Comments on: Parsing Polls & Presidential Strategy

By: Viet71

Viet71 — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:59:51 +0000

Which is spiraling upward, out of control, and is beginning to scare a whole lot of 1% parents and grandparents.

IMO, this is the number one financial issue over the next 20 years (at least) for those who, on paper, are doing pretty well.

Consider just these figures today:

– annual cost to send younger daughter to top-end boarding school: > $40,000 and rising.

– annual cost to send her older sister to a top-notch private college or university: approaching $50,000.

Those figures are compounding at double digit rates. Imagine how scary it is for a well-educated professional couple who have three children in the age range 2 – 7.

Public university in-state cost today per year: +/- $15,000

Law school tuition today: $35,000 – $45,000

These figures likewise are compounding at double digit rates.

These costs will utterly destroy the middle class. To a large extent, they’re the result of federal governmental meddling in educational funding. Perfect issue for Romney. Obama has no credible response.

By: commonsenseobserver

commonsenseobserver — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:04:30 +0000

Though I disagree about excluding Michigan and Wisconsin, maybe Pennsylvania. I do agree that Romney should address the issues that undecided voters care about. I think one important matter that Romney has not really tackled is housing. Obama is emphasising that a lot as part of his “to-do list”. But another problem is that Romney has not attacked Obama on regulations enough. Taxes are just one part of the Reagan/Thatcher formula, and by the way, even there, Romney would do well to study proposals from not only Bowles-Simpson, but also President Bush’s panel on tax reform/simplication. Not to mention welfare reform.

But I’m most concerned about how Romney will help household finances. Not only through income tax cuts, but also his plan for payroll tax, the gas tax, the child tax credit, the earned income credit, and the personal exemption. McCain, of course, proposed doubling the last.

This election is a referendum on Obama’s record, but in referendums, we make choices.