The 60 Minutes interviews last night were very informative, and well worth the time.
Romney had some specifics for a change. But he sounded more like a slash-and-burn Czar -- than a rational "expand the economic pie" Leader.
Campaign 2012: Obama vs. Romney
Sixty Minutes, cbsnews.com -- Sep 23, 2012
[...]
Pelley: You talk about balancing the budget without raising taxes. But to do that, you would have to have trillions of dollars in budget cuts. So let's be specific in this interview: what would you cut?
Romney: The first big one is I'm not going to go forward with Obamacare. I will repeal Obamacare. It costs about $100 billion a year. Second big area is taking major government programs at the federal level, turning them back to the states, where they'll grow at the rate of inflation, not at a multiple of that rate. And that saves about $100 billion a year. And finally, I'll cut back on the size of government itself, as well as go after the fraud and abuse and inefficiency that's always part of a large institution like our government.
[
pg 3]
Romney: Well, for instance, Medicaid is a program that's designed to help the poor. Likewise, we have housing vouchers and food stamps, and these help the poor. I'd take the dollars for those programs, send them back to the states, and say, "You craft your programs at your state level and the way you think best to deal with those that need that kind of help in your state."
Pelley: So how does moving those programs to the states bring relief to the taxpayer?
Romney: Because I grow them only at the rate of inflation, or in the case of Medicaid, at inflation plus one percent, that's a lower rate of growth than we've seen over the past several years, a lower rate of growth than has been forecast under federal management. And I believe on that basis you're going to see us save about $100 billion a year.
[
pg 4]
Pelley: Balancing the budget will require sacrifice. And I wonder, what is it, specifically, that you're asking the American people to sacrifice?
Romney: I'm going to look at every federal program and I'll ask this question, "Is this so -- program so critical it's worth borrowing money from China to pay for it?" And if it doesn't pass that test, I'm going to eliminate the program because we just can't afford to keep spending more money than we take in. This is, this is something which is not just bad economics. I think it's immoral.
And if there's one thing Mitt Romney is good at --
it's eliminating stuff ...
Mitt, the Austerity Czar has spoken:
-- I will repeal Obamacare.
-- major government programs at the federal level, turn them back to the states
-- Medicaid, housing vouchers and food stamps, and these help the poor ... send them back to the states
-- Because I grow them only at the rate of inflation ...
-- I'm going to look at every federal program ... "Is this so -- program so critical it's worth borrowing money from China to pay for it?" And if it doesn't pass that test, I'm going to eliminate the program.
So in brief Mitt's economic recovery plan is:
If something is too expensive -- cut it!
If jobs are too mundane -- eliminate them!
If people need a helping hand -- tell it to the "block grant."
I wonder if this is the "CEO experience" -- Mitt has been promising to been to the Job of President
-- Line-item slasher in Chief? He will be the Decider after all -- if we only just let him.