XPost: alt.politics.bush, sci.econ, alt.politics.economics   
   XPost: alt.politics.democrats.d   
   From: nsmontassoc@yahoo.com   
      
   On 4/14/2012 3:11 PM, Obama's War On Women wrote:   
   >   
   >   
   > "Bob Eld"  wrote in message   
   > news:jmc7sb$geo$1@dont-email.me...   
   >> On 4/14/2012 8:24 AM, William F. Clinton wrote:   
   >>> "Let me count the ways."   
   >>>   
   >>> -- Mitt Romney   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> "In 2010, the top 1 percent of Americans on average saw their incomes   
   >>> rise 11.6 percent, according to a recent study by Emmanuel Saez, an   
   >>> economist at the University of California at Berkeley. By contrast,   
   >>> the rest of the country inched up 0.2 percent. In other words, writes   
   >>> Saez, 'the top 1% captured 93% of the income gains in the first year   
   >>> of recovery.' ”   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> ===============================   
   >>>   
   >>> "Obama, Romney tax plans for ultra-rich offer window on disparate   
   >>> economic views"   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> By Jia Lynn Yang   
   >>> April 13, 2012   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> PERHAPS no one has more at stake in this year’s presidential election   
   >>> than the ultra-wealthy.   
   >>>   
   >>> If Republican front-runner Mitt Romney reaches the White House, he   
   >>> will push for the top 1 percent of American earners to save an average   
   >>> of $150,000 in taxes, according to an analysis of his tax plan by the   
   >>> Tax Policy Center. In a second Obama administration, these Americans   
   >>> would pay about $83,000 more than they do now.   
   >>>   
   >>> For the top 0.1 percent, the difference is even more stark. Romney’s   
   >>> plan would save them an average of $725,000. President Obama would   
   >>> raise their taxes by $450,000.   
   >>>   
   >>> Romney and Obama’s tax proposals for the rich offer a window into how   
   >>> differently the two men understand the economy: what makes it tick,   
   >>> what the government can do to encourage wealth and how to rebuild the   
   >>> middle class.   
   >>>   
   >>> Both men seek to assuage a growing anxiety among Americans about their   
   >>> economic security. But they use different language to describe the   
   >>> problem and offer different cures.   
   >>>   
   >>> Obama has repeatedly called income inequality “the defining issue of   
   >>> our time.” He has proposed raising taxes on millionaires, saying on   
   >>> Tuesday that “broad-based prosperity has never trickled down from the   
   >>> success of a wealthy few.”   
   >>>   
   >>> Romney, by contrast, waves off Obama’s talk of income inequality as   
   >>> the “politics of envy.” He says the best way to lift people out of   
   >>> poverty and raise wages is to help businesses become more successful.   
   >>> Ease regulations on businesses and lower taxes, Romney argues, and   
   >>> people’s fortunes will rise.   
   >>>   
   >>> Neither candidate has a strong record of stemming a decades-long trend   
   >>> in this country of widening fortunes between the wealthiest Americans   
   >>> and everybody else.   
   >>>   
   >>> Obama has overseen a recovery that has overwhelmingly benefited the   
   >>> wealthy. A recent study showed that the top 1 percent of Americans   
   >>> enjoyed 93 percent of the income gains from 2010, the first year of   
   >>> the recovery.   
   >>>   
   >>> In Massachusetts, Romney did little to reverse the trend of income   
   >>> inequality that was happening in his state. And his work at Bain   
   >>> Capital embodied a pure distillation of American capitalism in which   
   >>> higher returns for investors, not worker pay, were the highest   
   >>> priority. If elected, Romney has pledged to curb deductions and other   
   >>> tax benefits for high-income households, but he has not been specific.   
   >>>   
   >>> The Occupy Wall Street movement brought a new level of awareness to   
   >>> Americans of the growing income disparity between the richest 1   
   >>> percent and the rest of the country. Obama is betting that a longer   
   >>> national conversation about inequality will help him win reelection.   
   >>> Romney, whose own income puts him in the upper reaches of “the 1   
   >>> percent,” thinks that strategy will backfire.   
   >>>   
   >>> “I think it’s fine to talk about those things in quiet rooms and   
   >>> discussions about tax policy and the like,” Romney said in January on   
   >>> “The Today Show.” “But the president has made it part of his campaign   
   >>> rally. It’s a very envy-oriented, attack-oriented approach, and I   
   >>> think it will fail.”   
   >>>   
   >>> Romney’s record   
   >>>   
   >>> When Romney was governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, his   
   >>> state, like many others, was experiencing growing inequality between   
   >>> top and bottom earners.   
   >>>   
   >>> Massachusetts was still reeling from the bursting of the tech bubble.   
   >>> It was also in the midst of a decades-long bleeding of manufacturing   
   >>> jobs. Under Romney, manufacturing payroll employment dropped more than   
   >>> 14 percent, giving the state the third-worst record nationally during   
   >>> that time, according to analysis by Andrew Sum, director of the Center   
   >>> for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.   
   >>>   
   >>> Average weekly wages for workers rose slightly more than they did   
   >>> nationally while Romney was in charge. In Massachusetts, wages went up   
   >>> 4.1 percent from 2002 to 2006, adjusting for inflation. Nationally,   
   >>> they rose 3.2 percent.   
   >>>   
   >>> But those gains were not spread evenly. Those who worked in investment   
   >>> banking and securities trading saw their average weekly wages rise 60   
   >>> percent, from $2,707 in 2002 to $4,852 in 2006, according to census   
   >>> data adjusted for inflation.   
   >>>   
   >>> Meanwhile, weekly wages for employees in retail dropped 3 percent.   
   >>> Manufacturing workers saw a rise of 5.5 percent.   
   >>>   
   >>> Sum says the loss of manufacturing jobs helped exacerbate income   
   >>> inequality by making it tougher for blue-collar workers to find   
   >>> employment.   
   >>>   
   >>> The trend continued after Romney left.   
   >>>   
   >>> “I don’t think there’s any evidence to suggest he made it worse,” said   
   >>> Michael D. Goodman, associate professor and chairman of the Department   
   >>> of Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.   
   >>> “This is a long-term phenomenon that continued under his watch. He’s   
   >>> not the only governor who’s presided over this trend.”   
   >>>   
   >>> Romney frequently touts his work at Bain Capital as evidence that he   
   >>> knows how to lower the country’s unemployment. Yet many of the jobs he   
   >>> cites as having helped to create have salaries that would be unlikely   
   >>> to pay enough to support a middle-class family.   
   >>>   
   >>> Their relatively low pay highlights how hard it can be to generate   
   >>> jobs that pay well enough to close the income gap.   
   >>>   
   >>> His campaign says Romney helped create 100,000 jobs while at Bain,   
   >>> including 15,000 at the Sports Authority and 89,000 at Staples.   
   >>>   
      
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