Romney Shakes the Etch-A-Sketch Again
by Kyle Weidleman | October 05, 2012
During the first presidential debate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney aggressively wove a tapestry of myths, half-truths and outright lies in an effort to sell his pro-corporate and billionaire-friendly agenda to the American electorate.
Four times, Pres. Barack Obama pointed out that Romney's unfunded $5 trillion tax cut proposal would largely benefit the mega-rich. Four times, Romney retorted that he would offset any tax reduction by closing loopholes and ending deductions. But he again dodged the question of what specific breaks he would end.
Here’s the simple math that may be behind Romney’s reluctance to detail his plans: even if he got rid of every loophole and tax break in the tax code for wealthy Americans his plan would increase the size of the deficit. In addition giving a huge tax break to multi-millionaires, Romney's tax plan would increase taxes on working families by $2,000.
When talking about their healthcare plans, President Obama pointed out Romney's plan would mean the return of insurance company discrimination against individuals with "pre-existing" conditions. In his response, Romney ignored that under his plan for health care reform, insurance companies would be allowed to deny patients insurance due to pre-existing conditions. This would leave 89 million Americans without access to health insurances—unless they lived in a state with a law similar to the provisions of Obamacare, like Massachusetts.
Viewers may have watched the debate looking for "zingers" from the candidates, but they probably did not expect outright misinformation. Here are the real facts about Mitt Romney's plan:
- the wealthiest Americans would get a massive tax cut, while working families will see their tax burden grow;
- between 14 and 27 million Americans would lose health insurance;
- Medicare would be transformed into a voucher program;
- Social Security would be turned over to Wall Street banks;
- And Big Bird could be evicted from Sesame Street.
Mitt Romney may have been trying to mislead voters about his plan. Or he may not have thought it through – troubling considering the stakes and the impact. Either way his plan just doesn’t add up for working families.
