The Democrats and their media stooges will settle for either Romney or Perry if they cant have Hussein. I keep hearing that Romney is the Republican that Democrats fear the most in a contest against Hussein. Thats nonsense because it implies that Democrats who are polled tell the truth. The truth is that Democrats and the press are running the usual game on the wimps in the middle convincing them to vote for an acceptable alternative to the Democrat; hence, a RINO ends up as president. The Lefts bitter hatred of Ronald Reagan demonstrated how liberals react when the con job does not work. Picking a Republican alternative who is an acceptable replacement for Hussein is also why the Left tried to destroy Sarah Palin as well as stop her from running. Liberals are determined not to make the same mistake with Palin they made with Reagan. Call it preventive medicine. Perry is not exactly anathema to Democrats either. His views on Social Security are questionable to say the least: To highlight the problems facing Social Security, Texas Gov. and Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry is pointing to three Texas counties that decades ago opted out of Social Security by creating personal retirement accounts. Now, 30 years on, county workers in those three jurisdictions retire with more money and have better death and disability supplemental benefits. And those three countiesunlike almost all others in the United Statesface no long-term unfunded pension liabilities. Perry is taking credit for the three counties that opted out of SS before 1983; the year the Social Security Act was amended. Since then, municipal governments can no longer opt out of the Social Security system. In 1984 newly-hired federal employees were also brought into the system. Opting out of SS is a complicated subject no matter how cut and dried it appears at first glance. Theres nothing wrong with opting out of SS if the option is available to both public and private employees. So far I have not heard Perry advocate giving private sector Americans the choice of opting out. Perry seems to be more interested in making things better for government employees rather than better for all Americans. If Perry is advocating Individual/Personal Retirement Accounts for private sector American workers the public better be get a whole of lot details before they wake up one morning holding a pig in a poke. Most importantly, the public should understand that there is more room for institutional larceny in private sector PRAs than any other proposal designed to fix Social Security. Individual retirement accounts placed with Wall Street brokers have long-been touted as a good deal for SS recipients. If investing in the stock market is such a sure thing then a substantial amount of the money collected in FICA taxes should be invested in stocks by professional money managers employed by the Social Security Administration rather than put individuals at the mercy of Wall Street sharpshooters who will churn millions and millions of investor accounts into lucrative commissions. Basically, Wall Street, and lending institutions in general, cannot be given carte blanche to handle the Personal Retirement Accounts of private sector working Americans if the events leading up to 1929 is any guide to their honesty. In short: Private sector PRAs should be backed up by the governments power to tax as are the plans Perry favors. Should you read the following article remember that every public sector plan is funded by tax dollars paid by wealth-creating, private sector, labor. Perry Is Right: There Is a Texas Model for Fixing Social Security Public employees in three Texas counties have benefited from an 'Alternate Plan' for 30 years. By MERRILL MATTHEWS Dallas To highlight the problems facing Social Security, Texas Gov. and Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry is pointing to three Texas counties that decades ago opted out of Social Security by creating personal retirement accounts. Now, 30 years on, county workers in those three jurisdictions retire with more money and have better death and disability supplemental benefits. And those three countiesunlike almost all others in the United Statesface no long-term unfunded pension liabilities. Since 1981 and 1982, workers in Galveston, Matagorda and Brazoria Counties have seen their retirement savings grow every year, even during the Great Recession. The so-called Alternate Plan of these three counties doesn't follow the traditional defined-benefit or defined-contribution model. Employee and employer contributions are actively managed by a financial plannerin this case, First Financial Benefits, Inc., of Houston, which originated the plan in 1980 and has managed it since its adoption. I call it a "banking model." As with Social Security, employees contribute 6.2% of their income, with the county matching the contribution (or, as in Galveston, providing a slightly larger share). Once the county makes its contribution, its financial obligation is donethat's why there are no long-term unfunded liabilities. The contributions are pooled, like bank deposits, and top-rated financial institutions bid on the money. Those institutions guarantee an interest rate that won't go below a base level and goes higher when the market does well. Over the last decade, the accounts have earned between 3.75% and 5.75% every year, with the average around 5%. The 1990s often saw even higher interest rates, of 6.5%-7%. When the market goes up, employees make moreand when the market goes down, employees still make something. But not all money goes into employees' retirement accounts. When financial planner Rick Gornto devised the Alternate Plan in 1980, he wanted it to be a complete substitute for Social Security. And Social Security isn't just a retirement fund: It's also social insurance that provides a death benefit ($255), survivors' insurance, and a disability benefit. Part of the employer contribution in the Alternate Plan goes toward a term life insurance policy that pays four times the employee's salary tax-free, up to a maximum of $215,000. That's nearly 850 times Social Security's death benefit. If a worker participating in Social Security dies before retirement, he loses his contribution (though part of that money might go to surviving children or a spouse who didn't work). But a worker in the Alternate Plan owns his account, so the entire account belongs to his estate. There is also a disability benefit that pays immediately upon injury, rather than waiting six months plus other restrictions, as under Social Security. Those who retire under the Texas counties' Alternate Plan do much better than those on Social Security. According to First Financial's calculations, based on 40 years of contributions: A lower-middle income worker making about $26,000 at retirement would get about $1,007 a month under Social Security, but $1,826 under the Alternate Plan. A middle-income worker making $51,200 would get about $1,540 monthly from Social Security, but $3,600 from the banking model. And a high-income worker who maxed out on his Social Security contribution every year would receive about $2,500 a month from Social Security versus $5,000 to $6,000 a month from the Alternate Plan. The Alternate Plan has demonstrated over 30 years that personal retirement accounts work, with many retirees making more than twice what they would under Social Security. As Galveston County Judge Mark Henry says, "The plan works great. Anyone who spends a few minutes understanding the plan becomes a huge proponent." Judge Henry says that out of 1,350 county employees, only five have chosen not to participate. The Alternate Plan could be adopted today by the six million public employees in the U.S.roughly 25% of the totalwho are part of state and local government retirement plans that are outside of Social Security (and are facing serious unfunded liability problems). Unfortunately this option is available only to those six million public employees, since in 1983 Congress barred all others from leaving Social Security. If Congress overrides this provision, however, the Alternate Plan could be a model for reforming Social Security nationally. After all, it provides all the social-insurance benefits of Social Security while avoiding the unfunded liabilities that are crippling the program and the economy. If the presidential candidates, including President Obama, stop bickering about who wants to "save" or "destroy" Social Security and begin debating reform constructively, examining the Alternate Plan would be a good place to start. Mr. Matthews is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation in Dallas. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...6587240912688176.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
Flanders.. Flanders.. Flanders. 1st his last name is Romney. Democrats will not be able to Attack Romney because of his religion ( Mormon ) and that is a MINORITY held religious viewpoint..thus taking a bullet out of their gun. For Dems to attack A Mormon it would be like saying concerned tea party folks are attacking a Muslim..its playing the reverse discrimination card against the dems.. The dems have been lying to minorities for decades about being their champion all while minorities continue to be the worst in terms of employment..health care..and housing standards. Dems have always said there is no room in the small tent of Republicans for anybody they dont accept...be it of different race..color ..or religion. Imagine a Republican nominees that is a Mormon ? And a good guy..not a political corrupt crony vote buying fraud. A WEALTHY GUY..A MORMON..and he isnt a fraud. That blows most of the evil republican argument out of the water. Those Republicans against change.. I love when someone says Romney is typical... Compared with every politician out there..NOT. Just the fact he was elected Governor of Mass. being a Mormon Republican should speak volumes to those who chose to leave the brain un muted. Where has Paul..Bachmann and the others held office? IN POLITICALLY SAFE DISTRICTS and states. no different than the dems REED and PELOSI.
Jimmy Carter thinks Mitt Romney would make a fine President. http://communities.washingtontimes..../sep/21/jimmy-carter-mitt-romney-endorsement/ /The rest of us think he's a snake oil salesman.
To MnBillyBoy: Romney plus Perry equals ROMRY. I think everybody except you gets what I was trying to say in the title. It looks like I was wrong. Somebody else didn’t get it. The title of this thread was changed without an explanation.
Giggle ..ya right.. Or why the tea party wont just support the best guy or woman from the start. Bachmann had it for the right reasons.. Perry jumped in looking to ride the band wagon..until everyone discovers he isn't that conservative..as in flip /flop on party's..immigration.. eminent domain..and debate skills. His stumble on immigration ? It is his position..illegals get something Americans cant get.( try selling that ) IF Romney was a born again Baptist Perry wouldn't have needed to even get in. It was all about religion in IOWA will be in South Carolina and the rest of the deep south. Anybody but Romney ? Sound familiar? Anybody could be President Obama again. A progressive victory.
Reason for spelling accepted. Maybe not the debate reason or position.. You might try and explain why they are the same. I'll start. They are men.
Hey..he didn't need a government bailout to keep his union employees retired happily. He didn't need 500 billion to start up a company from taxpayers then go belly up and then take the 5th in front of congress. His snake oil business made billions in profits..employed thousands...and didn't cost tax payers a dime. When he left his last snake oil company it had complete health coverage for every person..and a balance budget...plus a rainy day fund. Dems destroyed that deal during the last 5 years. So maybe the BEST snake oil salesman is what we need..not the worst snake oil sales man. President Obama.. Government takeover of snake oil and 14 trillion dollars in debt in 3 years.
To GoSlash27: Am I missing something here? As I understand it no one except an administrator or moderator can edit someones elses messages. Can others edit my posts? Administrators and moderators may also edit your messages. If they do, there may not be a note telling other users that the post was modified. Unless youre a Site Moderator (cenydd is this sites moderator) I still cant see how you can edit my posts.
Ah. I was wondering what the confusion was. Yeah, I'm a mod, and no, the other members can't do that.
Bachmann was a Democrat and worked for Carters campaign in 1976.He also had kind words for her as well.
It seems nobody mentions the Michigan straw poll win for Romney.. Those nutty followers of the even nuttier Ron Paul didnt win much this week. Time for more made up straw polls among pot smoking hippies !
You get away from the religious Right ( Iowa..Florida.) and go where the economy matters and substance. 9-9-9 for a pizza promotion wont hide the lack of discipline.. Using Muslims like a religious curse upon the land.. I said IOWA wont matter.. and Florida wont either. at least in straw votes for straw men...and women.
