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The presidential election in 2012 is more than a year away, but for the candidates, the campaign is already barreling full steam ahead. Many news websites now have an entire section dedicated to the 2012 elections, and debates between candidates are becoming more frequent.
The candidates are committed to their fundraising efforts, raising up to tens of millions of dollars for their campaigns. Currently, the front runners for the Republican candidacy are Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Herman Cain.
But Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, has left the public confused.
During Romney’s term as governor of MA, he signed the Massachusetts Health Care Act into law, requiring that all citizens of the Bay State have health insurance. This health care act is often viewed as the model for Obamacare.
However, Romney reportedly believes that “Obamacare should be repealed and replaced.”
On his campaign website, Romney expresses his belief that a new health care law should give more power to the states in designing their own health care programs and less power to the federal government.
Instead of strengthening his campaign, Romney’s health care has become a popular issue for his critics to attack.
Romney is being questioned for taking inconsistent sides on other issues as well. There are multiple claims that he has changed his position on abortion, gay rights, gun control, immigration, and, of course, health care. Recently, Rick Perry released this video attacking Romney:
The Democratic National Committee recently created a website called “Which Mitt?” The website includes quizzes where the audience must select which stance, out of three, they believe Mitt Romney supports. Two of the choices are conflicting, and the last is “all of the above”. Not surprisingly, the “correct” answer to all six questions is “all of the above”.
Although Romney is the strongest candidate in the polls, he is undoubtedly going to be a very controversial candidate and will be featured in many attack ads.
Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, is also receiving a lot of press. However, Perry, who recently got 6% of the votes in the New Hampshire poll, is falling behind the other candidates.
Unless Perry has a strong showing at the next debate, he will most likely not remain a front runner for this election.
While Perry seems to be losing momentum, Herman Cain is gaining popularity. Cain recently won 13% of the votes in the New Hampshire poll.
Even though Cain is a political novice, he has already outlined a tax plan called the 9-9-9 plan. This plan will make the national sales tax and the income tax for people and corporations 9%. The 9-9-9 plan, Cain says, will help end America’s economic turmoil.
Although the 9-9-9 plan is controversial, Cain has been very clear and specific in outlining his goals and ideas to the public. This will undoubtedly help his popularity; the American people are looking for answers, and Cain is not giving them inconsistent positions or generalized ideas.
While each political competitor’s popularity rises and falls in the polls, we are being fed a steady stream of news and media surrounding each candidate. Attack ads are rolling out and fundraising efforts for each campaign are in full swing. The final election may be more than a year away, but one thing is for sure: political competitors don’t procrastinate.
jnp • Oct 20, 2011 at 1:13 PM
Ah, how quick people are to dismiss a flat tax. I’d love to hear some research on the various flat tax proposals though the past few Presidential Elections…Steve Forbes in the past, Cain today. I think it'd make for an interesting article.
This, as Rick Perry announces his plans to release a flat tax proposal next week: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/10/20/politica….
On another note,
The current tax code is over 71,000 pages in length! “…for every dollar of business and personal income taxes paid, some 30 cents in out-of-pocket expenses also were paid to comply with the tax code.” (See “The 30-cent Tax Premium”.) It sounds like something needs fixing—beyond the smoke and mirrors of simply tinkering with the current tax code.
Liberal Elite • Oct 17, 2011 at 7:56 AM
As a Waylander, my life has always been lived with riches while many more have lived their lives the other way. Do people not remember the "Golden Days" of the American economy (between the 1950s and 1980s) when the highest income rate was around 70% for top earners? Why must we lower taxes and let the rich get richer while others suffer from a lack of government resources? Repeal the Bush tax cuts, raise taxes on the rich (practically everyone in Wayland) and do not pass 9-9-9.
TTDem • Oct 14, 2011 at 9:08 AM
Do you guys know what the 9-9-9 plan will actually do? Herman Cain has no backing for his plan except "top economists" which he likely made up completely. Please prove me wrong and point out anybody who he has named, who does not have a specific, conservative agenda (getting money for him or herself). Also, you do realize that his plan cuts completely taxes specifically targeted at large corporations, and piles the pressure even more onto middle and lower classes, who already suffer most in the economic state we are in. My question is, what is your position on this plan? And in recent events, what is your position on the occupy Wall Street movement, particularly the arrests made by Boston Police in occupy Boston, and Mayor Menino's comments that he will "not tolerate civil disobedience?"
Christine Cocce • Oct 15, 2011 at 8:17 PM
One of the major problems we find in Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan is that it is too controversial. It is highly unlikely that this plan, or one similar to it, would ever pass the Senate. This is one of the major issues we have with the plan. By proposing a very conservative solution, it will of course be counteracted with a very liberal solution, and thus a strong ongoing debate between both sides occurs. Cain should be proposing more of a compromise. There are other problems within the plan, including the dramatically high proposed 9% national tax. However, the plan does have its merits. The 9% tax is based on income level, so the plan is generally fair. Most importantly, it is simple and clearly defined. It gives the American people a very direct answer as to what Herman Cain intends to implement if elected.
On the subject of the occupy Boston protests, we are hoping to have a future blog on the subject. So stay tuned! We need to do more research on the protests before we formulate a position. We do, however, understand the frustrations behind the movement.
TTDem • Oct 17, 2011 at 7:46 AM
The main problem with the plan is that it's ridiculous. The national tax you referred to, a sales tax, will impact lower income brackets much more than higher income brackets. The middle class in particular, proportionally, has the highest level of consumer spending in the country. So it's acceptable to tax the poor but the rich is out of the question? Further the flat tax based on "income level" is anything but fair. Do billionaires really need more billions of dollars? if you understand economics, you understand that saving the richest Americans a few more million dollars is not our country's major economic concern. Don't you think we should focus on more important things, like stopping the ridiculous over-the-counter derivatives that commercial banks are using to rub us blind, or outlawing the credit default swaps that caused the housing bubble in the first place?