Obama or Romney – who & why?

Obama or Romney – who & why?

By: Dave & Nita Anand

Election Day, November 6, is approaching fast.

For one last time we must look at – what change Obama promised before 2008 election; what he did or did not do in the past four years; what Obama wants to do in the next four years should he win the 2012 election and how convincing he is in his new promises against Romney’s solutions and agenda.

OBAMA-PROMISES’ REPORT CARD

People understand that no president can keep all the campaign promises he makes to woo the voters for taking over the country’s helm. However, they do get how many lofty promises were made versus what was accomplished as a ratio.

According to Politifact.com, Barack Obama chanting his “Change Mantra” to get elected in 2008, fooled Americans by promising them the world; he promised more than 500 to-do-things for his first term of which he fulfilled about 121, or 24 percent. The fact checking organization selected 25 as the most significant promises and found Obama did deliver on six of them, again 24 percent. Rightfully, Politifact.com has labeled 24 as “The Obama promises-kept-percentage” – that is, the voters should discount or reject 76 percent of all the new promises Obama is making to re-occupy the Oval Office.

On the done side – Obama passed: the health care law (Obama-care), Wall Street reform, loan programs for small businesses, Medicaid eligibility expansion, credit card bill of rights, and also successfully repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

While the list of not-done things is too long to mention here, the major issues Obama has fallen short include: Repealing of Bush tax cuts for couples with incomes over $250,000; Windfall tax on oil company profits that would have given families an average of $1,000 to pay for skyrocketing energy bills; Immigration reform or Dream Act; Cap and trade with reduction of carbon emissions to the tune of 80 percent by 2050; restricting former Lobbyists from serving in Obama Administration; and closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

Going forward, we need to assess how Obama will do versus Romney on the most important issues dear to the American people than simply bowling them over with oratory to emphasize what Benjamin Franklin once said: “Well done is better than well said.”

1. JOBS & ECONOMY

Nearly 8 percent of the total workforce or more than 12 million Americans are jobless. The jobless rate for Blacks exceeds 14 percent, for teens over 21 percent, and if you consider underemployed, the overall unemployment jumps to 15 percent.

OBAMA: Subscribes to Keynesian theory of substantial government spending as a way to fixing the economy in recession and will continue to do so like he responded earlier with a roughly $800 billion stimulus plan. Obama proposes tax breaks for indigenous manufacturing and for bringing back jobs from abroad, and tax penalties for U.S. companies who are outsourcing jobs.

ROMNEY: Sticks to the Republican mantra of lower taxes, less regulation, balanced budget and higher trade to spur economic growth. Romney will replace jobless benefits with unemployment savings accounts and proposes to repeal the Todd-Frank financial regulations to allow private sector flourish for creating higher paying jobs than government.

2. NATIONAL DEBT      
Standing at over 16 trillion dollars, the national debt is on a slippery slope and out of control.

OBAMA: He has given us four-straight years of trillion-dollar deficits. Obama won approval to raise the debt limit to avoid default, but he may not be that lucky next time as the January 1, 2013 “fiscal cliff” approaches when $1.2 trillion in automatic tax increases and spending cuts will take effect. Central to Obama's plan to reduce the debt is to let Bush-era tax cuts expire for couples making more than $250,000. That is not enough of revenue increase as per experts who advise deep cuts in entitlements and defense spending is imperative to lower the national debt.

ROMNEY: Supported the bailout of financial institutions in 2008 as a necessary step to avoid the system's collapse, but opposed the auto bailout that worked wonders for the motor-city and the country. Romney would limit federal spending to 20 percent of gross domestic product by end of his first term that today stands at 23.5 percent; he would support constitutional balanced budget amendment to hold the debt.

3. HEALTH CARE

Currently exceeding 17 percent of GDP, health care costs continue to rise steeply, which adversely affect businesses and economy. The rise in cost comes from: ageing population, the uninsured, new costlier treatments, excessive tests and poor cost measurements and management.

OBAMA: Now that the Supreme Court has upheld Obama-care and its mandate for uninsured, insurers cannot deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, premiums will be subsidized with tax credits, people without work-based insurance will have access to new markets, small businesses will get assistance for offering insurance and Medicaid will be expanded.

ROMNEY: Has promised to repeal and replace the health-care law on the first day of his presidency since it goes against the spirit of freedom and which our Treasury cannot afford like all other entitlements. Romney believes states, not the federal government, should formulate policy on the uninsured. He would protect people who are "continuously covered" for a certain period from losing insurance and would expand individual tax-advantaged medical savings accounts and let savings be used for insurance premiums, as well as personal medical costs.

4. TAXES

In 2010, taxes collected by federal, state and municipal governments amounted to 24.8 percent of GDP. Contributions come from personal income taxes, corporate taxes, capital gains taxes, social security and Medicare taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, duty taxes, estate and gift taxes.

OBAMA: Wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and ensure their income tax rate is 30 percent at minimum. Obama has proposed that the top two tax rates be raised by 3 to 4 percentage points to 39.6 percent and 36 percent; he will also raise rates on capital gains and dividends for the wealthy. Obama-care requires tax on highest-value health insurance plans.

ROMNEY: Believes in lower taxes and will reduce the individual rate down to 28 percent from 35 percent and the lowest rate to 8 percent instead of 10 percent; he will also cut corporate tax to 25 percent from 35 percent. However, Romney proposes to deny deductions, credits and exemptions for the wealthiest. He will end Alternative Minimum Tax for individuals, eliminate capital gains tax for families making below $200,000.

5. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

There are no accurate figures on how many illegal people live in the United States; estimates vary from 12 million to 20 million. These illegal aliens make up roughly 5 percent of the American workforce, but unfortunately, they are a huge burden to the states with large illegal populations since they must operate in the shadows of our law enforcement.

OBAMA: The government has deported a record number of illegal immigrants under Obama, but he favors a path to citizenship for young illegal immigrants enrolled in colleges or enlisted in the armed forces. Obama is committed to immigration legislation (Dream Act) that was rejected by the Senate in 2011.

ROMNEY: Favors strengthening of the U.S.-Mexico border fence as a first step. Romney opposes giving legal status and education benefits to illegal immigrants who attend college, but supports those who serve in the armed forces. He will establish an immigration-status verification system for employers and those found to be hiring non-citizens who do not prove their legal status, Romney will punish them.

6. ENERGY

About 86 percent of all types of energy used in the United States come from fossil fuels. In 2007, the largest source of the country's energy came from petroleum (40 percent), followed by natural gas (24 percent) and coal (23 percent). The remaining 15 percent was supplied by nuclear power, hydroelectric dams and miscellaneous renewable sources. The U.S. oil demand has averaged 18.52 million barrels per day (mb/d) in the first six months of 2012, which is a decline of 11 percent from the peak of 20.8mb/d back in 2004. Even with that -- the United States is consuming approximately 25 percent of annual global oil production with 5 percent of the world's population. Our import bill amounted to over $331 million in 2011.

OBAMA: Stopped deep-water drilling after the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but has raised the fuel economy standards that will save money at the cost of new vehicles. Obama spent heavily on green energy, however, Solyndra proved to be $500 million eyesore. He has embraced nuclear power as a clean source, but rejected the Keystone XL Project (1,179-mile pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska) that according to experts would create over 20,000 jobs.

ROMNEY: Wants America to become energy self-reliant in which respect, he is willing to open the Atlantic and Pacific outer continental shelves to drilling, as well as Western lands, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and offshore Alaska. Romney will further ease production in the coal, natural gas and nuclear energy sectors, and accelerate drilling permits to developers with good safety history. He supports the Keystone project.

Granted that people will not agree with the above list of major issues and the two candidates’ positions we came up with. They must tweak and create one of their own “Issues & Positions” paper since choosing Obama or Romney come November will be a huge challenge for every undecided voter. The issue of “Fiscal Cliff” alone will impact many future generations, unless fixed in time.

We two belong to those free souls who in the past have voted for Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Gore, Kerry, and McCain in 2008 (would have voted Hillary). For now, these free souls, who hate the devilish word “mandate” unless used in some divine pronouncement, are leaning towards Romney so that we avoid the fiscal cliff, budget imbalance, over-regulation, trade restrictions, higher taxes, unaffordable Obama-care and oil dependency.

Dave & Nita Anand are proud residents of Trumbull since 1978. Dave has written and published two books: "People Super Highway, the Mystique & Quest of Soul" and "The Verses." He can be contacted at danand55@gmail.com.