Which Middle Class is Romney Referring to?

I haven’t been on Romney’s website for a while but yesterday I was back at it, scrutinizing it as usual. I feel embarrassed that while there I saw what at I believed it was Mitt Romney's announcement of his choice for VP.  I was wrong and I do apologize for my mistake, I'll be more cautious in the future.

Moving forward, today's subject will be Mitt’s “Plan for a Stronger Middle Class”. Yes, you didn’t misread… Romney has a plan or so he says. But I wonder which Middle Class is this plan for? I know it is not for our Middle Class. It must be for the ones in his circle, since the people at his financial level have different wealth categories: Poor (≥$1,000,000 ≤$29,999,999), Middle Class (≥$30,000,000 ≤$999,999,999) and Wealthy (≥$1,000,000,000) – I guess Romney is talking about his Middle Class, definitively not ours.

His plan consists of five points: Energy Independence, Skills to Succeed, Trade that Works for America, Cut the Deficit and Champion Small Businesses.

ENERGY INDEPENDENCE: Romney says that he will increase access to domestic energy resources and streamline permitting for exploration and development. All this means is that he will allow more offshore and onshore drilling, lifting restrictions that are currently in place to either protect the oceans or our forest and national parks. This also means fracking and endangering our water reserves everywhere. We are constantly watching the consequences of fracking, but even though there was a time when Romney was against anything that would endanger the environment but that Romney is a thing of the past if he ever existed, especially if by “fracking” the environment he gets elected. There will be no limitations to where the oil moguls can extract the fossil fuel that keeps our umbilical cord forever attached and dependent of oil. And that is what Mitt Romney calls “energy independence.”

Further on the same issue, he promises to eliminate the regulations that are restricting the coal industry. Once more he will be helping the middle class group in his world. The environment can go to hell; our air can be contaminated as long as the coal industry is happy and their campaign dollars keep pouring in.

Last on this point and just to reinforce his complete disregard for this planet and its inhabitants he promises that he will approve the Keystone XL Pipeline project!

SKILLS TO SUCCEED: Romney offers what he thinks is his educational plan but it is not, since it has been proposed before. He mentions that he wants to give every family access to a great school and quality teachers. How many students will be able to go to a “great school” if everyone has access to it? What he is proposing is nothing more than a voucher system that will benefit those kids from wealthy neighborhoods but do nothing for kids from the ghetto. Quite the contrary, while the schools that are considered to be the best will attract the best teachers and the largest quantity of kids and therefore more substantial funding the schools in the poor districts will hire those teachers that are not as good hence receiving less funding than an A school, providing a mediocre education to children in the poor neighborhoods.

He also mentions that he will make higher education more affordable and effective. Is that what he meant when he replied to a student that he should shop around to find, not the best college but an affordable one? I guess the access he mentions must be a list of crappy colleges that the poor (our poor) kids can afford. No more Pell grants or financial aid.

For adults, Romney says he will focus on job training programs, which by the way, it already exists so all he will be doing is continuing it instead of eliminating it… Unless he will eliminate the funding of these programs and charge the unemployed to receive the necessary training which wouldn’t surprise me. These job training programs are nothing more than vocational schools which are offered at many vocational schools and at night at most high schools throughout the country and which will prepare you for a blue collar job.

Romney also wants to “attract and retain the best and the brightest from around the world”, not being content with outsourcing our jobs to foreign countries now he wants to “insource” the workers from foreign countries. This means that we will be losing our jobs both to abroad and in our country as well. These “best and brightest” will work for less than an American with the same skills would, since for them coming to America with a work permit and the promise of a green card a few years later is incentive enough to accept the job for much less, actually it would be their dream come true.

I would love to know how does this help the REAL American Middle Class? So far, all these points benefit Romney’s “middle class” not ours.

TRADE THAT WORKS FOR AMERICA: On this topic, Romney, once more, singles out China. I agree that China has taken advantage of us and that something must be done; I just don’t think that being so openly hostile during the presidential run will help at all in dealing with China, who practically owns us, in the future if, may the FSM protect us, Romney becomes president. This constant attack on China can be dangerous, China might demand we pay them what we owe them and we all know we can’t pay back at this time. Of course, maybe Romney is planning to pay our debt to China with his own money in which case I will be all for it.

Romney wants to open new markets for American goods and services. He fails to mention that thanks to him and Bain Capital we barely have “goods and services” that we can sell to anyone. Besides oil, movies, automobiles (most parts are made overseas) and Monsanto’s poison… what “goods” are we currently manufacturing that we can export?

Latin America seems to be very attractive to Romney, he keeps mentioning that he wants to build stronger economic ties there. I guess he is probably thinking that is a good place to outsource more jobs; they’re closer which will mean cheaper import charges and cost and a place where he might find those “bright and best” workers that he wants to attract and retain.

Last on this issue is the damn “Reagan Economic Zone” which is nothing more than a group of countries that will trade among themselves, but excluding those that might not be in agreement with us such as Cuba, Venezuela, China and perhaps Russia. There is already a group that does not restrain countries: The World TradeOrganization.  Romney seems not to like this organization since it does not have the ridiculous nonsensical name of “Reagan Economic Zone”. Wait, I get it! Reagan was senile and had Alzheimer, is he talking about creating an Old and Crazy Economic Zone? Yes, that’s probably it, encoded!

CUT THE DEFICIT: Romney promises to reduce non-security discretionary spending by five percent and Cap federal spending by 20% of the economy. That means cutting on Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps and all the public services offered to the poor, our poor, and the elderly – the parasites of society according to the GOP. Once more the ones that need help the most will be the one “saving” the economy while the fat cats rejoice in their good fortune.

He also wants to delegate to the States the responsibility for these programs, and we know what a disaster that would be. We have seen how compassionate some of these Governors can be towards our seniors, our poor and our veterans; all we have to do is take a look at Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, etc.

Mitt Romney is also proposing to align the salaries of federal workers with those in the private sector. Will that include members of Congress? If it does, I am all for it but I seriously doubt it!

CHAMPION SMALL BUSINESS: Taxes (which Romney refuses to show) will be once more reduced for job creators through individual and corporate tax reform. This is nothing more than the so well known trickledown economics that have yielded so many jobs during the decade they’ve been in place. This is nothing more than a permanent extension or increase of the Bush tax credit for the wealthiest Americans. He is also proposing to get rid of taxes altogether and instead increase the sales tax across the board to approximately 23%, this sounds very nice and fair until you start thinking about it. Let’s say you want to buy a new car.  The price of the car is $25,000 and the sales tax would be $5,750 plus interests. If your salary is $51,000 (average middle class salary) the sales tax you will be paying for your car represents 11% of your net salary. Now, let’s assume you are among the wealthiest American, those that enjoy having one billion dollars or more and you want to buy the most expensive new car in the world, the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport with a price tag of $2,400,000.  The sales tax for this baby would be $552,000 and most likely you would not pay interests because you can buy it on the spot without the need to finance it. Assuming you only have one billion dollars and not a penny more, you will be paying 0.06% of your net worth. The same goes for everything else, from eggs to a home. Does this “tax reform” still look fair to you? I don’t think so.

Romney will eliminate regulations because according to him it’s damaging “job creators.” Mitt wants Wall Street, the Oil Industry, the Coal mining industry and any other industry currently being regulated to do as they please. I can’t believe that deregulating is back on the scene, it  barely has been four years since we experienced the worst global economic collapse since the Depression as the result of this dangerous tactic and from which we haven’t emerged yet but apparently Romney believes it worked just fine.

Unions didn’t go unnoticed in Romney’s plan, after all they work to protect and defend the rights of workers against greedy and unfair employers. That is unthinkable in Romney’s world! So in his plan he promises to protect “workers” and businesses from labor unions. What he will really be protecting is the corporations not the workers.

And finally, Romney promises to replace Romneycare… I mean, Obamacare and replace it with Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” where Medicare and Medicaid will be privatize and only the wealthy will be able to afford excellent insurance coverage while the true middle class and the poor will have to content with a second-rate health care plan since the voucher they will be getting will not allow them to afford a good or excellent insurance coverage.

The Puppet Show

It is common knowledge that politics is a “dirty” business, but Republicans have taken it to the filthy level. It is repulsive to see how they have no scruples. Sadly, they know perfectly well that their base is very gullible and that in their hateful minds any lies that it’s constructed to tarnish our President’s reputation will not only be believed but also welcomed, generating the anger and ire of the Tea-baggers and the Republican base. 

I take the latest comment of the GOP’s puppet, Mitt Romney, as a desperate action. After his disastrous European tour, where Romney illustrated his qualifications as a contender for Head of State and where he was the subject of mockery, both abroad and at home, because of his ineptitude Romney has resorted to this new attack on President Obama which is nothing more than an attempt to salvage a comatose campaign that is desperately grasping for air.

President Obama's lawsuit claiming it is unconstitutional for Ohio to allow servicemen and women extended early voting privileges during the state’s early voting period is an outrage.

The brave men and women of our military make tremendous sacrifices to protect and defend our freedoms, and we should do everything we can to protect their fundamental right to vote.

I stand with the fifteen military groups that are defending the rights of military voters, and if I'm entrusted to be the commander-in-chief, I'll work to protect the voting rights of our military, not undermine them.

For those of you that don't know where Mitt Romney got his idea about President Obama suing the State of Ohio and for those that might believe such allegations, let me tell you exactly what the suit is all about, in simple words and not the legal mumble jumble. The State of Ohio just passed a law [HB224] that will impose different dead-lines for in-person early voting between the military and civilians.  Ohioans were able to  early vote starting three days prior to Election Day, with this new law this is prohibited except for the military.  All the suit is demanding is the restoration of the three day early voting rights to all Ohioans, not just the military.  That's basically it.

President Obama is not against the military, quite the contrary. But President Obama wants the rights of all citizens to be honored and respected, not just a few. As it is customary with Romney and the GOP, they don’t dare debating on true issues because they know they will lose, so they twist the truth and hope that it will stick.

Republicans know they can't fight President Obama using the truth, so they must fabricate lies. We’ve seen them do it over and over: Obama was born in Kenya; Obama needs to show his birth certificate; Obama wants to implement a “death panel”; Obama is gay; Obama will favor African-Americans; Obama wants a racial war… and the list of unfounded lies goes on and on. It is truly heartrending to realize that there are people that are too lazy to research for the truth in an era where there is nothing secret anymore. At a time when with a few strokes at the keyboard and the Internet you can find out everything you want to know. But the right base is lazy, mostly uneducated and let’s face it, it is far easier and takes less effort to believe all the absurdities reported by Fox News (no news there), the ridiculous never ending accusations of Michele Bachmann and those of the GOP’s marionette, Mitt Romney.

America can't afford to have another puppet for president. America can't go back in time as the Right wants... The future is always ahead of us, never behind us... Let's move forward, let's re-elect President Obama for four more years and remove all the Tea-baggers and Obstructionists from Congress. If we want to move forward, we can't surround ourselves with retrogrades.

The Tour of a Madman

After the fiasco and embarrassment of his London “tour”, Romney's next stop was Israel. While in Jerusalem he gave a Press Conference where he offered to back up the State of Israel in ANY way necessary against Iran, if he was to become president of the United States. In other words, he is serving our youth on a silver platter to engage in yet another war, one perhaps more dangerous than any we’ve been involved before and with catastrophic consequences not only for our young men and women, but for the people of Israel, the people of Palestine, Iran and the world: a nuclear war.

That Romney is so irresponsible as to make these type of assertions, doesn't surprise anyone.  That the Jewish people in America can see through him and this speech will not make them change their minds, it is also known.  But we all know that Romney is willing to sell his soul to the devil if by doing so he would get a chance to be in charge of the most powerful country on earth.  Romney has no limits to his ambition, and if "a little nuclear war in the Middle East" will get him elected... then so be it!

However, in a town hall meeting in Ottumwa, Iowa during his presidential campaign in 2007 Romney was very “appreciative” of Hezbollah and their democratic ways, so much so that he though that Hezbollah was an example of diplomacy and couldn’t praise them enough.

It is sad that Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu believes all that Romney is promising. Promises he is making to get the Jewish vote in America. It is sad the PM Netanyahu publicly said: “Mitt, I couldn’t agree with you more and I think it’s important to do everything in our power to prevent the Ayatollahs from possessing that capability. We have to be honest and say that all of those sanctions and diplomacy so far have not set back the Iranian program by one iota. And that is why I think that we need a strong and credible military threat coupled with the sanctions to have a chance to change that situation. We’re going to discuss all these issues and the turbulent region that the Middle East has now become in our talks. I want you to know that in this great convulsion, there is one stable democratic ally of the United States here in the Middle East and that is Israel; and that is why I think its strengthening the relationship between America and Israel is in the interest of peace and benefits both our countries and I believe your visit it’s an expression of that desire on both of our people. So, I welcome you here on behalf of the State of Israel, the champion of democracy in the Middle East as a representative of the United States the greatest champion of freedom in the world. Welcome to Jerusalem. “

We all know the relationship between PM Netanyahu and President Obama has not been the best, but for Netanyahu to be discussing in private with none other than Romney about Israel’s state matters is not only inconceivable but quite honestly, irresponsible. After Romney announced to the world that he met with MI6 (which is supposed to be top secret) how can any head of state confide anything to this idiot is beyond me!

While in Israel Romney is using the Israel’s conflict with Iran as a ploy to get what he wants, the American Jewish votes. By offering our full support if Israel is to go to war with Iran he is hoping that the State of Israel will support him, if not financially with their votes. PM Netanyahu and obviously Romney (who really doesn’t care what happens) have ignored warnings from two former Mossad Directors, Meir Dagan and Efraim Halevy.

Efraim Halevy goes as far as suggesting that the constant mention of the Iran nuclear threat is a fear tactic from those in power to arouse the people, both domestically and internationally.

These two experienced men are basically warning the world of the consequences of provoking Iran and yet, that is precisely what Romney and PM Netanyahu are doing. If Iran is at the early stages and years away from acquiring nuclear weapons… do we truly believe that with these threats they will stop or speed up the process to “defend” themselves? I think we all know the answer to that question.

Flop, Flop, Flip, Flip… Oh What A Big Twit He Is!

Mitt Romney is the most inconsistent person that has ever ran for any governmental position during my lifetime, certainly a man with little or no convictions, who is willing to do and say anything in order to get what he wants, on this occasion getting elected.

Following is just a few of the issues where Mitt disagrees with himself:

Flip: 1994. Agriculture. When he was running for Senator of Massachusetts Romney said he wanted to eliminate the Department of Agriculture and called for reducing farm subsidiaries.

Flop: 2007. When he was trying to be the GOP contender for the Presidency, he changed his tune. In 2007 he loved agriculture and firmly believed that agriculture was “key to the economy and the American people.” By 2012, I guess agriculture is no longer the “key to the economy or the American people” since the subject is not even mentioned on his website.

Flip: 2003. Environment. While Governor of Massachusetts he was a big supporter of regulating coal power plants and implementing tough emissions standards. He believed in global warming, in the greenhouse effects and he went as far as issuing a 72-point Climate Protection Plan. Surprisingly and unusual coming from him, he maintained his position for eight years and on June 2011 during an interview he said that he believed in global warming and also that humans contributed to it. 

 

Flop: 2011. A month later, in July during a town hall meeting in Derry, NH he is against regulating coal power plants and now believes that carbon emissions do not harm our bodies. Three months later, in October he completely abandons what he had fought for and believed for so long and publicly states that there is no such thing as global warming. Eloquently he said these words of wisdom: “By the way, they do not call it America warming, they call it global warming it loses jobs for Americans and ultimately it won’t be successful, because industries that are energy intensive will just get up and go somewhere else.”

Flip: 2006. Health Care. As Governor of Massachusetts, Romney created the blueprint on which “Obamacare” was later built. In 2009, Romney publicly suggested to Obama to use tax penalties or credits to induce people to acquire insurance.

Flop: 2007. A year later, in the midst of the Tea Party and the GOP outrage for “Obamacare” Mitt changed his mind and sided with the Right calling Obamacare “an unconstitutional abuse of power.” By 2011 Romney was a full pledge supporter of the Ryan plan “The Path to Prosperity.” Today, Obamacare is one of the thousand things he is going to repeal on “his first day in office.”

Flip: 2002. Campaign Funding. During his Senate Campaign Romney proposed spending limits on congressional campaigns and abolishing political action committees (PAC). 

Flop: 2007.  In 2007, a few months after leaving the Governorship, Mitt Romney was against the McCain-Feingold Law claiming that it was unconstitutional. Back then, Mitt Romney said “We step into dangerous territory when politicians start eviscerating our fundamental freedoms in the name of amorphous principles, like campaign finance reform.” Today he is more than happy to receive and accept unlimited funds from PAC, Citizen’s United and the Koch Brothers.

Flip: 2008. Auto Industry. When the American Automobile Industry was desperately trying to keep their heads above water and avoiding bankruptcy, Mitt said on national television “Let Detroit go bankrupt.” The modern version of “Let them eat cake.”

Flop: 2012. Romney has the audacity to say that President Obama followed his advice!

Flip: 2009. Stimulus. On January Mitt Romney gave his opinion about the stimulus by saying “I think there is a need for an economic stimulus. Americans have lost about $11 trillion in net worth. That translates into about $400 billion a year less sending that they’ll be doing, and that’s net of additional government programs like Medicaid and unemployment insurance. And government can help make that up in a very difficult time. And that’s one of the reasons why I think a stimulus program is needed.”

Flop: 2012. Romney openly criticized Obama saying “[Obama] wants another stimulus, he wants to hire more government workers. He says we need more firemen, more policeman, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It’s time for us to cut back on government and help the American people.”

Flip: 1994. Abortion. Mitt Romney believed that abortion should be legal and during his Senatorial campaign he said: “regardless of one's beliefs about choice, you would hope it would be safe and legal.” Further, when accused by Ted Kennedy of his position being a “multiple choice” he stressed his position by stating “On the accusation of being 'multiple-choice', I have to respond. I have my own beliefs, and those beliefs are very dear to me. One of them is that I do not impose my beliefs on other people. Many, many years ago, I had a dear, close family relative that was very close to me who passed away from an illegal abortion. It is since that time my mother and my family have been committed to the belief that we can believe as we want, but we will not force our beliefs on others on that matter. And you will not see me wavering on that, or being multiple-choice, thank you very much.”

Flop: 2005. No longer running for Governor or in office, Mitt Romney changed his believes and erased from his mind that "dear, close family relative" that passed away from an illegal abortion. He said in an interview for the Boston Globe on July “I am pro-life. I believe that abortion is the wrong choice except in cases of incest, rape, and to save the life of the mother. I wish the people of America agreed, and that the laws of our nation could reflect that view. But while the nation remains so divided over abortion, I believe that the states, through the democratic process, should determine their own abortion laws and not have them dictated by judicial mandate." However, Mitt Romney is the only Republican presidential candidate that refused to sign the Pro-Life Pledge sponsored by Susan B. Anthony.

Flip: 2002. Stem Cell. Mitt Romney was an advocate for stem cell research and promised to lobby George W. Bush to accept steam cell research.

Flop: 2008. By this time, Romney advocates banning stem cell research because “it cheapens the sanctity of life.”

Flip: 1994. Gun Control. Romney supported the Brady Bill and some gun regulations. He acknowledged that probably that decision wasn’t going to make him any friends at the NRA. He said back then “That's not going to make me the hero of the NRA. I don't line up with the NRA.”

Flop: 2008. Romney joined the NRA.

Flip: 1994. Gay Rights. Romney supported gay rights and proposed a policy for domestic partnerships. In 2002, he said: “All citizens deserve equal rights, regardless of their sexual orientation." Romney said that domestic partnership status should be recognized in a way that includes the potential for health benefits and rights of survivorship.

Flop: 2011. Romney opposes gay marriage however; he still supports policies to grant rights to domestic partnerships. It must be said that on the same year, Romney refused to sign a pledge opposing gay marriage but by October he had signed the 2012 Presidential Pledge sponsored by the National Organization for Marriage.

I am sure that the flip-flopping will continue. Mitt Romney can’t help himself, he wants to win and will say whatever is necessary to win... Except going against his sugar daddies, that is when he draws the line after all, the one thing he firmly believes in is that money talks and bullshit walks!

Some information obtained through Wikipedia