Mitt Romney's candidacy

This could turn into a war of attrition between the anybody-but-MR and anybody-but-NG campaigns, and that won't do Obama any harm at all IMO.

http://mittromney.com/sites/default/...rowth-Full.pdf

59 Policy Proposals That Will Get America Back To Work
1. Maintain current tax rates on personal income
2. Maintain current tax rates on interest, dividends, and capital gains
3. Eliminate taxes for taxpayers with AGI below $200,000 on interest, dividends, and capital gains
4. Eliminate the death tax
5. Pursue a conservative overhaul of the tax system over the long term that includes lower,
flatter rates on a broader base
6. Reduce corporate income tax rate to 25 percent
7. Pursue transition from “worldwide” to “territorial” system for corporate taxation
8. Repeal Obamacare
9. Repeal Dodd-Frank and replace with streamlined, modern regulatory framework
10. Amend Sarbanes-Oxley to relieve mid-size companies from onerous requirements
11. Ensure that environmental laws properly account for cost in regulatory process
12 Provide multi-year lead times before companies must come into compliance with
onerous new environmental regulations
13. Initiate review and elimination of all Obama-era regulations that unduly burden the economy
14. Impose a regulatory cap of zero dollars on all federal agencies
15. Require congressional approval of all new “major” regulations
16. Reform legal liability system to prevent spurious litigation
17. Implement agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea
18. Reinstate the president’s Trade Promotion Authority
19. Complete negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership
20. Pursue new trade agreements with nations committed to free enterprise and open markets
21. Create the Reagan Economic Zone
22. Increase CBP resources to prevent the illegal entry of goods into our market
23. Increase USTR resources to pursue and support litigation against unfair trade practices
24. Use unilateral and multilateral punitive measures to deter unfair Chinese practices
25. Designate China a currency manipulator and impose countervailing duties
26. Discontinue U.S. government procurement from China until China commits to GPA
27. Establish fixed timetables for all resource development approvals
28. Create one-stop shop to streamline permitting process for approval of common activities
29. Implement fast-track procedures for companies with established safety records to conduct
pre-approved activities in pre-approved areas
30. Amend Clean Air Act to exclude carbon dioxide from its purview
31. Expand NRC capabilities for approval of additional nuclear reactor designs
32. Streamline NRC processes to ensure that licensing decisions for reactors on or adjacent to
approved sites, using approved designs, are complete within two years
33. Conduct comprehensive survey of America’s energy reserves
34. Open America’s energy reserves for development
35. Expand opportunities for U.S. resource developers to forge partnerships with neighboring countries
36 Support construction of pipelines to bring Canadian oil to the United States
37. Prevent overregulation of shale gas development and extraction
38 Concentrate alternative energy funding on basic research
39. Utilize long-term, apolitical funding mechanisms like ARPA-E for basic research
40. Appoint to the NLRB experienced individuals with respect for the rule of law
41. Amend NLRA to explicitly protect the right of business owners to allocate their capital as they see fit
42. Amend NLRA to guarantee the secret ballot in every union certification election
43. Amend NLRA to guarantee that all pre-election campaigns last at least one month
44. Support states in pursuing Right-to-Work laws
45. Prohibit the use for political purposes of funds automatically deducted from worker paychecks
46. Reverse executive orders issued by President Obama that tilt the playing field toward organized labor
47. Eliminate redundancy in federal retraining programs by consolidating programs and funding streams,
centering as much activity as possible in a single agency
48. Give states authority to manage retraining programs by block granting federal funds
49. Facilitate the creation of Personal Reemployment Accounts
50. Encourage greater private sector involvement in retraining programs
51. Raise visa caps for highly skilled workers
52. Grant permanent residency to eligible graduates with advanced degrees in math, science,
and engineering
53. Immediately cut non-security discretionary spending by 5 percent
54. Reform and restructure Medicaid as block grant to states
55. Align wages and benefits of government workers with market rates
56. Reduce federal workforce by 10 percent via attrition
57. Cap federal spending at 20 percent of GDP
58. Undertake fundamental restructuring of government programs and services
59. Pursue a Balanced Budget Amendment

Nice find Oltz, a pithy summary of his positions on everything that matters to him. If I could listen to a speech from each of the candidates like this addressing each item, I might be drawn into the political process, without it I am afraid that I will be a lurker at the fringe.

For deaths occurring in 2011, up to $5,000,000 can be passed from an individual upon his or her death without incurring federal estate tax.[2]

I can make a list too, anyone can, how will these be done and why, what are the pros and cons, and can or should they be done and how will each one of these supposedly help the mid to lower classes? Obviously I don't see a lot of these as being good for anyone but the rich and the business owners. Repeal the death tax? Yeah, that's going to help me...NOT. How many members here are planning to inherit more than $5 million?

I personally disagree with half of that list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estate_..._United_States

I can make a list too, anyone can, how will these be done and why, what are the pros and cons, and can or should they be done and how will each one of these supposedly help the mid to lower classes?

Also, has anybody bothered to notice that the President can't legislate?

... I don't see a lot of these as being good for anyone but the rich and the business owners. ...

Do you have anything that shows it's not true?

I can make a list too, anyone can, how will these be done and why, what are the pros and cons, and can or should they be done and how will each one of these supposedly help the mid to lower classes? Obviously I don't see a lot of these as being good for anyone but the rich and the business owners. Repeal the death tax? Yeah, that's going to help me...NOT. How many members here are planning to inherit more than $5 million?

I personally disagree with half of that list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estate_..._United_States

Hello...Occam here...could it be because it isn't true?

^ People who have been around long enough to see companies destroyed when their pension funds were supposedly "overfunded" and were taken over, and lost their jobs due to predatory tactics used by "venture" capitalists may never be persuaded to pull the lever for Mitt. He is out-of-touch with voters, IMO, and older voters especially. Too many of us have been on the receiving end of his brand of capitalism. He seems like an earnest and pleasant guy, but I think his past will haunt him. That leaves Gingrich as the "inevitable" candidate and he has even more personal (and belt-way) baggage to be seriously considered in the general election.

On the tax question I think Romney should say,

"I paid $3 million in taxes in 2010."

In answer to follow up questions about percentages, he should say,

"I paid $3 million in taxes in 2010. I gave away another $3 million in charitable donations in 2010"