Mitt Romney may believe it’s okay to discount 47 percent of the voting community because they pay little or no taxes, but we know that his position is just plain wrong. Such a view tends to hold fast to stereotypes about people who are battling chronic unemployment, long-term layoffs, defaults on their mortgage payments or unable to even purchase groceries for themselves and their families. But as we continue to assert, things like hunger, poverty and unemployment do not have color — they are part and parcel of the lives of people from every ethnic group.
To be clear, no one wants to be in the position that forces them to need food stamps. But that’s the reality of life for some 651,613 people in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties — 30,000 more than just one year ago. Add to that figure the 11,568 recipients who have been awarded funds from TANF to handle short term but dire emergencies and one can readily see how dire things are for a growing number of families.
When you add up the numbers for South Florida it’s almost staggering. In the past 26 months, the number of Floridians on food stamps has almost doubled. The question to pose is why are more people needing to apply for food stamps if indeed the unemployment rate is dropping. Sometimes statistics can me manipulated — somethings they’re just plain wrong.
What’s not in error is that there are long lines of people who are in need of food at soup kitchens, at food pantries and at our churches throughout the Black community. A spokesperson for the Department of Children and Family says he is confident that the food stamp numbers will level off soon and begin to decrease. We wonder what he advises folks to do in the mean time. Maybe they should send a note to Romney or even Governor Rick Scott. Both will tell you that things are looking better and that the future is bright. Hmmn. It really all depends on your perspective and your bank account.
lisa lakotich
October 8, 2012 at 12:34 pm
Anyone can argue, but it takes dedication and care for others to fix years of problems facing our nation, issues that previous administrations have ignored.
Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney solidly won his first debate tonight with President Barack Obama by remaining on the attack from start to finish and articulating a vision of how business and the private sector, and not government, works best to create jobs (jobs for business people and not the working man) prosperity, and freedom. President Obama facilitated Romney’s win by remaining presidential and being too careful not to be appear angry or aggressive. Obama could have counterpunched much more aggressively and effectively but did not.
The key to Romney’s big win tonight was his body language, preparation and aggressiveness. On substance he repeated falsehoods about his true positions on the issues discussed and President Obama aided and abetted his opponent by not calling him out on his denial of what the objective reality of his policies and positions are. But sometimes campaigns are lost with first impressions. And most voters have not thought about the issues sufficiently to know what that objective reality is. MSNBC debate anchor Chris Matthews made the most cogent observation of the night when he pointed out that all the issues on which Romney is most vulnerable and where the greatest gaps exist with voters were not discussed: the 47% of us Romney doesn’t give a damn about. Bain Capital. His failure to tell us who will pay more and for what when tax cuts and budget balancing is done. The position he and his party take on women’s health care, equal pay in the workplace, immigration issues and racial and ethnic tolerance issues of great importance to Latinos, and all people of color.
Then there is foreign policy where President Obama’s record is stronger than any Democrat’s has been in over a generation. Romney was able to deflect the questions and negative impacts of his plans to add five trillion in tax cuts primarily for the wealthy, and thereby put pressure on middle class wage earners and tax payers and Federal programs that are vital by saying he simply was not going to do that. This is contrary to what he has told his party base at every single campaign stop, the Ryan economic budget plan in both versions, and in his own published plans concerning tax cuts and deficits. Romney was able to deflect the questions and negative impacts of his plans to add five trillion in tax cuts primarily for the wealthy, and thereby put pressure on middle class wage earners and tax payers and Federal programs that are vital by saying he simply was not going to do that. This is contrary to what he has told his party base at every single campaign stop, the Ryan economic budget plan in both versions, and in his own published plans concerning tax cuts and deficits. What the Republicans have proposed does in fact add five trillion dollars to the deficit and more if you add increases in defense spending even the Pentagon does not seek. That is mathematical and objective fact.
Romney’s declaration that he is not cutting taxes by five trillion was the biggest shift in the stance of either candidate in the campaign thus far and the most dishonest in a campaign filled with prevarication and lies. The President ought to have said that the obstructionist Republican Congress is simply un-American and that this behavior by the Republican Party, of which Romney is the standard bearer, is unacceptable to the people of this nation. This is why we are having trouble riving our economy, constant blockage from a Republican Congress; we could possibly fix our problems if we had a Congress that works for the people instead of against us.
In the coming days, the Republican presidential hopeful will have to explain why in the print media, on a multitude of taped television appearances the statements he’s made all completely contradict what he said at this first debate. It is a polite way of saying he lied to the American people at practically every turn and denied the objective reality of what he has told us repeatedly he will do. Look for the Democrats and especially both President Obama and Vice President Biden to tie Romney to his ultra conservative political base and a Republican Party that is well out of the mainstream these days. It’s going to be difficult for the Romney-Ryan team to continue this novel approach in debate on the campaign trail. Romney is a much better debater than he is a campaigner. He will bring his frequent gaffes and misstatements with him once he gets in front of less controlled audiences and situations. For that is a big part of the story of why President Obama has not been able to fully revive this economy.
lisa lakotich
October 8, 2012 at 12:37 pm
Romney may not be a tax evader; But, he certainly is a tax avoider on a grand scale.
http://www.economywatch.com/economy-business-and-finance-news/why-inequality-will-only-lead-to-our-downfall.19-10.html
Mitt Romney Got Rich Promoting Sweatshop
http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-mitt-romney-got-rich-destroying-american-jobs-and-promoting-sweatshop-capitalism
How Romney grew rich by plundering companies
If Mitt Romney wins the GOP nomination for president, the narrative for his 2012 run is pretty clear. He will tout his credentials as a savvy businessman who knows how to create jobs.
What Romney won’t tell you is that what he really knows how to do is create massive amounts of wealth for himself and his partners. The actions of Romney’s firm are detailed in the 2009 book by financial reporter Josh Kosman, The Buyout of America: How Private Equity is Destroying Jobs and Killing the American Economy. The chapter that focuses on Romney and Bain Capital is aptly titled “Plunder and Profit.”
http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/8766110-452/how-romney-grew-rich-by-plundering-companies.html
Were Romney’s companies ‘pioneers in outsourcing’?
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jul/13/barack-obama/were-romneys-companies-pioneers-outsourcing/
Turning your back on the people Mitt Romney Tax Returns Reveal Investments in Chinese Oil, Stem Cell
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/25/mitt-romney-tax-returns-2011_n_1913754.html
Big banks write checks for Romney so they can write their own rules.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57480991-503544/on-foreign-trip-romney-makes-time-for-fundraisers/
http://www.examiner.com/article/mitt-romney-a-story-of-greed-and-corruption-and-wrongdoing
Romney may not be a tax evader; But, he certainly is a tax avoider on a grand scale.
http://www.economywatch.com/economy-business-and-finance-news/why-inequality-will-only-lead-to-our-downfall.19-10.html
Mitt Romney Got Rich Promoting Sweatshop
http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-mitt-romney-got-rich-destroying-american-jobs-and-promoting-sweatshop-capitalism
lisa lakotich
October 8, 2012 at 12:38 pm
Romney is good at gymnastics, he is good at Flip-Flopping
Sadly, most elections in America are not determined by the voters.
Rather, most elections in America are determined by money.
Republican candidates spent more than $10 million on television and radio ads in Iowa in the month of December alone.
Those ads have a huge impact on voters.
So who is spending the most money?
Well, according to a recent article in the Des Moines Register, pro-Romney forces are spending the most money even though Romney is not even really campaigning in Iowa….
Together, Romney and the super PAC going to bat for him had over half the ad buys in Iowa in December among the spending the Register examined.
If you can believe it, one pro-Romney “super PAC” actually spent $2.85 million in Iowa during the month of December.
$2.85 million can buy quite a bit of propaganda.
It would be nice to stick it to the establishment for once, but the reality is that it is really hard to go up against a candidate that is backed by millions upon millions upon millions of dollars.
But even if Mitt Romney only wins 30 or 40 percent of the delegates during the nominating process, that is still going to make it nearly impossible for any other candidate to win the nomination before the Republican convention.
In a previous article, I described how the new Republican voting rules are going to make a “brokered convention” much more likely….
The key is that most Republican primaries and caucuses will now allocate delegates using a proportional system rather than a “winner take all” system. Back in 2008, John McCain did very well in early “winner take all” primaries and wrapped up the Republican nomination very, very quickly. Nothing like that will happen in 2012. In fact, if the field remains crowded it is going to be very difficult for any candidate to accumulate more than 50 percent of the delegates by the time the Republican national convention rolls around.
If Mitt Romney wins more than 50 percent of the delegates during the primary season, the Republican establishment will let him have the nomination of course.
lisa lakotich
October 8, 2012 at 12:39 pm
The following link is a breakdown of billions of dollars spent on two wars the previous president got the American people involved in. Keep in mind that Bush destroyed two countries to catch one man, while Obama caught Osama with one teal of Special Forces. That’s careful planning folks.
http://obamaromney.com/Afghanistan.php?vs=afghanistan
We want our troop’s home