That's what Decision 2012 is beginning to feel like. When the assumed winner of last night's debate is Newt Gingrich only because he didn't lowrate himself by engaging in petty bickering with his fellow running mates (although he got a bit testy when Mitt accused him of originating the health care mandate), there may be some trouble. Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment rattles hollow and distant in the tunnel of time. Who else got the feeling that Perry was just a few additional harsh words from Mitt away from turning the debate into an episode of the Jerry Springer show? Romney was also flustered to the point of actually looking human for the first time. So he probably came out ahead on the exchange, by default. Meanwhile Santorum comes across sort of like an internet joker trying to stir things up for attention while Cain remained composed despite attacks designed to make him look like a moron. He's impressive, but keeps making goofy mistakes.
Sigh. Yet the alternative remains clear.
5 comments:
Seeing the expanded explanation of his 9-9-9, I'm not so sure about it. Enclaves of people with special privileges? The ability for those people to not abide by the minimum wage, to have other special privileges that the rest of the citizens don't? I need to read a lot more about this.
Debbie
Right Truth
http://www.righttruth.typepad.com
That has to be done to keep it fair. It's the same thing with the Fair Tax. There really is no simple solution, and if Cain backpeddles at all he'll be toast. Too bad, too, because he seems like the only true leader of the lot.
The taxes in 9-9-9 are taxes we are all currently paying but at a higher rate.
Corporate taxes are 39% now and they are embedded in the price of goods and services. 9% is far lower and the savings to a corporation could be enough to jump start some investments that will produce more jobs.
Income taxes are higher for those of us who are in the middle class. The payroll tax for those in the lower incomes are will be eliminated and replaced with the 9%. More money in people's pockets will likely get spent, knowing how America loves to get new stuff.
Sales tax is the only burden, but with the lowering of the other taxes, it will not be such a burden and will likely wash out lower than the current burden. Keep in mind that the sales tax in his proposal will be on new goods. Buying a used car will not incur a sales tax at all.
The biggest argument should be whether or not it will meet the revenue needs of a nation that is so deeply in debt that we cannot see the forest for the trees. I suspect that Cain, being the numbers man that he is, has crunched the numbers and it will work, but only if the economy is jump started by this. And he has to get it passed.
But as AC and I have agreed in the past. This will be the difficult part. As in the Fair Tax, this plan will strip power from the politicians and this, alone, will make it tough to enact. But...if there is overwhelming support for it and the pols are aware that they may not see re-election if it is not supported by them, it may have a chance. They do love being in office.
Right now, I don't see anyone else that has anything better to talk about in these debates, except how great they are and how they know what to do. I am tired of the self-aggrandizement, I want solutions.
And LA, Herman Cain is about solutions. He's a little rough around the edges of knowing how to play and react to the media traps, but if he was a former CEO he should be a fast learner.
There's a reason Hillary made fun of him in front of Karzai the other day. They don't make fun of also-rans.
The fun may end soon for the lot of them. He seems to be gaining strength. He has no infrastructure in Iowa, but leads in the polls.
His biggest deficit will be foreign policy, but as a good CEO, that's where he has to find the right person to head up that division.
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