Why Romney/Ryan Couldn't Interest Me...
So this post is pretty much political - hopefully you gathered that from the title...
I'm an Independent voter. And not terribly impressed by the President's first term. And a little afraid of living in a country with as much debt as the rest of the world combined - in fact, if I do my maths right, we've got as much debt as several other similar worlds put together... What happens if our bond ratings get downgraded to let's say a B+? I'm not sure what that would do, but I am sure I don't want to find out. Do we become Greece and throw Molotov cocktails at police? Frankly, my rotator cuff is torn...
So I was looking at Romney and thinking he made some sense on the money. Then he took Paul Ryan for his VP and I thought that was very smart because Ryan had a detailed plan for the budget - cuts in spending and in revenue that would save the day. I told my wife this was a smart pick (as compared to McCain's absolute fiasco of a pick in '08).
Then I looked into Ryan's plan and found there was nothing in it. Nothing. Like smoke and mirrors but with no smoke and no mirrors. Unspecified spending cuts, unspecified tax cuts, an increase in defense spending because spending as much as the rest of the world combined is not as good as spending twice as much as the rest of the world. The extra spending would be offset by... Well, nothing, to risk repeating myself.
The cuts that were being outlined were in Medicare - give old folks cost of living adjustments keyed to the national inflation rate, not the rate of medical inflation. In ten years, their vouchers would be nearing worthlessness. Like getting paid in Confederate money.
Then I read about Romney's plan. Since he's a businessman, I expected to be bored to tears by the volume of numbers and the minute details that would be thrown at me. Luckily, Governor Romney kept it all at a level any layman could understand - essentially, he'd close loopholes and eliminate deductions. Which loopholes? Not sure. What deductions? Can't say. And this will reduce the deficit? Absolutely. How? Ooo, look at the flowers...
Now, again, I'm not sure the president's plan is a good one. There are things I like about what's happened in this country in the last four years and things I've disliked. But R & R lost me when they derided the plans of the past four years without presenting any details that could see us through the next four.
Simple.
I'm an Independent voter. And not terribly impressed by the President's first term. And a little afraid of living in a country with as much debt as the rest of the world combined - in fact, if I do my maths right, we've got as much debt as several other similar worlds put together... What happens if our bond ratings get downgraded to let's say a B+? I'm not sure what that would do, but I am sure I don't want to find out. Do we become Greece and throw Molotov cocktails at police? Frankly, my rotator cuff is torn...
So I was looking at Romney and thinking he made some sense on the money. Then he took Paul Ryan for his VP and I thought that was very smart because Ryan had a detailed plan for the budget - cuts in spending and in revenue that would save the day. I told my wife this was a smart pick (as compared to McCain's absolute fiasco of a pick in '08).
Then I looked into Ryan's plan and found there was nothing in it. Nothing. Like smoke and mirrors but with no smoke and no mirrors. Unspecified spending cuts, unspecified tax cuts, an increase in defense spending because spending as much as the rest of the world combined is not as good as spending twice as much as the rest of the world. The extra spending would be offset by... Well, nothing, to risk repeating myself.
The cuts that were being outlined were in Medicare - give old folks cost of living adjustments keyed to the national inflation rate, not the rate of medical inflation. In ten years, their vouchers would be nearing worthlessness. Like getting paid in Confederate money.
Then I read about Romney's plan. Since he's a businessman, I expected to be bored to tears by the volume of numbers and the minute details that would be thrown at me. Luckily, Governor Romney kept it all at a level any layman could understand - essentially, he'd close loopholes and eliminate deductions. Which loopholes? Not sure. What deductions? Can't say. And this will reduce the deficit? Absolutely. How? Ooo, look at the flowers...
Now, again, I'm not sure the president's plan is a good one. There are things I like about what's happened in this country in the last four years and things I've disliked. But R & R lost me when they derided the plans of the past four years without presenting any details that could see us through the next four.
Simple.
posted by Steven at
10:25 AM
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