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anne4444 07/24/2012 02:35 PM Report
God does exist. God created suffering and hope that we as the owner of Earth utilize our creativity, passion, courage, wisdom, bravery and hard work to solve the problem of suffering in all lives on earth if we open our hearts with compassion towards all beings.
The Goal is to assist each soul in different timeline to unite with God as whole at end.
anne4444 07/24/2012 02:34 PM Report
God does exist. God created suffering and hope that we as the owner of Earth utilize our creative, passion, courage, wisdom, bravery and hard work to solve the problem of suffering in all lives on earth if we open our hearts with compassion towards all beings.
The Goal is to assist each soul in different timeline to unite with God as whole at end.
==============================================================
There is only one soul in the universe. One single soul currently exists on earth at current time line. All other souls are from different time line (past or future). Because of the creation of time, it enables us to have 7 billion souls (manifested by itself in different timeline) living together on earth. It looked like we were all attracted or tricked (depends on your experience) by the mother earth. Maybe… the purpose of all lives is to help past souls move into the future.
Hopefully, our scientists will help us to find out the existence of the soul and its purpose in life.
Leila 07/23/2012 09:57 AM Report
I can not have have said it better. I just cringe, when you continue to think you are equal to almost
everyone that you interview. You are just an interviewer Charlie and of course, people are gracious with you, because they want to be on your show. They are your fiends.
Over the last 3 years, I have also listened to you speak and converse with various guests about President Obama, and I just finished watching your interview with the President & Michelle Obama on July 16, 2012. My observations suggest a hesitation on your part to give Obama credit for anything he has accomplished and a feeling as though you are always surprised and question why the international leaders of the world speak of his strengths and wisdom. As I watched the interview I wondered if you would have asked the same questions as you did of any other past presidents? Did you really expect him to tell you why Mitt Romney would make a good president? Was it offensive to you when he spoke negatively about Washington, D.C.? Would you have asked Bill Clinton why he wanted to be president for a second term? You seemed to want to put him on the defensive, or to diminish him in some way. Or, were you just being the tough interviewer and be "the devils advocate"? Personally, I found your interview and past expressions of the president disrespectful of this man and the office he holds. And, as an earlier comment from another listener:
"where you come from shows". I really agree with this quote.
NeilMacCallister 07/21/2012 12:12 PM Report
filleleon interestingly writes: "President Obama needs the full cooperation of a Congress elected to serve."
But Congress does NOT get elected to serve the President. Congress gets elected to represent the views, interests, and rights of the American people, and their 50 individual States!
Does President Obama "fairly and equally" protect those rights?
American children born when President Obama was elected came into this world with a National Debt of 10 Trillion dollars weighing upon their shoulders. At the end of Mr. Obama's 4 short years, newborn children must now shoulder a much larger 16 Trillion dollars of weight.
Will those new children rise with the same equality of opportunity as the children of America did just four short years ago?
filleleon 07/18/2012 11:10 PM Report
I find Charlie Rose to be a good interviewer; however, I noticed that he interrupted the President a couple of times which I thought was a bit rude. The guest should always be allowed to finish making his point. The interviewer does not gain anything by rushing his questioning in such a rude manner; in fact, by letting his guest make his point uninterrupted, he is acquiring more information to formulate his next question.
filleleon 07/18/2012 10:49 PM Report
President Obama has a clear understanding of the current economic situation in the country. He will be re-elected, but, in order to accomplish what is needed to fix America, he will need the full cooperation of the Congress in his second term. Congress has not been cooperative; it is time that they start earning their pay checks. They were elected to serve and not to sit on their seats in congress.
_Ian_ 07/18/2012 05:23 PM Report
I like the general talk about life and family. When it gets all politico everything is quite automated and by the book.
And never underestimate Charlie's ability to cut you off while you're talking.....even if you're the president.
blank 07/18/2012 05:36 AM Report
1) healthcare
2) infrastructure
3) education
4) healthcare
5) infrastructure
6) education
don't complain have confidence in yourself
the interviews are very hard just getting through them is a major task
lighten up whatever happens happens
somehow the trick is to successfully address problems without dwelling too hard on them
we all know how severe things are but sometimes not being able to fully see the magnitude of it is better if simultaneously the correct and right actions are executed
i can't waste my time on the mental state and thought process of other people
their emotional state mental disorders and reasons why the successful correct action can't go forward
i think healthcare was the most important people just want to see results
put me in the future of where i'm trying to go to take me out of the present and make substantial incremental real steps that pushes me on that path
once i get in the mind state focus on the positive move forward towards it focus on the positive move forward towards it
weighing what is most important what needs to get done it all needs to get done
accomplish what you can and move forward
NO HEALTH CARE YOU'RE DEAD WAKE UP
NO INFRASTRUCTURE NOTHING WORKS YOU CAN'T ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING
NO EDUCATION YOU CAN'T UTILIZE IT ALL FOR SUCCESS
republicans believe in the same things they just have emotional problems that manifest themselves in strange ways due to a lack of being healthy and being intelligent maybe a lifelong experience of rejection that comes as a result of that (you could say this for a lot of democrats too who are just swept up in the crowd)
i got rejected now here is why here is where i went wrong and here i go to better myself
confidence in the future to pull off your dream and to really go for it (together because we're all in this together we can create different specialty places for different people to choose to live)
but there is a basic underlying fundamental formula for success
HAPPINESS AND KINDNESS IS CONTAGIOUS
we have to somehow create a system where we can get the highest percentage concentration of the brightest (and therefore nicest) people in the world to move to this country it will only benefit those of us who are already here
BENEZRAA 07/18/2012 03:18 AM Report
ON A LESS FLUFFY NOTE...
Comment was made below that the Healthcare Legislation is not in the [Libertarian] interest and is therefore not Constitutional, being a ploy not to deliver healthcare, but, to provide public subsidy for healthcare on an involuntary basis. [If my paraphrasing is not on target, please, do correct me.] I have yet to meet a Libertarian, who was challenged for the resources to be libertarian. For the Libertarian, life and death is not, was not, and never could be an issue in the same way as it is for ordinary people.
Respectfully, there is a difference between requiring that our citizens carry healthcare policies as may be appropriate, then taxing those, who fail to do so, such that the Public may benefit from some reimbursement by non-participants, and such that the Public may cope with malingering issues including the Public Health, protracted and unattended illness, and Cost Control.
Frankly, it is an amazement to me that our military reserves and national guards have not had their medical capabilities and numbers expanded to triage the poor of our nation.
Or shall we prefer to see our streets resemble those of Third World Nations, which Nations look to the USA as their model to aspire to in so many ways, their own circumstances being so, so bad that they may not perceive the trend in the USA towards achieving Third World levels of disenfranchisement ?
SharkswithfrikingLazers 07/18/2012 03:15 AM Report
Watch the First Lady's eyes when Charlie is grilling the President on high unemployment and then after the President says his greatest accomplishment is not health care but averting a depression.
Her emotions bubble up much, much more. Who would do a better job "being inspired" by her, Tyler Perry or Aaron Sorkin?
SharkswithfrikingLazers 07/18/2012 03:02 AM Report
The President says this is all about helping the Average Joe get a job, get a home, send his kids to college and retire with dignity and respect.
Yes, that is 20th century America but I am not sure that it is a 21st century possibility with globalization, disproportionate income distribution, college debt and issues of retirement funding versus spending.
BENEZRAA 07/18/2012 02:52 AM Report
THE USA SHOULD SEEK A SUPERIOR NOMENCLATURE FOR THE PHRASE, "THE FIRST LADY".
As I observed POTUS and Mrs. POTUS, I was happily struck by their easy, comfortable, and lighthearted affection for each other. It offended me to even think that beyond The First Lady there might be a Second Lady and a Third Lady and so on and so forth, as in other presidential administrations. And the thought progressed to the realization that there must be a better title we can come up with for the Presidential Spouse. So, help me out, people! Any ideas along this line of thought?
Speaking of ideas, how about a new slogan for the 2nd-term Obama campaign? Instead of "Hope and Change", how about "Taking Care of Business Every Day" or, "These Are Words That Go Together Well...." Romney might want to consider, "You can frack some of the people some of the time, and, you can frack all of the people some of the time, but, you can't frack all of the people all of the time (but, you can try just a little bit harder)" or perhaps something simpler like, "Look, Boss -- The Plane, The Plane....".
SharkswithfrikingLazers 07/18/2012 02:51 AM Report
Charlie, to answer your question about Bain Capital and if anything was done illegally.
Perhaps we will see transparency in tax returns (like father, perhaps like son) and that will help you.
SharkswithfrikingLazers 07/18/2012 02:46 AM Report
Charlie, at the 22:55 minute mark we finally saw you.
The President was kinda taken aback.
This dude on "Charlie Rose" is much better than this dude on CBS.
SharkswithfrikingLazers 07/18/2012 02:38 AM Report
Politics trumps problem solving in Washington.
He says he underestimated this.
"Hope and Change."
November 2010 ended it. The political brand is king--even over duties as an American.
I hope there will be change and problem solving will be king even over Grover Norquist political dogma.
SharkswithfrikingLazers 07/18/2012 02:18 AM Report
"Sleep away camp for a month."
That is a long time for the girls to be gone.
Sounds like the amount of time a divorced father gets his kids for the summer.
richard-lipscombe 07/17/2012 11:43 PM Report
Washington feels as broken to me as it did 4 years ago, says Obama...what an admission of failure!!!
that is all the American people should need to know to feel that they must elect Romney as the next President of America...
Obama, by his own admission, has failed to deliver 'change you can believe in"... Obama set the pass mark for himself and he has clearly failed...Obama blames everyone but himself for his failure...
this interview shows that Obama just does not get it - he does not get the fact that America is in decline because it has an enormous 'overhang' of government debt and excessive regulation...on the contrary, Obama believes that 'big government' is the answer to arresting the decline of America - that is the middle class is going backwards, K-12 education is dominated union power not by students' curiosity and fervor for learning, and Washington is clearly focused on redistribution of wealth not building a system that supports the creation of C21st wealth in a global digital economy, finally that the ideological politics from both sides Democrats and Republicans has created gridlock...
Obama has had 4 years to do all the things that he now says that he wants to get done in the next 4 years...all the things that he wants to get done will be delivered through 'big government' programs run out of Washington...big government, the likes that Americans have never seen before, that Americans can not afford unless or until the GDP of the nation grows substantially...
Obama promises his followers 'a fairer share of less wealth' because he has no plans to grow the economy...he is going back to protectionism - good luck with that in the era of China - as he attacks outsourcing to the world...Obama talks about a different time - a time of nation-state economies not global networked economies...Obama is telling a story of yesterday not a story of today or tomorrow...
Obama should go back to being a community worker... clearly, he believes in community accountability rather than individual responsibility...
Obama has no idea what he is going to do in his next term save 'more of the same'... he wants to tell Americans a story but it turns out his story sucks because it is just more of the same...more of the same means more decline for the American nation...
this interview is actually irrelevant - thank goodness - because Romney will be the next President of America...why? not because Romney is rich, not because he ran the Olympics, not because he ran Bain...he will be President because people want to rid themselves of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid...
will Romney be a good President? who knows...will he correct the decline in America? who knows... one thing is clear he will have a better chance to do that than Obama because he will not give America and Americans more of the same... if Obama wins he will most likely be a lame duck President anyway because the Hill will not bend to his desires to give the country more of his 'home spun' nonsense that clothes his 'big government' agenda...
America deserves K-12 to be fixed, the cities to be fixed, the economy to enter the C21st wherein all jobs are open to people from around the world (its is a flat world for jobs), a smaller government that is less intrusive, and a budget that smashes the debt run up by two irresponsible Presidents - George W Bush and Barack Obama...cheers, richard...
chawlydoodahdolly 07/17/2012 07:58 PM Report
Ronald Reagan voted for Truman.
That's a fact
chawlydoodahdolly 07/17/2012 07:57 PM Report
you like that word/term/concept, 'Trumanomics', Democrats?
That's another one I thought of. Feel free to use it; use it alot.
chawlydoodahdolly 07/17/2012 07:38 PM Report
OK. I have just watched the interview, and my view is the same. President Obama said it well, both democrat and republican ideologies are right for certain times and wrong for other times. To cling to wronghead, outdated ideologies is a fool's game. The tea party is wrong, you don't press for lower taxs and less regulation of the financial services industry after what JUST happened! What They (the bankers) just did to the middle-class. Not to mention fighting terrorism and the sacrifices the military is making so the filthy rich scum can shit on hard working Americans!
The republicans are NOT the party of conservatives and small business ANYMORE. They sold out to to the filthy rich, and they are the ones playing 'class warfare'. All they can do now is prey on the ignorance of ignorant people to peddle their bullshit to the hard working and unemployed Amercans.
President Reagan would have voted for Obama; what do you think of that! Mitt Romney
He would have recognized that Reaganomics has run it's course, and now it's OBVIOUSLY time for some Trumanomics. And someday in the future (10-20 years), it will be time for Reaganomics again, But That Time Is NOT NOW.
Stay the course President Obama has set forth!!!
ruvayda5 07/17/2012 07:34 PM Report
Dear Charlie: I have always looked forward to your program and found your interviews interesting, stimulating and I have learned a great deal over the past years about the human psyche from listening to your conversations. However, over the last 3 years, I have also listened to you speak and converse with various guests about President Obama, and I just finished watching your interview with the President & Michelle Obama on July 16, 2012. My observations suggest a hesitation on your part to give Obama credit for anything he has accomplished and a feeling as though you are always surprised and question why the international leaders of the world speak of his strengths and wisdom. As I watched the interview I wondered if you would have asked the same questions as you did of any other past presidents? Did you really expect him to tell you why Mitt Romney would make a good president? Was it offensive to you when he spoke negatively about Washington, D.C.? Would you have asked Bill Clinton why he wanted to be president for a second term? You seemed to want to put him on the defensive, or to diminish him in some way. Or, were you just being the tough interviewer and be "the devils advocate"? Personally, I found your interview and past expressions of the president disrespectful of this man and the office he holds. And, as an earlier comment from another listener:
"where you come from shows".
chawlydoodahdolly 07/17/2012 06:31 PM Report
I see no LEGITIMATE reason why the Obamas shouldn't occupy the White House for another 4 years. They inherited a total fucking MESS. And they have managed it as well if not better than any other asshole snake oil salemen.
anne4444 07/17/2012 06:24 PM Report
Money was created to make our lives easier, it is not to separate the rich from the poor. Hopefully, we will all know who we truly are soon.
===============================================================
There is only one soul in the universe. One single soul currently exists on earth at current time line. All other souls are from different time line (past or future). Because of the creation of time, it enables us to have 7 billion souls (manifested by itself in different timeline) living together on earth. It looked like we were all attracted or tricked (depends on your experience) by the mother earth. Maybe… the purpose of all lives is to help past souls move into the future.
Hopefully, our scientists will help us to find out the existence of the soul and its purpose in life.
===============================================================
We are now in the beginning of human consciousness evolution into a new culture similar as Andromedans. We will likely live much longer than we are now and we will have less surviving problem, but a lot of passion to work for self-satisfaction and serving others.
Hopefully we all open our hearts and let them connect together in the frequency of the LIGHT to exchange information within as internet.
============================================================
The universe in its origin does not have any separation. All things are united as one.
Our next future is likely to be in the level of sharing through our souls, sharing the thoughts without privacy, sharing the pains without shame, sharing visions without limitation and sharing the joys without reservation.
Chakras are information and energy exchange centers with other Galaxies in different time lines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakra
This 3-dimensional physical world does not exist in reality. We use this physical world to gain information into our souls. The soul works more than just a complex computer, having the capabilities of saving information, generating behaviors/thoughts/senses, having the will to survive, giving birth and etc…
The Sun, the gravitational force and our senses make this physical world to be so real to us, therefore we have never noticed that we are all enslaved ourselves for our limitation.
===============================================================
Here are 12 dimensions in the universe:3 physical dimensions, 3 non-physical dimensions, time, universe expansion, possibility, parallel dimension, merging/separation and duplication.
The highest physical l being in our universe is a nine dimensional intelligent being. After that, we can only see non-physical spiritual beings.
The 48 dimensional intelligent beings are purely high vibrating frequency of “female” energy filled with information; they have no form, no face and no gender as we defined, but they can transform themselves into anything and go into any physical bodies. They created us and our universe.
==============================================================
New understanding of eight senses or eight consciousnesses:
5 senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell by eye, ear, tongue, skin and nose.
6 sense: intuition and compassion by the invisible soul inside our body
7 sense: invisible and immortal “data cable” transferring information between 6 sense and 8 sense during sleeping.
8 sense: our united non-separable soul kept together within mother earth. Invisible and immortal.
===============================================================
When we look into the sky, we are all humble by the creation.
There are total 48 dimensions in our universe. 36 dimensions are inaccessible to us. Our souls can access 12 dimensions (12 strand soul DNA) while this material world with plant earth limits us to only 3 dimensions with Double Helix DNA.
Knowledge is limitless, so does intelligent being.
Our soul has no difference; we are united as one. Our differences in body, senses, sex, intelligence, power and wealth, is only the trap in the darkness which prevent us to unite our other half soul into the lightness.
LIGHTNESS INTO THE SPACE AS SPACE- BEING. IT IS OUR FUTURE.
lennyt1943 07/17/2012 06:13 PM Report
So Charlie, you comment to the President and First Lady on what nice living quarters you have here;tennis courts, swimming pool and gardens. Would you have been so incredibly condescending to George Bush? Does it offend you in some way that the Obamas occupy the White House? Your comment was not all that subtle and it was nauseatingly offensive. The cloth you are cut from was showing.
chawlydoodahdolly 07/17/2012 06:09 PM Report
I have often said that, 'Barack Obama is the Dolly-Lama of Americonnah'. I came up with that slogan myself, because I have a pulse on the mood of reality. I know what's really going on in a way that most herds of humanoids are capable of. Feel free to use my slogan that I thought of anytime, just please courtesy to paraphrase to footnote quote me, Chawly Doodah Dolly; get it? Brian williams.
I would like to help President Obama Dolly Lama, as much as possible, that's why I have applied for jobs at the White House as a janitor or window washer like crazy, but they never hire me; which is unfortuneate, because I would have told President Obama to not pursue health care reform, bad idea, in the midst of a major league recession, won't work. Why Geitner supported that action.? I'll never understand. It was such a waste of resourses; it makes me wonder what Geitner is really up to.
Was it smoke and mirrors to get the focus off of the financial industry so they could bribe Congress to let them continue their free range looting of the middle-class.?. ..Yeah, uh-huh, I think so.
Just goes to show you, the repugnantcans and demagogcrats are in it TOGETHER. I really don't give a shit anymore. Let it burn
tabs 07/17/2012 03:46 PM Report
Now Comes Part Two:
What can one conclude from ones preceding Post, that shows that one was able to conjure up out of whole cloth the "essential Obama" over a year ago. To capture the essence of President Obama's thought process. The answer is that President Obama's perceptions or thinking have not changed one iota and that he is still repeating the same old mantra over and over again. So in essence America has a smooth talking President that is stuck in his own personal feedback loop. This in essence leaves all those hard bitten politically savvy Journalists like Rose, Hunt, Burns and Mathews among others who bought into the Obama "tingle going up their leg" looking like a bunch of Rubes fresh from the farm.
tabs 07/17/2012 01:33 PM Report
Dear Mr Rose:
The following was sent as an e-mail to XXXX on the date indicated. The question one has to ask is, is the following a faithfull rendition of President Obama's current state of mind as reflected in your recent interview with him? Then Mr Rose one has to realize that the following was written well over a year ago as an excercise in being able to capture the essential Obama. Of special note Mr Rose is the question you asked of the President at the end of the interivew which was about what he has failed at. The President replied that he doesn't't feel he explains his agenda well enough to the American people. THIS RESPONSE IS THE ONLY FAILURE THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS EVER ADMITED TO, IS OFTEN REPEATED, AND IS THE SAME AS THE ONE STATED BELOW.
What this admission of a singular failure on the part of the President means, is that he never second guesses his own perceptions and or his own veracity as a test to see if they hold water. It is quite natural for a person of this bent to see issues only from their own perspecitve, be unwilling to modify their own beliefs and or stance in the face of facts or events and for those who do not agree with him to be seen as obstructing his forward progress. This is quite unlike Lincoln in that Lincoln during his two major bouts of Depression questioned every thing from the ground up.
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: tabs
To:XXXX
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2011 4:21 AM
Subject: Channeling Barrack
Calling on Barrack , what we need is a true avenger to sweep the streets clean of these verminous freebooting Capitalists... Come in Barrack...
The American Middle Class basically understands that I am working in their best interests, That the object of the release of the oil reserves is to stimulate the economy just at a time when it might be faltering. To give hard working Americans a bit of relief from high energy prices. The Right Wing in American politics opposes everything that I propose, Their agenda is to vilify everything that promotes the American ideals of fairness and equality. They do this at the beckon and call of their corporate allies whose interest is not that of the American people but pure and simple profits. My failure has been that I don't explain in simple enough terms the long term trans formative benefits that my policies and programs will have on the well being of the American people...... .
Thank You Barrack...now back to our regular channeling...
TABS
REMant 07/17/2012 11:44 AM Report
Saying the ONLY issue in spending is that it be directed to constructive ends is disingenuous, as is the GOP is only interested in protecting the rich. Or that the question is only a matter of equal opportunity. The wealthy know they benefit from printing and spending, and the poor know they want a piece of it. There's nothing new in this. Consider the Federal Farmer: "In 1786, the little insurgents, the levellers, came forth, invaded the rights of others, and attempted to establish governments according to their wills. Their movements evidently gave encouragement to the other party, which, in 1787, has taken the political field, and with its fashionable dependants, and the tongue and the pen, is endeavouring to establish in great haste, a politer kind of government. These two parties, which will probably be opposed or united as it may suit their interests and views, are really insignificant, compared with the solid, free, and independent part of the community." How much longer that will remain so is anyone's guess. The more we print and spend, the worse things become for the middle-class. If you really want to end this rapaciousness, put people in a position where they must not only look to themselves, but seek the friendship of others.
It is not just irresponsible to say we are are going spur "growth" this way: it's a fantasy. No administration has been more supportive of the bankers on Wall St than this one. It's inconceivable a Romney admin could be any worse. The indications are the economy re-entered recession in May, will continue to deteriorate by the election, and that, on top of what looks like a devastating drought, makes any claim of economic improvement ridiculous.
The problem with the health care statute lay mostly with its constitutionality, which can be compared with the previous admin's overreach in foreign policy (regarding which this admin, itself, hasn't been too restrained), the Court's argument equally ridiculous, except in noting that it is a tax. Requiring ppl to buy health insurance is requiring them to support a government program, call it what you will, which clearly has for its object not the improvement of service, but the provision of it through govt subsidy, which, since it will almost certainly increase costs implies a restriction in service, and a socialization of a large sector of the economy. The more we print and spend, too, the more we can expect those costs to rise. If we were going to so this, we should have done it more responsibly, and less impolitic-ly. When the public was more in favor of this it looked a lot more like they could afford it.
But there is nothing new in Republican views of the matter. Once more, here's Eisenhower: "For the hard fact is that under many years of Democratic Party leadership our country has been lured into the 'easy way,' a path of federal expediency which, like a narcotic, may give us a false sense of well being, but in the long run is dangerous to our future, our basic rights, our moral fiber and our individual freedom....Or let us take the ingrained habit of Democratic Administrations to over-spend, to follow risky financial policies, particularly under the guise of 'stimulating the economy.' This process already has eroded away a basic right of every citizen: the right to have sound money, a dollar that is worth as much today as it was yesterday. I know that anyone who speaks up against deficit spending is accused by the 'sophisticated' liberals of being more interested in money than in people. But I ask, what is more inhumane to more people than deliberately taking away the value of the money on which they must live in the future?" What is new is the number now in the Republican Party.
Critics have been right to point out, too, that much of the Recovery Act's funding ended up overseas.
The president's Romney claims are contravened by The Post's fact checker:
"Romney released his 2010 tax return and an estimate of his 2011 return earlier this year. He earned a little more than $20 million each year, a good chunk of it in capital gains and dividends, which are taxed at a preferential rate as low as 15 percent.
"But that's not the only reason why Romney's tax rate is at that level. He also donates about 14 percent of his income to charity, which gives him a pretty big tax deduction. (As we have noted, President Obama in 2010 also gave about 14 percent of his income to charity.)
"Indeed, Romney gives about as much to charity - $3 million - as he pays in taxes. Those itemized deductions are counted against income that would ordinarily be taxed at a 35-percent rate. We figure that without those donations to charity, his effective tax rate would be at least 19 percent.
"Nevertheless, the Obama campaign is correct that the former Massachusetts governor paid about 15 percent of his gross adjusted income (that's line 37 on the tax return) in taxes. But is that "much less" than what many middle-class families pay?
"First of all, most of Romney's taxes are federal income taxes. He pays relatively little in payroll taxes because the 6.2 percent Social Security tax maxes out once you earn a certain amount - $110,100 in 2012. Romney in effect earns that much by Jan. 3.
"But for most Americans, payroll taxes are the biggest tax item. (And that's not even including the share paid by employers. Most economists say employers pay for payroll taxes by cutting their employees' wages.)
"People often confuse marginal tax rates with effective tax rates. Marginal rates are what you pay on each additional dollar of income, so that can be as high as 35 percent. The effective tax rate is the percentage of taxes you pay after deductions, adjustments and the like....
"[F]or all the rhetoric about high taxes in the United States, most Americans pay a relatively small percentage of their income in taxes. Second, Romney had an effective rate of 13.9 percent in 2010 and 15.4 percent in 2011, which gives him a higher rate than 80 percent of taxpayers in the first method and puts him just about in the middle of all taxpayers in the second method.
"No matter how you slice it, his tax rate is not significantly lower than the tax rate paid by middle-class Americans.
"The Obama campaign countered our analysis by pointing out that the tweet used the phrase 'many,' not 'most,' and by providing a dictionary definition showing that 'many' means 'a large amount.' The campaign also noted that a White House report showed that while the median tax rate for Americans with income between $50,000 and $100,000 is 13 percent, some 3 million face effective tax rates above 21 percent.
"Under the campaign's logic, this translates into Romney paying a rate "much less" than "many" Americans, though with the same data, one could say that many more pay a lower rate than Romney.
"As we wrote yesterday, we are standing with our assessment that Mitt Romney left the helm of Bain Capital in 1999, when he departed to run the Salt Lake City Olympics. The date is important because some questionable investments by Bain took place between 1999 and 2002, when he ran for governor. But a Boston Globe article on Thursday raised new questions about that timeline, citing SEC filings, and the Obama campaign jumped to take advantage of it.
"Despite the furor, we did not see much new in the Globe article. We had examined many SEC documents related to Romney and Bain in January, and concluded that much of the language saying Romney was "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president" was boilerplate that did not reveal whether he was actually managing Bain at the time. (For instance, there is no standard definition of a "chief executive," securities law experts say, and there is no requirement for anyone to have any responsibilities even if they have that title.)
"The one thing new we saw in the Globe story was the assertion that 'Romney's state financial disclosure forms indicate he earned at least $100,000 as a Bain "executive" in 2001 and 2002, separate from investment earnings.' But then we realized we had already reviewed those documents in January. The 2001 form describes him as a 'former executive' (see page 1 of form A-5) - the campaign says this was retirement pay - but the 2002 form says 'executive.' So either you believe he suddenly rejoined the firm, after leaving it, or someone made a typo.
"Romney's sudden departure from Bain had left the partnership in flux, in fact almost breaking up the firm, and a final resolution was not reached until he ended his Olympic sojourn and decided to run for governor. At that point, he signed retirement papers that set his departure date as February 1999, the month he left for the Olympics.
"Fortune magazine on Thursday reported that it had obtained the offering documents for Bain Capital funds circulating in 2000 and 2001. None of the documents show that Romney was listed as being among the 'key investment professionals' who would manage the money. As Fortune put it, 'the contemporaneous Bain documents show that Romney was indeed telling the truth about no longer having operational input at Bain - which, one should note, is different from no longer having legal or financial ties to the firm.'
"Let's also not forget that Massachusetts Democrats tried to keep Romney off the ballot in the 2002 governor's race on the grounds that he had been living and working in Utah, even paying taxes there, and thus had failed to meet the requirement to have lived seven consecutive years in Massachusetts. The effort failed, but not after Democrats waged an expensive, months' long battle to prove he worked so much on the Olympics that he was in effect a citizen of Utah.
"An official state investigation concluded that Romney no longer worked at Bain as of early 1999, and also was working '12 hours a day, six days a week' on the Olympics from 1999 to 2002. That also would seem to trump the SEC filings."
Richard_DeBiase 07/17/2012 10:51 AM Report
How many Catholics will Obama kill today?
Since Barack Obama became President of the United States, over 30,000 people have been killed in the Drug War in Mexico alone. Ending the ultra-violent U.S. Drug War should have been President Obama's top priority his first day in office. It's the "Obama Drug War" now. And unless President Obama can bring the people he has killed back to life, then don't expect me to vote for him again.
Some Mexicans say [paraphrased] the total disregard for the lives of innocent bystanders is rooted in the anti-Catholicism of the predominantly Protestant United States. Whether that is true or not, no one can deny that the people being killed all over Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are overwhelmingly Catholic. I hope the Catholic Church will be a good shepherd, and take action to save their flock.
President Obama has a great deal of first-hand experience using marijuana. He knows marijuana is harmless. He is having people killed and thrown in prison, because he thinks this will bring him political power. How sick and twisted can this guy be?
Since marijuana accounts for well over 50% of all illegal drug sales and use, legalizing marijuana is the obvious place to start to end this war.