The Trust of the Innocent Is the Liar's Most Useful Tool.

Mitt Romney went to a political rally on Thursday in Defiance, Ohio and said "I saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state, Jeep, now owned by the Italians, is thinking of moving all production to China."

I don't know if he intentionally lied to the people of Ohio - and the rest of us too because we have television, the Internet and newspapers - or just foolishly repeated what he or ones of his aides (a now former aide?) read in a blog on the ultra-conservative The Washington Examiner website.
The blog, written by Paul Bedard, claimed that "...Jeep, the rugged brand President Obama once said symbolized American freedom, is considering giving up on the United States and shifting production to China.  Such a move would crash the economy in towns like Toledo, Ohio, where Jeeps are made and supplied, and rob the community of the economic security they thought Obama's auto bailout assured them."

After reading the blog post, I can see where he might come up with that idea. But Romney should know by now that you cannot trust right wing news media (or left wing, for that matter) to give you the facts.  Do a little research.  Expect more from your employees, Mr. Job Creator.

The Chrysler company was quick to offer a terse rebuttal.  Gualberto Ranieri, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, replied to this gaffe on the Chrysler website. He wrote:

There are times when the reading of a newswire report generates storms originated by a biased or predisposed approach.

On Oct. 22, 2012, at 11:10 a.m. ET, the Bloomberg News report “Fiat Says Jeep® Output May Return to China as Demand Rises” stated “Chrysler currently builds all Jeep SUV models at plants in Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. Manley (President and CEO of the Jeep brand) referred to adding Jeep production sites rather than shifting output from North America to China.”

Despite clear and accurate reporting, the take has given birth to a number of stories making readers believe that Chrysler plans to shift all Jeep production to China from North America, and therefore idle assembly lines and U.S. workforce. It is a leap that would be difficult even for professional circus acrobats.

Let’s set the record straight: Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China. It’s simply reviewing the opportunities to return Jeep output to China for the world’s largest auto market. U.S. Jeep assembly lines will continue to stay in operation. A careful and unbiased reading of the Bloomberg take would have saved unnecessary fantasies and extravagant comments.

Ouch! Fantasies and extravagant comments? Damn, that's harsh.

The question is does it matter? I quickly browsed the erroneous blog post's comments section on The Washington Examiner website and found the usual drivel of Obama is ruining the country takes and lengthy discussions about car buying preferences.  There were no retractions, there were no apologies and there is no doubt in my mind that Romney would say it again tomorrow if it helped get him elected.

The title quote is from Stephen King.

We Can't Help Everyone, but Everyone Can Help Someone.

Speaking of "job creators," there seems to be a fundamental disagreement between the two candidates about invention, innovation and entrepreneurship.  Governor Romney is of the opinion that people like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Henry Ford, Ray Kroc and "Papa" John Schnatter (he mentioned him, seriously) are brilliant people who created business empires without the help of another single person or thing, including the dreaded government.

These are brilliant men who did, in fact, succeed in business with wonderful innovations, ideas and technology; but to claim they did it all by themselves is factually incorrect and delusional.  Yet, this is the kind of message that fires up under-informed voters. It makes them believe that success is right around the corner, that they needn't be dynamic to be the next big thing, that if the government would just get out of the way, I will be the next Donald Trump!

That's why the Romney campaign made sure America heard Obama say "If you've got a business—you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."  Of course, those two lines are part of a bigger text referring to how personal ambition and creativity are peaked, molded and assisted through interaction, opportunity and history.  Here is a fuller quote from the President:

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads or bridges. If you've got a business—you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all companies could make money off the Internet."

While it is not eloquent to read, if you can imagine the stops and fervor with which he spoke those words, you probably would be inspired or at least hate him a little less.  Here is a short list (off the top of my head) of inventions aided by the government:

• ABC Computer (ISU!)
• ENIAC Computer
• UNIVAC Computer
• ERMA Computer
• MICR Computer
• Integrated Circuits
• Satelite Television
• ATM Machine
• Internet
• Microchips
• The Bar Code
• GPS
• Cordless Tools
• CAT Scanner
• Heart Rate Monitors
• Smoke Detectors
• Insulation
• Cell Phone Cameras
• Wii
• Trash Compactors
• Water Filters
• Memory Foam

Even Henry Ford needed the government to build roads in order to sell cars and McDonald's needs farm subsidies to keep their meals cheap. There are symbiotic relationships throughout the world that are necessary for success.  Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers says, "My wish with Outliers is that it makes us understand how much of a group project success is. When outliers become outliers it is not just because of their own efforts. It's because of the contributions of lots of different people and lots of different circumstances—and that means that we, as a society, have more control about who succeeds—and how many of us succeed—than we think. That's an amazingly hopeful and uplifting idea."

It's impossible to live in a vacuum and be successful unless you are a character in Atlas Shrugged.
 

The title is quote is from Ronald Reagan.

 

All Good Things Are Difficult to Achieve; and Bad Things Are Very Easy to Get.

I must admit that I have not been paying very close attention to the presidential election this year. I was fairly confident that I knew who I would be voting for prior to the Republicans even settling on a nominee.

Just recently, sparked by my curiosity of pundits claiming that Mitt Romney won the first debate in Denver handily, I began to look a little closer at both candidates and their so-called plans for the future. I went to Governor Romney's website to try to understand how someone with no concrete plans or ideas could win a debate. After I bounced through the splash page that is soliciting money like a dancer at the Crazy Horse II, I found Governor Romney's 5-Point Plan.

This plan is eight pages long, but if you cannot get through that he has simplified it with a one-page version. The first three pages are dedicated to the supposed failures of President Obama. The latest recession is mentioned and compared to the previous ten recessions - in case you don't know, that takes us back to 1949 and conveniently omits the Great Depression and the Recessions of 1937 and 1945 - better know as three of the four most comparable to the latest - and how it has taken longer to recover from this latest recession. The latest recession was the longest and had the steepest GDP decline of any of the ten it is compared with and has only one real equal in common sense: the Early 1980s Recession.

This is the beacon on the hill, if you will, for Republicans because it was Reagan's Recession. I find this one interesting because Reagan handled it the way both presidential candidates propose to handle jump starting the current economic situation. First, the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 was passed. This piece of legislation did this:

1) Further deregulated Savings & Loan institutions, making it easier for them to lend in order to spur economic growth because they were not required to actually possess the money they were lending and they could make loans to anyone because loan-to-value ratios were eliminated.

2) Reduced the marginal tax rate 23% - 20% of that reduction went to the top earners, taking their taxes from 70% to 50% on money earned over $85,600. (The household median income in 1982 was $19,004 in 1982 - according to the U.S. Census Bureau, "household median income" is defined as "the amount which divides the income distribution into two equal groups, half having income above that amount, and half having income below that amount."

3) Reduced the capital gains tax from 28% to 20%.

This idea is alluded to very non-specifically is Governor Romney's 5-Point Plan. He says he will reduce the marginal tax rate by 20%. But will it be like Reagan's plan, where almost all of the reduction went to the top earners? He also, like Reagan, says he wants to reduce federal spending, but he has given no further specifics than eliminating Big Bird and his pals on Sesame Street. This is a measly .00014% of the federal budget.

Anyway, there are some other ideas about affluent seniors and broadening the tax base to make everything revenue-neutral and then three pages of sources that supposedly support these vague assertions. Regardless, I learned nothing other than what Governor Romney would learn if he won the election, what President Obama has learned and what Reagan learned sitting in the Oval Office - we must pay for services.

Contrary to popular Republican belief, Reagan didn't end the recession with the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. Along came 1982 and the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982. It rescinded many items of the previous tax legislation and instituted a three-year, $100 billion tax hike—the largest tax increase since World War II and the largest peacetime tax hike in history. Federal revenue grew and Reagan went on to raise taxes eleven times, including tax hikes on gasoline, cigarettes and capital gains and to triple the national debt while in office.

President Obama's plan to raise taxes on the highest earners isn't a cure-all. It needs to be coupled with other legislation, but at least it is a plan and it is specific. It's not easy - even Reagan said "There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right."

The title quote is from Confucius.