Wednesday, February 1, 2012

How Would Romney Pay for the Repairs in the Safety Net?

This morning on CNN, Mitt Romney said:

“I’m not concerned about the very poor, we have a safety net there,” Romney said. “If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90, 95 percent of Americans who, right now, are struggling, and I’ll continue to take that message across the nation.”


I guess some Democratic hacks could take the very first part of this statement out of context (Romney is not concerned about the very poor) but let’s do as he lectured Soledad O’Brien and finish the sentence. The safety net does need repair and that would involve an increase in government spending. Now if Mr. Romney has decided to agree with President Obama about the very rich doing fine, then have him say we will pay for this increase in government spending by raising taxes on the very rich. But wait – his tax proposal would dramatically reduce Federal revenues by giving the very rich even more tax breaks. So the arithmetic just does not add up unless Mr. Romney is proposing even bigger deficits. Of course, this kind of doubletalk is where Mitt Romney excels.

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