"In considering which candidate to endorse, The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board had hoped that Romney would exhibit the same talents for organization, pragmatic problem-solving and inspired leadership that he displayed here more than a decade ago. Instead, we have watched him morph into a friend of the far right, then tack toward the center with breathtaking aplomb. Through a pair of presidential debates, Romney’s domestic agenda remains bereft of detail and worthy of mistrust.

Therefore, our endorsement must go to the incumbent, a competent leader who, against tough odds, has guided the country through catastrophe and set a course that, while rocky, is pointing toward a brighter day. The president has earned a second term. Romney, in whatever guise, does not deserve a first."



Read the whole story here
 
 
 
  1. Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize Winning Economist : Culture of Fraud
  2. Matt Taibbi, contributing editor to Rolling Stone: Biden was Right to Laugh
  3. Larry Summers, Harvard economist : Romney Tax Plan The Equivalent of a Hamburgers and Ice Cream Diet
  4. The Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank: Guess Who Pays for Romney's Tax Cuts for the Wealthy: The Middle Class
  5. Josh Barro, Bloomberg View columnist: The Final Word on Mitt Romney's Tax Plan
  6. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics: The Arithmetic Doesn't Work
  7. Ezra Klein, Washington Post columnist: Romney Tax Plan on Table. Debt Collapses Table
  8. David Frum, contributing editor at Newsweek and The Daily Beast: Romney's Tax Plan Won't Work
  9. Catherine Rampell, economics reporter at The New York Times: The Math on the Romney-Ryan Tax Plan
 
 
 
 
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Via Think Progress


1. The deficit is largely a product of tax cuts and wars. The newest report out from the Congressional Budget Office shows that we have a still-large but slowing budget shortfall, with the deficit at $1.1 trillion for 2012. But the issues that are adding the most to our deficit aren’t health care costs or the stimulus; wars and tax cuts are responsible for that:

2. When US officials asked for more security in Libya, they wanted it in Tripoli, not Benghazi.The attack on the United States embassy in Libya was a tragedy that has had a confusing aftermath. Republicans have claimed that employees at the Benghazi embassy asked for more security in the days before the attack, but actually it was the embassy in Tripoli, not Benghazi where the attack occurred, that sought longer hours for its security guards.



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3. 72 million people would be uninsured under Romney’s health plan. A recent study of Romney’s health care plan shows that it would increase health care premiums for most Americans, and would leave 72 million people uninsured. If the Affordable Care Act were repealed, 60 million Americans would remain uninsured. Under Obama’s plan, that number is expected to drop to 27.1 million:

4. If the DREAM Act were passed, it would add $329 billion to the economy by 2030. President Obama has vowed the pass the DREAM Act — a bill that provides a pathway to citizenship for young, undocumented students and service members — while candidate Romney has said he’d veto it. According to a joint report by the Center for American Progress and the Partnership for a New American Economy, passing the DREAM Act “would add $329 billion to the U.S. economy and create 1.4 million new jobs by 2030.”

5. The “six studies” that Romney cites in defense of his tax plan are actually 3 blog posts, 2 right-wing reports and 1 op-ed. The idea that a Romney administration could give a 20 percent tax cut to everyone, and then pay for it by eliminating loopholes and deductions for the wealthy has been strong refuted by the Tax Policy Center. Romney has cited six other “studies” that confirm his plan could work, but those are dubious: One is a report by the conservative Heritage foundation, one is a paper from a former Bush adviser, one is an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, and three are blog posts.