Comments on: Mitt Romney’s Economic Advice For Obama

By: ron

ron — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 07:34:49 +0000

WOW! This man really gets it! His responses to the question of how to make America more competitive are spot on. Just as he was able to see the problems in unproductive U.S. Corporations, he identifies here the areas where we need to make changes to get America back on top. Our education system recieves so much money and our educational returns are diminishing. We waste so much on health care. There is so much waste and coruption. Entitlements are WAY out of control and if we don’t cut them now the debt, and our dollar will suffer greatly. Corporate Tax Rates are too high. Obama wants to raise taxes in a RECESSION on those U.S. Corporations which are doing the best. These are our best employers! Why would we want them burdened by even higher taxes and force them overseas to places like China, India, Mexico and other places were tax rates are much, much more favorable. Free Trade has been the best thing to bring nations together. We are all on this earth together and by setting up trade tariffs, and barriers we shrink the economic growth at a time in World history when we need to be growing it all we can. Indeed our own economy and way of life is at stake here. We need to drill now for our own oil and develop alternative energy sources at the same time. We are sending alot of money to foreign tyrants such as Putin, Chavez and the radical Irainian Hitler. We need to restore integrity and trust to Wall Street before we will ever be able to lend and borrow money with confidence again. Mitt Romney is such a man of integrity and trust. He knows what to do. I say again, let his answers to this question speak for themselves.

When you talk about making America more competitive, what do you have in mind?

First, America must substantially improve our education system. Weâ€™ve fallen behind, particularly in areas of math and science.

Second, weâ€™re going to have to remedy our disproportionate health care cost disadvantage. America spends far more than any other nation as a percent of GDP on health care. This effectively is an enormous tax on the economy and on our businesses.

Third, our national debt is excessive and our entitlement obligations pass a massive burden onto the next generation.

Fourth, tax and regulatory policies weigh down our ability to compete. Specifically, our products carry an embedded tax which makes American goods less competitive abroad and at home.

Fifth, Americaâ€™s apparent retrenchment from the concept of open, free and fair trade could put us further behind other nations that are aggressively seeking trade relations around the world.

Sixth, our lack of an effective energy policy drains our economy by approximately half a trillion dollars a year.

And, finally, the blow that Wall Street has taken may make us less competitive in financing entrepreneurship.

By: dS

dS — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:55:25 +0000

Yup, it was a great interview with CNN as once again Romney had his deliberate, concise, manner of articulation on full display, standing in stark contrast to Bush, McCain and Palin. The Republicans need to look to the Romney School if they’re going to be relevant anytime soon. Mitt, Jindal, Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor all have their acts together, and Pawlenty can sort of straddle the Fiscal and Culturalist wings of the party, so I agree Tim’d be a decent VP pick. I know I’m a bit biased since I defered voting in this election since I’d rather wait 4 years for Romney than settle for McCain, but of all known talent today, my dream ticket would be Romney/Petraeus, should the General take an interest in politics. I’d take the reverse of that ticket too, presuming Obama botches foreign policy somehow. Anyway, we have a good roster with all these names I’ve mentioned. Maybe Palin can repair her image and become relevant, but if not knowing about the Veep’s role in the Senate and not being able to name a single reform effort of McCain’s, well we just cannot have someone whose intelligence is questionable, especially since that’s what everyone has been wondering about with Bush for 8 years and he’s in the tank approvalwise, and has led to two giant losses for Republicans in the past two elections. With Romney, his myriad accomplishments and exemplary record, no one doubts his intellect.

By: cfpete

cfpete — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:55:09 +0000

“Just imagine in the future if we would have some sort of massive collapse when a large number of folks are set to retire.”

This statement just reeks of financial ignorance.
If you actually believe that this is how saving for retirement works then I suggest you seek financial advice immediately.
Anyone nearing their retirement should have no more than 30% of their portfolio invested in equities and I would actually suggest 20%. Also, the vast majority of those equities should be blue chips with a high dividend yield.
Asset allocation has to be constantly reassessed throughout life.
There are target retirement funds that automatically adjust this allocation over time, but I, personally, would rather have more control over the timing of reallocation and the specific treasuries and securities acquired.
However, these funds might be well suited for people that simply never look at their retirement accounts.

As to social safety nets, raising the retirement age and maybe using means testing does not equal elimination.
Why is it that anyone even questioning the cost of future liabilities in this country is assumed to want to eliminate all social safety nets?