even more ignorant to ignore the blatant falsehoods Romney puts forth t though. And I take it that history is absolutely meaningless as well.

Sure, politicians lie, but there is a certain threshold that loses the votes of all non-ignorant people regardless of party affiliation. Crossing that threshold along with a proven history of job destruction, debt creation, and general mismanagement should lose the votes of anybody.

Your $2k is more important to you than religious freedom, gender equality, truth, justice, the national debt, foreign relations, economic stability, or anything else. If there was someone oozing Obama who wasn’t a misogynistic bigot with a vampiric approach to fiscal policy, I would vote for them, but voting for Romney just to spite Obama is foolish to the point where I cannot consider you an adult of sound mind.

@KNOWITALL I agree with @jerv. If you don’t want Obama, pick one of the other main third party candidates. Romney reminds me of Nixon and we know how slimy that mofo was.

My $2k was to show you that it’s not Romney’s tax plan screwing us, it’s Obama’s current plan that is ALREADY IN PLACE and affecting Americans like me. The blinders you proudly wear are scary.

All that about the National Debt and Religious Freedom, that is more at risk with Obama than Romney. Please throw your vote to another party, I would appreciate you helping the country by not voting for another 4 years of idiocy.

@KNOWITALL “All that about the National Debt and Religious Freedom, that is more at risk with Obama than Romney. ”

Wow. My mind is officially boggled. Are you consuming anything other than Fox News? Because this is nonsense.

I’m not a ‘news’ person, and although I know this is a liberal forum, I can’t stand to listen to people like jerv tell me Romney’s going to screw us on taxes when Obama already has/ IS right now, it’s a fact that is undeniable. I make $30k a year, so why should I be penalized during taxes?

Dear lord. @KNOWITALL – you only make $30k!?! Per year? Then why are you advocating that the rich should pay less taxes?
And exactly where did you get the idea that Obama has raised your taxes?

That’s funny, a liberal in Cali told me I was lucky the other day…lol For my area and with no kids, we’re okay. Missouri’s cost of living is very low.

My accountant told me.

@KNOWITALL How well do you know what Robert did in MA? Forget the fluff and flak; how well do you know his actual record? The only real results he had achieved are personal gain and the ability to truthfully put “Former governor” on his resume.

Looking at the actual figures for job creation, debt increases, etcetera, and comparing Robert and Obama… I would consider taking just about anybody over Romney, a man with a proven bad record. Too bad Buddy Roemer was never given a chance. He is a former governor as well, but one with a record of doing less harm than good. If you want to see a Republican in the Oval Office, stop supporting extremists and go with somebody people with more than three brain cells can vote for.

BTW, taxes are the lowest they’ve been in fifty years, so claiming your taxes have increased is false. And Missouri also has many issues. Notice that states run by Republicans have higher poverty and unemployment rates, and generally take more taxpayer money than Democrat-run states? That implies that Republicans are bad with fiscal policy.

@KNOWITALL – “My accountant told me.”

Time to for a new accountant. If your taxes have been going up (according to your accountant) since Obama has been in office, I would double-check your taxes before your accountant has fled with your money. They haven’t.

But you seem to be appalled that @jerv and others here are confused how people can vote against their own interests. When we say that there is severe ignorance in this country, this is specifically what we’re talking about. Romney made approximately $37,500 per day in 2011 by not working. He wants to do exactly what he says he wants to do – shift the tax burden away from the top earners in this country. It’s trickle-down economics, period. (Hint – it doesn’t work, and nobody even pretends it does at this point.)

I don’t get it. If you are extremely religious and happen to put aside economic issues for the sake of abortion or gay marriage, etc, I get that (somewhat). I mean, it would still make very little sense to me. But at least it would be somewhat honest. But to say that you support his economic vision is preposterous. I don’t see the angle. You don’t make that kind of money, and you will be hurt by the Republican economic policies. (And so will me and my kids.)

That is an extremely telling stat there @tom_g . Are you saying that Romney made more money in one day than @KNOWITALL made all year? And, on top of that, paid less taxes on that money?

This is just a personal point of view but whenever I hear the term “trickle-down economics” I think “piss on you”.

@rojo: Yep. According to Romney’s tax return, he made $13.7 million in 2011. So, $13,700,000/365 = $37,534.25 per day. And yes, he only paid 14% on that. @KNOWITALL paid 15% of her income.

Happy voting all, I’m not going to be ganged up on again, spending hours supplying facts and figures before we reach another stale-mate. You vote for Hope and Change and let’s see how that works out for ya, k?!~

That’s it? This is how most of my experiences have been on fluter lately.

“My taxes have gone up. That’s a fact!”

“But your tax bracket has been 10% since the Bush administration.”

“I’m leaving. I’m not going to spend hours supplying facts and figures.”

And then that’s it. If I’m wrong – which is very possible – tell me. Show me. Ugh. So frustrating.

@KNOWITALL When did you supply actual facts that could not be easily disproven and exposed as either erroneous or (more often) utter fabrications that totally defy all historical records?

@tom_g I think the real problem, and it’s one that has become blatantly obvious during this election, is that people prefer lies over facts, are shortsighted as hell, and are perfectly willing to cut off their nose to spite their face.

The issue is that they’re voting according to what “their gut” tells them… then they’ll cite or create whatever “facts” (i.e. rumour) will support their opinion.

@glacial Even going so fast as to believe that 2% is close enough to 90% to round up, comparing Bush’s U3 unemployment figures from the beginning of his term (pre-collapse) to Obama’s U6 numbers which are generally about double the U3 numbers, and generally displaying an ineptness with numbers that makes it hard to trust them with their own checkbook, let alone the federal budget.

Sadly, they are actually proud of that ignorance; they consider it a virtue.

Properly abandon Obama’s agenda as completely and quickly as allowed by the Constitution.

@Crashsequence2012 Considering that every time a plan like that has been enacted before had gone horribly wrong, I think it safe to say that that isn’t a good plan. But I think that that is Romney’s plan, regardless of how poorly it has worked in the past.

Romney wins, then we find out what happens under sequestration. What fun.