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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumEzra Klein: The massive policy gap between Obama and Romney
The massive policy gap between Obama and Romney
Posted by Ezra Klein
August 6, 2012 at 9:50 am
The central difficulty of covering this presidential campaign which is to say, of explaining Barack Obama and Mitt Romneys disparate plans for the country is the continued existence of what we might call the policy gap. The policy gap, put simply, is this: Obama has proposed policies. Mitt Romney hasnt.
It is important to say that this exists separately from any judgments about the quality of either mans policies. You can believe every idea Obama has proposed is a socialist horror inspired by Kenyan revenge fantasies. This would, I think, be a strange judgment to reach about plans to invest in infrastructure, temporarily double the size of the payroll tax cuts and raise the marginal tax rate on income over $250,000 by 4.5 percentage points. Nevertheless, Obamas policy proposals are sufficiently detailed that they can be fully assessed and conclusions even odd ones confidently drawn. Romneys policies are not.
Obama has released detailed policy proposals. Romney hasn't. (Kevin Lamarque -- Reuters)
Romneys offerings are more like simulacra of policy proposals. They look, from far away, like policy proposals. They exist on his Web site, under the heading of Issues, with subheads like Tax and Health care. But read closely, they are not policy proposals. They do not include the details necessary to judge Romneys policy ideas. In many cases, they dont contain any details at all.
Take taxes. Romney has promised a permanent, across-the-board 20 percent cut in marginal rates, alongside a grab bag of other goodies, like the end of the death tax. Glenn Hubbard, his top economic adviser, has promised that the plan will broaden the tax base to ensure that tax reform is revenue-neutral.
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Posted by Ezra Klein
August 6, 2012 at 9:50 am
The central difficulty of covering this presidential campaign which is to say, of explaining Barack Obama and Mitt Romneys disparate plans for the country is the continued existence of what we might call the policy gap. The policy gap, put simply, is this: Obama has proposed policies. Mitt Romney hasnt.
It is important to say that this exists separately from any judgments about the quality of either mans policies. You can believe every idea Obama has proposed is a socialist horror inspired by Kenyan revenge fantasies. This would, I think, be a strange judgment to reach about plans to invest in infrastructure, temporarily double the size of the payroll tax cuts and raise the marginal tax rate on income over $250,000 by 4.5 percentage points. Nevertheless, Obamas policy proposals are sufficiently detailed that they can be fully assessed and conclusions even odd ones confidently drawn. Romneys policies are not.
Obama has released detailed policy proposals. Romney hasn't. (Kevin Lamarque -- Reuters)
Romneys offerings are more like simulacra of policy proposals. They look, from far away, like policy proposals. They exist on his Web site, under the heading of Issues, with subheads like Tax and Health care. But read closely, they are not policy proposals. They do not include the details necessary to judge Romneys policy ideas. In many cases, they dont contain any details at all.
Take taxes. Romney has promised a permanent, across-the-board 20 percent cut in marginal rates, alongside a grab bag of other goodies, like the end of the death tax. Glenn Hubbard, his top economic adviser, has promised that the plan will broaden the tax base to ensure that tax reform is revenue-neutral.
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Ezra Klein: The massive policy gap between Obama and Romney (Original Post)
flpoljunkie
Aug 2012
OP
amerciti001
(158 posts)1. Remember that the way Rmoney reduces Taxes is...
to raise the cost of fees on everything else...that's how his tax policies work, raise the fees on everything else. Anyone for $100.00 drivers licenses renewal fees?
flpoljunkie
(26,184 posts)2. This is how the Republican legislature operates in Florida.