Are We Electing a President or a Plutocrat?

By Rawlein G. Soberano

GERMANTOWN, MD (Nov. 1, 2012) — This is a very important election in our lifetime — with a GOP candidate that we do not really know from the GOP primary.

Compare the points he underscored to his previous statements on these same issues! Does Romney plan to win the presidency with massive lies? In the debate, Romney lied about so many issues when he holds the opposite view, e.g., more teachers, police officers, and firefighters, no tax increase for anyone, increase in gas and oil production on federal land, regulation of banks and financial institutions, healthcare, et al. Republicans operate under a different light — “It’s not a lie if you believe it.”

When Romney raised the figure of $90 billion, drawn from the 2009 stimulus package but it wasn’t all spent, and a lot of the green energy spending that went out the door on Obama’s watch, was authorized during the Bush administration. The biggest component of the $90 billion was $29 billion in energy efficiency, of which $5 billion involved improvements in the home and apartment of low-income households, $5 billion went to clean up nuclear weapon sites, $4 billion went to modernize the electricity grid, $3 billion to capture carbon and storage projects needed to make coal “clean” and $2 billion to rescue and development which Romney has supported. There was $18 billion for fast trains and $21 billion for wind farms, solar panels and other renewable energy. Supporters think that much of the energy spending drew in private capital.

When the country is struggling so much to recover from mass job losses, one would think politicians would do the best they could at helping struggling Americans. Not true with Republicans. They never cared for “us.” They only care about their real constituents: Big Business and the 2012 presidential election, how they can steal it like they did in 2000 and 2004 through voter suppression and intimidation. Mitt Romney was right when he claimed about being No.1 when he was governor, not in education as he clamored but in state debt. He wants to kill Big Bird, but will allow Big Oil to keep $70 billion in tax break. He boasted about creating 12 million jobs over the next four years if he is elected president. That is actually about as many jobs as the country is expected to create, regardless as to who is president, according to some economic forecasters.

Is Mitt Romney not just clueless and disconnected from the general population but ignorant and stupid as well from what we have read about him, from domestic policies to foreign affairs? It is becoming very clear that he is being pulled from all sides by different vested-interest groups and does not want to displease any of them. In plain language, he doesn’t have the brains nor the balls to be president. Romney’s 2011 tax return is 379 pages long (2010 returns contained 203 pages). A full 268 pages are devoted to listing his investments in 34 offshore corporations or partnerships, including 15 in the Cayman Islands. Of the 34 offshore companies, 30 are located in countries considered to be tax havens by the GAO. His investment income flows from his retirement package from Bain Capital. Unlike most retired financiers, he was allowed to receive his Bain retirement as carried interest (taxed at 15 percent) rather than ordinary income (taxed at 35 percent) that wealthiest Americans pay on ordinary income. It saved him $1.2 million in taxes in 2011. He would have paid $3.1 million in taxes without that special treatment.

When will Mitt Romney’s travails end? From his embarrassing criticism of the London Olympics to his awkward pandering to the Israelis to his bumbling handling of the Middle East unrest to the inside infighting in his campaign to the release of the secretly-taped video of his whining about the 47 percent, it’s hard to keep your head high as a Republican. What is his campaign doing to appeal to voters? Nearly 70 percent of Hispanic votes are going to Pres. Obama, up from 63 percent in mid-September.  During a town hall meeting with Univision, Mitt Romney packed the hall with non-students because they could not find enough supporters on campus. When the anchor gave an introduction that Mitt didn’t like, he refused to go until they re-taped it. A Republican present called it a temper tantrum. He threatened to re-schedule if he did not get exempted on the student-only rule, and then packed the forum with rowdy supporters who ignored the rules not to applaud. It was disrespectful of Univision on the part of his campaign.

He spent much of the primary season broadcasting a hard stance on immigration, and famously suggested he would make life so unbearable for those in the US without papers they would “self-deport.” Though he has moved gingerly to the center once he had clinched the nomination, he knows the Latinos have increasingly become a growing part of the electorate. He suggested not needing healthcare reform for uninsured Americans, because “we have emergency room,” despite previously calling such a mentality irresponsible and socialist. He fraudulently claimed he would create 12 million jobs in the next 4 years, even though he knows he would have nothing to do with it.

The Tax Policy Center study suggests that 46 percent of Americans do not pay federal income taxes which has become the basis for conservative outrage and demands for tax reform arguments for “broadening the tax base.” But the Tax Policy Center paints a different conclusion that was mirrored in Romney’s remark that somehow there is massive tax avoidance or inequity. Of the 46 percent, roughly half or 23 percent of households do not pay income taxes because their household income is below the minimum threshold. Based on the Census data, the upper limit of the lowest quintile of household income distribution was $20,262 in 2011, so an income of $26,400 would place a family of 4 in the lower range of the second quintile of family income distribution. Standard deduction of $11,600 and 4 exemptions of $3,700 each eliminate their income tax liability.

The other half of households that did not pay federal income tax, comprising 23 percent of overall household units, were recipients of tax expenditures that offset their income tax liabilities. Of that 23 percent, three-fourths had their federal tax liabilities eliminated by tax credits for the elderly (44 percent) and tax credits for the elderly and working poor (30 percent) and tax credits supported by Democrats and Republicans to ameliorate poverty in America.  It is turning out that the majority of the Romney supporters constitute the 47 percent he criticized, e.g., southern states, senior citizens buying Romney’s pitch on social security, members of the military, white males, et al. who are doubtful of going to the polls in November.

Why is he so disliked? It’s nothing personal; it’s strictly business! He comes across as an awkward mix of Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller without any of the redeeming qualities. How can somebody in a campaign (during the primary) be this dishonest and think he is going to use his lack of credibility to run for president? The only thing that unites his supporters is their anti-Obama hatred. They just cannot stand a black man in the White House. They’d rather see him and his family live under a bridge. They’re willing to see this country go under if it hurts Pres Obama. His career-long of flip-flops and lies, from abortion to gay rights to healthcare reform to climate change to assault weapons re-enforce these points. His approach of burying opponents in an avalanche of negative ads, as he did in IA and FL, seem out of line with a man of deep morals and religious faith (?) which only underscores his big-time hypocrisy.

The Republican platform is a parasitic relationship between economic elites and social conservatives. Economic elites do not want to enter the 21st century because the 20th century was so lucrative for them. They prefer the old ways. Social conservatives don’t want to enter the 21st century because the 20th century afforded them white racial prestige, patriarchy, etc. Economic & social conservatives both prefer the previous century.

The Biggest Lie of the GOP concocted: Fabricating a Failed Obama Presidency. BHO’s tenure has been marked by failure to fulfill his own promises to grow the economy and cut the deficit while squandering his historic opportunity to lead the world. The truth is: Pres. Obama’s critics must fictionalize his record to justify supporting Republicans who have failed in every way the President succeeded—preventing a Great Depression, saving the auto industry, passing student loan, credit card and healthcare reform while receiving trillions in deficit cuts, bringing down Osama bin Laden and the destruction of al Quaeda leadership, ending one war and convincing the nation to responsibly end another.

Mitt Romney is bad for America for many reasons. He is a plutocrat, selfish, greedy, habitual liar, dishonest, secretive, anti-poor, anti-woman, offshore king, big investor outside America, birther, doesn’t follow Mormon church’s teachings, champion of private equity takeover, predatory capitalist, biggest jobs exporter to China, strong sense of entitlement to feel above the law, proclivity to violate the law, obnoxious bully, draft dodger/chicken hawk, coward who begot 5 others, involved in Medicare fraud (Damon Corp), hired illegal immigrants (gardeners for over 10 years), ill-gotten money, denier of global warming, unable to connect with common people, more comfortable with Fascist-Nazi strategies, running for president in the past 8 years, fuzzy credentials, questionable math, more talk than action regarding accomplishments, conveniently forgets what he had said and done. On top of all that, he claims to have done it before (?), and he can and will do it again (?). America cannot afford this buffoon.