Posts Tagged ‘pratt romney family’

Behind the Veneer of Mitt Romney’s ‘47 Percent’ Comments

Friday, September 21st, 2012

Courtesy: Mother Jones

Remember when “Corporations are people, my friend!” was the strangest thing to come out of Mitt Romney’s mouth?

It speaks volumes about the problems with our political process that it took a speech we were never intended to hear to allow us to hear a politician speaking honestly and off-the-cuff.

Now I am not in the business of endorsing any political candidate. I have used this space on many occasions to criticize President Obama and his policies.

But I have had reservations about Romney and whether he has a firm grasp on the human centipede that exists between Wall Street and the regulators. And after watching the video of Romney talk about the so-called ’47 percent’, I still have my doubts. And that’s not because of anything he said on that tape. It is what he doesn’t say.

The truth is there are Americans who see themselves as victims, who consider themselves entitled to the government’s help, and have yet to take personal responsibility.

Except they are not the working poor, elderly or wounded veterans Mitt Romney tried to lump together.

The real “47 percent”? They are the bankers, the Wall Street hucksters who have happily accepted bailout after bailout, but play the victim card anytime the notion of added regulation is mentioned. It’s the banks, and not the working class, who have
brought our economy to a screeching halt, who have played fast and loose with the rules to suit their own bottom lines.

They have sucked our nation down to the marrow, and the fact that Mitt has not called them out gives me serious doubts he will consider breaking up the banks or do anything to reel them in.
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Problems Exist with Both Republican, Democratic Views on Capitalism

Tuesday, September 4th, 2012

Once, just once, I wish politicians would leave the prose and symbolism to the fiction writers.

Not that I was expecting any different, but as I watched Mitt Romney accept the Republican nomination, I heard bold talk and big promises.

It is a narrative, plain and simple, an entertaining one perhaps, but one that I fear will do little to make things better for Main Street.

Small businesses are and should be the centerpiece of our country, and so I appreciate Romney’s efforts to put them at the center of his campaign.

But if he thinks reducing the size of our government alone will allow them to thrive, than either he is naive, or even he doesn’t believe his own talking points and just thinks we are all idiots.

I have my doubts about the President as well, and I suspect that when Barack Obama takes the stage in Charlotte this week, that while the message will be different, the rhetoric will be just as loud.

Here is the fatal flaw with Romney’s ‘get government out of the way’ approach to housing and commerce.

Government really hasn’t been in the way. Banks have been running wild lately, with few checks and balances put in their way.

Obama’s administration has left the banks to their own devices, more often than not, and has yet to really lay the hammer down.

And that was when our government was supposed to be keeping their eye on Wall Street.

So is Romney going to remove all pretense, and just shut his eyes as big business is left to keep making its own rules?
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Foreclosure and The Presidential Race: Has Obama Done Enough?

Thursday, August 23rd, 2012

 

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the economy at Shaker Heights High School,Shaker Heights, Ohio, Jan. 4, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

The Republican and Democratic conventions are almost upon us, and the housing crisis has finally been inserted into the presidential election.

Maybe the President and his Republican rival see homeowners as nothing more than another campaign issue to be exploited, or maybe they are finally starting to understand how central the need to tackle the foreclosure problem is to the American public.

Some days it is hard to tell. But at least the narrative is starting to move forward. It is a start, if a meager one at best.

The housing market is indestructibly woven into the economy. The whole narrative is actually very simple.

Housing has led the economy out of every recession since the Great Depression.

A refi boom inevitably takes hold as interest rates drop and folks refinance their mortgages for lower interest rates.

The extra money from the lowering of your monthly mortgage payments goes right back into the economy, whether its buying new tires, taking the family out for dinner or going to the shore for the weekend.

Those activities stimulate the economy from the ground up. That unfortunately didn’t happen this time because there wasn’t enough equity in our homes and thus the banks refused to refinance your loan.

But of course you and I have known this for a long time now, long before those in power were paying attention.

A year ago I told you underwater mortgages were the “900 lb. gorilla in the room that could derail President Obama’s re-election campaign.
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