roy·al·ty   [roi-uhl-tee] a person of royal  lineage; member of a royal family,   

ol·i·gar·chy [ol-i-gahr-kee]   a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or ina dominant class or clique; government by the few

At some point in Mitt Romney’s past, he apparently came to the conclusion that America should be a monarchy, or at the very least an oligarchy, and that he is a legitimate member of Royalty where the rich pay no taxes and the rest of the country are their subjects. I  can think of no other type of individual who more openly exudes the sense of (ironically) arrogant entitlement to an invisible throne  (not Mr. Eastwood’s chair, a real throne).

I remember an obviously staged attempt by Mr. Romney’s campaign  to make him appear “normal” that sent him to a hardware store. Mr. Romney looked like the queen mother trying to act normal at a 7-11. When a reporter asked Mr. Romney an obvious “gotcha question,”

“Mr. Romney, what did you buy?”

All Mr. Romney could do is look at his bag and say “hardware stuff.” He had no idea what he had just bought. He was merely grabbing “stuff” off of shelves for a photo-op. It was quite pathetic.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have shown how the wealthy not only outmaneuver a poorly constructed and undermanned tax system, but the but the extent of their disdain and total lack empathy for those of us who actually work for a living. Together with the Grover Norquists and Donald Trumps of the country, they are so confident that they are  above the rest of us, that they are telegraphing the fact that they no longer care if we know. Despite incredible missteps by the Romney/Paul campaign so far, most polling data still shows the race to still be extremely tight, even though it’s painfully obvious that they want to expand tax favors for the already rich, like themselves, and say (proudly) to hell with the rest of us.

Their approach favors wealth that is  rooted in family dynasties where generations of  families are wealthy from cradle to grave. They generally live  mostly tax-free lifestyles, producing future generations of privileged beneficiaries. It could actually be possible that Mr. Romney really was speaking to himself and is included in the 47% of Americans who pay no taxes. What we need instead is a tax system that encourages opportunities for all citizens, in competitive markets that aren’t skewed by subsidies and special favors, not a perpetual totalitarian rule by the wealthy.

Mr. Romney Doesn’t Believe In Capitalism

Romney and Ryan say that lowering tax rates and reducing or eliminating taxes on capital gains and dividends, while letting huge fortunes pass untaxed to heirs, will boost economic growth and mean prosperity for all.

In essence, they are perpetuating a system that rewards owning rather than earning. Labor is just a variable to be exploited to it’s lowest possible level. That’s not capitalism. That’s not good for business. It’s not good for productivity. And it only benefits those who already have wealth; usually at the expense of the vast majority of citizens who bear the burdens and are subservient t those who have the wealth. That’s “lineage entitlement“, not capitalism. It’s no wonder that Mr. Romney cannot relate to the average American. He’s never been one. It’s no wonder he won’t give interviews, when he goes off-script he doesn’t know what to say or how to say it to anyone other than other rich people. If anyone lives in an “entitlement bubble”, it’s Mr. Romney and the boy wonder Paul Ryan, another “entitlement baby”.

The ultimate con of all has been the totally ridiculous idea of “trickle-down” economics that started with Ronald Reagan in 1981 and continued with George W. Bush in 2001 doubling down on the theory. That too is not Capitalism. When huge companies receive free money from the government to give them an edge over smaller companies, that’s not capitalism. BP, Monsanto, Dow Chemical, etc. receive government welfare and the rest of us get no benefit from it. Monopolies are about as anti-capitalistic as anything I can imagine. Monopolies stifle competition, they don’t encourage competition.

Wall Street bankers literally lie, cheat and steal billions of dollars from investors’ savings,  401(k) plans that people have worked their life for without batting an eye; and get bonuses for it. Receiving any punishment for their crimes isn’t even considered. We have literally become a banana republic where the “leaders” operate on a totally different set of rules than the rest of the country.

How did that many Americans end up suffering from some bizarre mass Stockholm syndrome  that they vote against their own interest and listen to hate radio? The Romneys,the Ryans ,the Republicans, and the hate mongers in this country literally project their own worst character flaws onto their opponents then disparage them. How did I miss the transformation so completely as it was happening?

And the result of this fraud? This total white-washing of the truth?

Flat to falling incomes for the overwhelming majority or Americans, weak job growth, weaker unions, but skyrocketing incomes for the top one percent of the top one percent, including Romney, with fewer and fewer tax consequences.

Romney, shifting the Republican focus away from red ink budgets, wants to slash income tax rates by 20 percent. Ryan has called for a 10 percent rate for married couples on the first $100,000, 25 percent above that. The details of both plans show they only benefit the highest paid and already rich, as multiple independent examinations have documented.

Mitt Romney has proposed huge tax cuts that principally benefit the wealthy, while refusing to say how he would pay for them other than to say by closing unspecified “loopholes”. This not only lacks credibility, it patently untrue. Add to that lie that Mr. Romney himself would be one of the primary beneficiaries of his stated policies. How can any American that is not filthy rich vote for this plan?

On Medicare alone, Mr. Romney and his Boy Wonder, Representative Paul Ryan, have put forth a plan that ultimately would turn the U.S. health insurance program for the elderly into a premium support, or voucher, program. Medicare is costing more and more, health costs are rising and Medicare just covers them. But we go after the elderly rather than the healthcare providers?

Romney also wants to increase lineage wealth by abolishing the estate tax, which would have a demoralizing effect on future economic growth, entrepreneurship and social stability.

His plan would retain a gift tax or sorts, but it is so full of holes that, as Reuters reported in January, of 2012, that the five Romney sons enjoy tax-free income from a $100 million trust fund on which no gift taxes were paid. Only about $2 million could have originally gone into the trust without triggering gift taxes.

Massive Tax Reductions for Those With Lineage Wealth

Under Romney’s plan your economic future would be determined the same way it was in 18th Century France - primarily by who happens to be your parents, not by hard work, determination and a little bit of luck.

Romney also wants to slash middle class spending programs, but despite issuing a 160-page plan he has not said just what he wants to cut or eliminate, asking voters to buy a pig in a poke.

He has proposed a tax cut of more than $4 trillion over 10 years, an across-the-board 20 percent reduction in individual income tax rates and the elimination of the estate tax, the alternative minimum tax and taxes on capital gains, dividends and interest for those earning less than $200,000. The corporate tax rate would come down to 25 percent from 35 percent.

He insists this can be achieved without raising revenue, by limiting tax preferences, yet he steadfastly refuses to specify which ones and by how much. The candidate cites Republican experts like the Princeton University economist Harvey Rosen. However, Mr. Rosen says this is feasible only if Mr. Romney eliminates the popular tax deductions for items like home mortgages and charitable contributions for those making more than $100,000 a year.

In my neck of the woods, people say, “ Ummmm, son; that dawg don’t hunt.”

It’s an unviable proposition for many Republicans, even with the trade-off of lower rates.

I cannot find a single reputable tax expert that doesn’t say the Romney plan is a mirage.

“You can’t get enough base-broadening to finance his rate reductions,” says Michael Graetz, a Columbia Law School professor who was a top tax official in President George H.W. Bush’s Treasury Department. “Romney says what he will do on tax cuts, but he’s not prepared to say what he would do on the hard stuff.”

Slashing tax rates, keeping the share of income taxes paid by the top unchanged and increasing military spending without any additional red ink may win votes from people who cannot add and subtract, but it is nevertheless a mathematical impossibility. What is a mathematical certainty is that Romney would cut taxes on the rich and that everyone below the top would pay much much more.

And the wunderkind Ryan’s plans have been even more outrageous.

That is because Ryan’s 2010 “Roadmap for America’s Future,” would make capital gains, dividends and some other capital income tax-free. As I stated before, what this plan does is shift the tax burden of our entire economy to those who work from those who inherit or simply own wealth as a birthright.

It’s a  great deal for the already rich, but I always thought that one of the primary objectives of starting this country was to escape a country run by royal families. You know,  like the ones in Britain who do absolutely nothing, yet are adored, and supported by all their subjects. If I remember my American history correctly (not the version that Sarah Palin oft recites) the U.S. was founded on the principle that we do not entertain the notion or royalty nor oligarchy. More than $21 million of Romney’s 2010 income of $21.6 million would be untaxed under Ryan’s 2010 plan.

Ryan now speaks for Romney’s version of reduced taxes on capital, but Ryan’s spokesman confirmed that Ryan’s goal remains making dividends, interest and capital gains tax-free for everyone. It has been absolutely impossible to get a single detail on Romney’s plan, even after he supposedly “rebooted” two days ago(Monday, September 17^th) for that specific purpose. Still no details. Still no tax returns.  If Ryan’s plans become law then what little income Romney earns from speeches and other work could easily be wiped out through leveraged real estate investments and other tax favors Congress already bestows on investors.

Ryan poses as a tax-cutter, but his forthright 2010 plan would raise middle class tax burdens by 50 percent, and there would be no limit to out-of-pocket expenses for the elderly.

Rich Just Get Richer

Promises for a revenue-neutral plan in which the middle class and small businesses get a net tax cut, would necessitate higher overall taxes for either the rich or the poor. Republicans have shown that they have no intention of ever taxing the wealthy more, especially since they depend so heavily on their campaign contributions. Mr. McCain can attest to that. Yet the Romney campaign refuses to comment. Mr. Romney’s tax problem is further compounded when he insists his plan wouldn’t change the progressivity of the tax code. As models for cutting tax rates and broadening the base in a nonregressive manner, Mr. Romney alludes to Ronald Reagan’s 1986 tax-reform bill (don’t all Republicans?) and the recommendations of the 2010 Bowles-Simpson deficit-reduction panel. What Mr. Romney doesn’t say is how his plan would achieve this lofty goal. Capital-gains taxes were increased and treated as ordinary income in both the 1986 Tax Reform Act and the Bowles-Simpson plan. Mr. Romney has steadfastly ruled out any increase in those taxes.

One of the country’s leading economists, Edward Kleinbard served under George W. Bush from 2007 to 2009 as chief of staff for Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation and since then as a tax law professor at the University of Southern California. Mr. Kleinbard shows that Mr. Ryan’s Plan would turn individual and corporate income taxes into the equivalent of two large payroll taxes with the burden falling almost entirely on workers, not owners and executives. The Ryan Roadmap “is a mechanism for redistributing tax burdens down the income scale,” Kleinbard wrote.

“Most ordinary Americans would see their tax burdens increase by around 50 percent,” he concluded, “while the most successful individuals would see reductions in their labor income tax rates, and elimination of all capital tax burdens – including the elimination of the gift and estate tax.”

The Romney campaign also  pays no heed to analyses by the Tax Policy Center, even though Romney cited its work when it favored him in the primaries. Donald Marron, a former economic official in the administration of Republican President George W. Bush, leads the nonpartisan center. The Romney campaign says that the center’s latest analysis is unfair and incomplete and “it’s written by a former OBAMA staffer (Adam Looney).”

As it happens, Mr. Looney, listed last among three authors (meaning he contributed the least), was a Federal Reserve economist assigned to the White House Council of Economic Advisers because of his technical expertise. Looney is a technocrat, a wonk, and holds no political affiliation. Attacking Looney’s, and the Tax Policy Center’s, integrity is a disingenuous at best. It is also a way to divert attention from the lack of merits, or details in either of the Republican Candidates Plans.

As short on detail and long on lies as their plans are, Romney should be the last person to challenge anyone’s professional integrity.

The would force the tax burden onto those with less in favor of those who are wealthy simply because of their lineage. Theirs are radical plans by oligarchs by promoting tax-free living for the richest Americans. If i wanted to live under a monarchy, I’d move to England.

I personally don’t want to be a loyal (or disloyal) subject to Lord and Lady Romney.
Harvey Gold

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Tags: connecttheleft, p2, Paul Ryan, Romney, Ronald Reagan, tcot, tlot