Pic Of The Moment: What A Difference A Hurricane Makes

[EarlG]

Mitt Romney In GOP Debate: Shut Down Federal Disaster Agency, Send Responsibility To The States

OH NO HE DIDN'T! Romney flips on FEMA

Follow @demunderground

[Xipe Totec]

1. Spoken like a well-oiled weather vane nt

[meeshrox]

2. That's a good one!

[Mira]

13. My room is rockin' from my laughter, family comes running n/t

[Rosa Luxemburg]

26. LOL! I hope that they put that in a TV ad

a photo of Romney on top of a building as a weather vane.

[dotymed]

33. That may be the only way that our "uninformed voters"

will be informed of the type of person rmoney is. It is so disturbing that he was ever chosen as the gop candidate and very scary that (MSM) claims this is a "tight race."
Our only hope against the dollars, msm lies and rigged election machines is to get out the vote for President Obama so hard that there can be no doubt about the winner of this election. So if "they" claim that rmoney won (unverifiable elections), we the people will take to the streets by the millions to demand the truth.

[SemperEadem]

3. yep...

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. THAT would make a great yard sign down here in the Bible Belt.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

32. oh do it!

Great idea!

Got Kinko's there?

[TBF]

4. I have at least one friend on FB (not a rl friend - just met her through a group)

who supports the Libertarian party yet is begging for the government to send gas to the Jersey shore.

The cognitive dissonance is amazing ...

[RitchieRich]

29. I was libertarian-curious...

for a minute. Turns out, not so much.

[TBF]

34. It is not so surprising in our country that folks

simply like to do what they want - freedom and individualism are characteristics of this capitalistic country. But when you get beyond the rah-rah patriotic stuff and start to think about community, many people find that they do want some sort of organized infra-structure.

The key is balancing those needs for individualism vs. looking out for the community at large. Right now with the Walton family, one family, controlling more wealth than 40% of the country we have some work to do on our resource allocation.

[oswaldactedalone]

5. I thought Libertarians had their

own wells and refineries in their backyard. Absence of government from their lives and all that.

[Scuba]

6. At least he's consistent. He always abandons his position when politically expedient.

[neffernin]

7. Seriously

I think we'd be well pressed to find a situation where he hasn't changed his position depending on who he was pandering to

[A Simple Game]

8. Why does everyone think he changed his position?

He never said he wouldn't privatize FEMA.

Privatize FEMA and send federal money to it, mission accomplished.

Profit off disaster, that's the Romney way. Lose your job,
lose your house, what's the difference as long as someone makes a profit?

[JDPriestly]

10. Problem is:

FEMA cannot be privatized. It provides money where no profit is to be made.

Who will profit from repairing the NY subway?

The construction companies and workers who get the contracts and do the physical labor.

But, while it may be possible to pay for the ordinary maintenance of the subway system out of the ticket and ad and other ongoing revenue, there is no way the subway can be profitable enough to pay for the repair this storm has caused. FEMA is a money-loser. In fact, that is its purpose. It spreads losses across the taxpayer community.

Education is also, a money-loser. It is an investment that does not bring a direct return. And so the investment and the losses associated with it have to be spread across the taxpayer base. There is no way to calculate the value of the subway to New Yorkers so as to make a profit that would be satisfying to investors. Investors want a return today, tomorrow or at least in ten years. Investors want to be able to live from their profits.

FEMA and many other government services cannot be privatized without costing more money to feed the profit-hunger of investors.

We see that in healthcare. European single payer healthcare is far less expensive than ours -- because they do not permit health insurance providers to take profit from healthcare that they provide.

The tax man is less greedy than the corporate investors.

[coldbeer]

12. remember what bush did in new orleans?

he suspended prevailing wage!

that's called privatizing!

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. Of course FEMA can be privatized.

Exactly the same way Blackwater was paid to show up after Katrina
the same way private contractors expanded like VD all over Iraq ( if there ever was test run for privatization, that was it)


You said" FEMA could not be privatized"
but then said
"FEMA and many other government services cannot be privatized without costing more money to feed the profit-hunger of investors"

"without costing more money"
EXACTLY why privatizing services is more expensive than letting city/state employees do it.
Privatizing takes our tax dollars, gives them to a "for profit" organization, which then looks for the cheapest way to provide the service in order to make a profit.

FEMA CAN be privatized.
We better hope it will not be. We cannot afford it, on so many levels.
But I am uneasy in the face of the mass privatization which is already occuring.

[amuse bouche]

9. I truly detest that jerk

and his little friend too

[W T F]

11. Ideological Chameleon

[cjparkinson]

14. There's Hope - Message to Swing States

[RitchieRich]

30. Welcome to DU!!

[MADem]

15. Mitt wanted to send all that business to his buddy Jeb in FL....

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2011/09/jeb-bush-forms-company-to-get-into-the-disaster-response-business.html

eb Bush forms company to get into the disaster response business
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is getting into the for-profit disaster response business. A veteran of emergency response operations -- having personally weathered Hurricane Andrew and then shepherded the state through 7 mega-hurricanes as governor -- Bush has joined forces with O'Brien's Response Management, an emergency planning company, according to a story in the Maritime Executive on its web site today.

[struggle4progress]

16. I guess it's good that he can still talk out of both sides of his mouth

[Vietnameravet]

17. Keep it up Mitt!!!

Doesn't matter what you say..the Obama haters will vote for you if your FEMA plan involved a mandatory organ donor program!!

[tclambert]

19. I would like to see an ad that pounds Romney on his flip-flops:

"What does Mitt Romney stand for?" followed by a series of his contradictory statements and outright lies. Then ask the question again and answer it: "How could anyone ever know?"

[Major Hogwash]

21. I'm beginning to think that every one of Romney's tape recorded speeches ends with . . .

. . . "This tape will self-destruct in 30 seconds."

There's no doubt about it now, he's a freakin' animatron!!

Just like the ones that are at the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World.

[Catherine Vincent]

22. LOL! Good one!

What a flippity flopper.

[Shuhered]

23. KarmaKarmaKarmaKarmaKarmaChameleon!!!!!!!!

You come and go, you come and go.......and you reall have no soul, non-religious, devil worshipping runt.

[Actionman]

24. This is the ad I was looking for from Obama...

Last edited Thu Nov 1, 2012, 11:31 PM - Edit history (1)

Romney side by side of what he said and what he's saying now.

[Angry Dragon]

25. Willard makes my head hurt

[Peaceful Protester]

27. Christie decides to stop playing politics and get real

Last edited Fri Nov 2, 2012, 03:11 AM - Edit history (1)

[GeorgeGist]

28. I think he's on to something ...

send him back to the private sector.

[Peaceful Protester]

31. Arithmetic

[h3]JOBS[/h3]

Promise:
Romney promises 12 million jobs
The CBO has projected 10 million jobs

Reality:
Romney is actually promising only 2 million jobs

[hr style="color:black;height:1px;"][div style="margin:-20px;"]
NOTE: Obama created/saved approx. 4 million jobs amidst a financial tsunami,
Romney is promising to create 1/2 as many jobs in a more favorable economy
[hr style="color:black;height:1px;"]
[h3]SPENDING[/h3]

Promise:
Romney promises to spend $7 trillion

Reality:
Romney is actually promising to spend $2 trillion more than Obama

[hr style="color:black;height:1px;"][div style="margin:-20px;"]
NOTE: Romney is promising to spend much more money pursuing Bush's agenda,
Obama spent less to save the economy, pay down the deficit and pay Bush's bills
[hr style="color:black;height:1px;"]