Mitt Romney speaking in Detroit. (Photo: Byron York )The Internet is having fun with photographs of Mitt Romney giving his big speech on the economy to an empty arena today. But put that aside. The real news is in the speech itself, which is the clearest articulation of Romney’s fiscal plan that he’s yet offered. When Romney said he “wasn’t concerned about the very poor,” he wasn’t kidding. He’s using the policies they depend on most as a piggy bank for tax cuts. – Is this why Mitt Romney’s stadium is empty? | Ezra Klein
Cutting subsidies from Amtrak and Planned Parenthood is the equivalent of President Obama promising to close loopholes for corporate jet owners. It’s red meat for the base, but a rounding error in context of the budget.
Romney’s real savings come in the next section. He’ll “send Medicaid back to the states and cap that program’s rate of growth,” and then “do the same for other programs, like food stamps, housing subsidies and job training.”
Sending the programs back to the states is a red herring. The key bit for deficit reduction is capping their rates of growth. Which is to say, cutting their rates of growth. Which is to say, cutting them.
What Romney is essentially proposing to do is finance a massive tax cut by cutting Medicaid, food stamps, housing subsidies and job training. In other words, the neediest Americans — and, to a lesser degree, federal workers — will be financing a massive tax cut.
Bottom to top income redistribution. Clear as day. Class warfare, anyone?
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Romney Fever: Catch it!
via: Bob Cesca
