http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/47-americans-govt-moochers-144720153.htmlA leaked video of remarks Republican nominee Mitt Romney made at a private fund-raising event set the Internet abuzz yesterday.

In the video, Romney described nearly half the country, or 47%, as people who won't "take responsibility for themselves," who are "dependent on government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it."

The remarks confirmed the belief of many Americans that Romney doesn't understand or care about people on the lower end of the income scale. And it also set off furious debate about whether Romney had simply "told the truth" or whether he doesn't actually understand the makeup of the country he lives in.

It's easy to be frustrated by (and worried about) the rise in the number of Americans who receive benefits from the government (here are 18 charts showing this trend). For one thing, it's depressing that so many Americans need benefits. Also, given the depth of our budget problems, if we can't figure out how to solve that problem, we're going to bankrupt ourselves. So Romney is right that this is a major issue and concern.

But there's a difference between trying to solve a major economic problem and demonizing those who are on the poorer end of the income scale. Whether inadvertently or not, Romney blamed Americans who are poor or old for being poor or old. Worse, he framed their financial status as the result of their personal character.

There are lots of jobs in this country that pay wages low enough that the people who do them won't pay much federal income tax. Entry level jobs across many industries, for example. Retail jobs, local service jobs, education jobs. Most of the people who do these jobs are taking full responsibility for themselves. They're also doing necessary work, working hard, and, in many cases, being successful.

So dismissing these 100+ million Americans as freeloaders who aren't taking responsibility for themselves is understandably offensive to a lot of people.

The idea of broadening the tax base, however, and reducing the income threshold at which Americans pay federal income tax, is sound. When people pay for something, they feel a sense of ownership and participation that they don't feel when it is just given to them. So if Republicans want to argue that everyone should pay something, that's an idea a lot of the country could probably get behind.

So this may be another case in which careless phrasing has gotten Romney in trouble. Regardless, the remarks won't likely help the Romney campaign.

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My opinion, maybe Romeny should release his taxes!! also maybe the Very wealthy should pay their share of taxes..

My understanding is Romney is going to give big tax breaks to the wealthy like they have always gotten, and Obama is not for that he doesn't want to give them big tax breaks, he wants the wealthy to pay more than they ever have before and Romney wants them to pay less.

Romney in my opinion is catering to the wealthy and depending on there power and influence to get him elected. Most presidents take that route, Romney is doing the same thing because it works.

I agree Tyler, the big corps,wall street,big banks and the wealthiest back Romney and they have the money. I hope this time money doesn't talk, because if Romney wins, our country will fall back, instead of move forward.

Thanks for thanking me.lol, can you see the thanks stars at the bottom of my post you thanked? Just checking to make sure everyone can see it.

thanks again. :)

yes I saw the stars! LOL
a question I would like to ask Mr Romney,
*Why do you want to be president?* Here is a man*"Romney' who has everything, one of the richest men in America!! why would he want to be president?

Yeah the stars go on the post being thanked automatically now.

I don't have a clue why Romney wants to be president. Perhaps he loves politics and its a goal of his to be president someday. It won't pay him more money that he has now, in fact it doesn't pay that much comparatively speaking to other rich millionaires. But what it does bring is power and prestige, and the knowledge of knowing you will always be remembered. Its quite a thing to be able to say you are president of the United States or have been. Its a very honorable thing to happen and achieve in life. Maybe he wants it for those reasons. It can't be money he won't make enough to make a difference to him being president, it will be pocket change to him.

One thing for certain,he isn't doing this for our Country,or our people..this video shows a cold,heartless,inhumane person,those things he said, My family worked for those things he said were victims,moochers I worked hard for the things he called the 47%..Victims??I hope the 98% percent of America now sees him for what he is,Not fit to be president,of this Great Country. these words also divide the country more something he has stated he would not do,he just did, also this video certainly is not a job creator.. lets hear plans that will move this country back into productivity..

So we are just to forget about the elderly,the poor, the orphans,hungry, and all those that need help?

Tyler the way I see it , it is in reference to the hispanic, the welfare group, they make up a huge following for Obama for the simple reason he made huge promises, more food stamps, more health care, don't have to work to get benefits. The amount of taxes the rich pay is not a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of welfare given out. When people complain about the rich why do they neglect to mention the high tax rate they already pay. Romney can organize, balance budgets this has been proven, he isn't afraid to go head on with Israel, he isn't bowing down to the Muslims, afraid to ruffle feathers. A man such as Romney can only have one agenda and that is to turn this country around and out of the financial free fall it is still in. Obama has had his chance and failed.

gypsy wrote:One thing for certain,he isn't doing this for our Country,or our people..this video shows a cold,heartless,inhumane person,those things he said, My family worked for those things he said were victims,moochers I worked hard for the things he called the 47%..Victims??I hope the 98% percent of America now sees him for what he is,Not fit to be president,of this Great Country. these words also divide the country more something he has stated he would not do,he just did, also this video certainly is not a job creator.. lets hear plans that will move this country back into productivity..

So we are just to forget about the elderly,the poor, the orphans,hungry, and all those that need help?

I stand by this post,Everytime Romney opens his mouth, he inserts foot. maybe he will keep up the stupid,mean ,rhetoric, and will usher in a win for Obama

At least he isn't responsible for the blood shed at our embassys, they can't even get the story straight, two retractions in two days. Maybe Obama needs to make a few briefings and skip the hand shake tours.

So, who pays no federal income tax?

Credit: AP
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
http://www.wwltv.com/home/So-who-pays-no-federal-income-tax-170253416.html
wwltv.com
Posted on September 18, 2012 at 5:16 PM
By ALAN FRAM / Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney got the math about right. But when he said 47 percent of Americans pay no income taxes and are "dependent on government," he blurred together half or more of the entire country, ranging from the nation's neediest to its middle class, and even some of its richest families.

Forty-six percent of the country's households -- some 76 million -- paid no federal income taxes last year, according to a study by the Tax Policy Center.

While it's true most of those families are poor, the numbers include many others who got tax breaks because they are old, have children in college or didn't owe taxes on interest from state and local bonds. And of those who didn't write checks to the IRS, six in 10 still paid Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, and more than that paid federal excise taxes on items such as gasoline, alcohol and cigarettes, said Roberton Williams, who analyzes taxes at the center.

On the spending side, 150 million people -- just under half the country -- received benefits last year from one or more federal programs, according to the Census Bureau.

A look at just the four biggest programs shows how varied their often-overlapping recipients can be. There were 50 million collecting Social Security and 46 million getting Medicare health coverage for the elderly -- programs that pay everyone regardless of their income. Eighty million were living in households getting Medicaid medical coverage, and 48 million were in families receiving food stamps, which are limited to the poor.

Combined, those numbers belie a political point that Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, was making when he spoke at a secretly recorded Florida fundraiser in May.

Some 47 percent, he said, "will vote for the president no matter what." But that's not so for the elderly, who favored Romney over President Barack Obama 52 percent to 42 percent in an Associated Press-GfK poll last month, and it wouldn't be true for millions of middle-class or wealthy voters either.

"A significant fraction of government entitlement benefits are neither poor nor necessarily supporters of the Democratic Party, and many pay significant income taxes," said Robert Reischauer, a fellow at the Urban Institute and former head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

According to the Tax Policy Center study, 38 million taxpayers -- half of those who owe no federal income taxes -- escape owing money to the IRS because their income is too low. For them, merely using the standard deduction, personal exemptions and other basic parts of the tax code allow them to avoid income taxes.

On top of that, about one in five others who don't owe federal income taxes -- nearly 17 million people -- benefit from tax breaks for the elderly. These include the exclusion of taxes on part of their Social Security benefits and a higher standard deduction.

Almost 12 million people avoid income taxes because they use the earned income tax credit for low-income workers, the child tax credit and other breaks for low-earning families with children.

Two million take advantage of a tax credit for college expenses, enacted under Obama, and other education tax breaks. Millions of others owe nothing because taxes are not paid on welfare and other income support programs; because of deductions for business costs, alimony, moving and other expenses; and because capital gains tax rates can drop to zero for some assets held for longer than a year.

Overall, 93 percent of those who owe no federal income taxes earn $50,000 annually or less. But 5 percent of them earn $50,000 to $100,000 and the rest -- around 430,000 households -- earn more than $100,000 annually. That includes 4,000 households earning more than $1 million a year, thanks largely to tax exempt interest, reduced rates on capital gains and dividends and other deductions.

As for the vast numbers of Americans who are recipients of benefit programs, many do so because they have modest incomes. These include 23 million in households where low-income women and children get food support, 20 million in families getting supplemental security income for the low-income disabled, 14 million in public housing or getting federal rental aid and 6 million on welfare.

There are also 3 million getting veterans compensation and 700,000 receiving workers' compensation.

Census figures also show that there are racial differences in households receiving federal assistance based on income.

Among whites, 22 percent lived in households last year receiving Medicaid, food stamps or other programs for the poor. That compared to 52 percent of blacks and 56 percent of Hispanics.

After the video was revealed, Romney said his remarks were "off the cuff" and were not "elegantly stated," but he offered no apologies.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said that Obama "deeply believes that we're in this together."

Romney's comment rippled into congressional races from Florida to Connecticut and into Senate contests, too. Throughout, Democrats tried to tie Romney to Republican candidates they said would make policies that favor the rich over the less fortunate.

"When you are running to be president, you normally don't insult half of America," said a fundraising letter for former West Palm Beach, Fla., Mayor Lois Frankel, a Democrat trying to unseat Republican Rep. Allen West.

how any one can blame Obama for the attack on the Embassy, and killing of the four Americans, is beyond me..the problem seemed to have stemmed from the video..which Obama has already gave orders to investigate, and have arrested several already that were involved, maybe the real story will come out. there is to many drawing blame when they don't have a clue as to what they are talking about..

also Social Security is not an entitlement,those that work paid it in, it is a type of insurance for when one gets old~ I will draw mine, with no qualms or guilt..also for ones information, we paid taxes while working, we now draw Social Security and pay taxes on it again

The film is a convenient excuse how strange the attacks started on 9-11 but the film had been out for months, no arrests yet except Egypt has issued warrants for Americans here in the US even a preacher in Fla. YouTube has refused to take the trailer down as it falls into the guidelines of posting there. Obama is buying time, and votes, he doesn't want to look like he dropped the ball on his watch. Why would the WH keep changing their story ???

Appearing on the "Late Show" with David Letterman, President Barack Obama scolded Mitt Romney over his caught-on-camera remarks, declaring that "if you want to be president, you gotta work for everybody, not just for some."
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-says-works-everybody-not-just-222927878--election.html
Letterman had asked Obama on Tuesday about Romney's remarks at a fundraiser several months ago in which the Republican standard-bearer essentially wrote off the president's core supporters as having a victim mentality and depending on government handouts.

"Is that what rich guys at country clubs are talking about?" Letterman asked.

"I don't know what he was referring to," the president said.

"But I can tell you this: When I won in 2008, 47 percent of the American people voted for John McCain," Obama said. "They didn't vote for me. And what I said on election night was: 'Even though you didn't vote for me, I hear your voices, and I'm going to work as hard as I can to be your president.'"

"And one of the things I've learned as president is you represent the entire country. And when I meet Republicans as I'm traveling around the country, they are hard-working family people who care deeply about this country. And my expectation is, is that if you want to be president, you gotta work for everybody, not just for some," Obama said.

Acknowledging his own 2008 gaffe in which he said Americans "bitter" about their lot in life "cling" to religion and gun rights, Obama said "I immediately said I regret this" because it "sent the wrong message to the country." (Not really. He first stood by them, then eventually worked his way to "I didn't say it as well as I should have." It was, not surprisingly, messy.)

"All of us make mistakes, all of us say the wrong thing once in a while," Obama told Letterman. "People understand you're going to make mistakes on the campaign trail. What I think people want to make sure of, though, is that you're not writing off a big chunk of the country."

"This is a big country. And people disagree a lot, but one thing I've never tried to do--and I think none of us can do in public office--is suggest that because someone doesn't agree with me that they're victims or they're unpatriotic."

"There are not a lot of people out there who think they're victims," he said. "There are not a lot of people who think they're entitled to something."

Republicans have worked to paint the election as a battle between their plans for an "opportunity society" and what they deride as Obama's "entitlement society," which they claim is an approach in which government knows best. Romney made a variation on that argument in an interview Tuesday with Fox News Channel's Neil Cavuto.

"What I think the majority of people, Democrats and Republicans, believe is is that we've got some obligations to each other, and there's nothing wrong with us giving each other a helping hand," Obama said.

"I think that's a good investment for America, and that's—if you want to be president and you want to bring people together, I think that's the attitude that you've got to have."

I think SSC's post deserved a reply from you, not a copy and paste again.

That's all I'm gonna say.

Thanks Tyler but I never expect one on touchy subjects. Letterman and Jay-Z and Beyonce for his fund raisers were more important than a meeting requested by Israel. Asking nice for the Muslims to protect Americans on Letterman was hilarious, is he afraid of them ? The Brotherhood gets meetings, but then why not, they are his kind.
Son of a gun if it wasn't Jimmy Carter 1V who managed to dig up the Romney tape..wow what great timing...LMAO
Stick around with his redistribution ideas a whole lot of people will be sharing the wealth and Social Security checks.
The movie is such a smoke screen , no one has ever seen it only the trailor I posted. Obama is running out of time and he has screwed up this one big time.

I don't respond,to her, all it issues is and argument.I thought I could post or paste on my thread,I am not responding to her posts or topics.as far as I am concerned I don't expect her to respond to mine. as afar as my thought on that subject there is no way this attack on our embassy is Obama's fault. there have been arrests,in California and in Syria..the authorities say it was not a premeditated attack.I suggest she watch real news..

SHE is reading many reports from various media outlets and they have NOT arrested the film maker, he was questioned only, the one issue with him is he was forbidden to use the Internet but no proof he was the one who posted the trailer, there were many involved in its making. Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Afghanistan, Libya, Indonesia, and about 10 more places have attacks or threats on US embassies maybe a few arrests but Al Qaeda is claiming responsibility and calling for more. The warnings were given and ignored by Obama

Moving on .I have faith in Obama doing what is right he always has, he did give the orders to kill bin laden,ending two wars, taking out many leaders of al quedi ,keeping this country from a deep depression,creating jobs, his spending has been less of any of the past five presidents, he has two job bills sitting in congress that the hell no's won;t pass,he is a million times better for president than Romney.. many more good he has done for this country.I put them here once,I guess I can do it again.. I know of no warnings given this attack was sporadic..

The orders to kill Bin Laden were issued during the Bush administration, he was found under Obama, Obama has raised the Nat. debt over 6 trillion in less than 4 years more than any other administration in the same time frame.
With his attachments to the jobs bills they will never pass, he is crippling the coal industry, American Airlines is positioned for a huge layoff, he has tried to kill Keystone, he failed to make a deadline with Congress last week, to busy shaking hands and now F&F is blowing up in his face. These are not success stories.

But Bush didn't get him~ Obama and the Navy Seals Did. End of subject! the wars raised the debt,plus the 6 trillion+ Obama inherited from bush..
I suggest you keep to your topics, I am not posting on yours because it is all from fox,and inaccurate..I have no respect for either.. I ask you not to post on mine, or to me. your only initiating an argument,I will not participate..Thanks.

gypsy wrote:I put them here once,I guess I can do it again..

Please don't copy and paste the same thing twice for god sakes.

HAHA ok,I won't..I am respecting .. that is all I ask in return..Thanks

Open forum, open topic, I post as I chose to. Go post on your weather thread it belongs solely to you

Candy if you come on,I am here ,what is your weather like today,and are your flower gardens still Beautiful? more Pictures please. Tell Brian hello
!