Category Archives: Romney

Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan Includes Opportunity Zones and a Phase II? Is that an Apple or an Orange?

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Is this an Apple or an Orange?

Texas Governor and Republican candidate Rick Perry said Wednesday that he will introduce a new flat tax plan next week. Many believe that a flat tax is simple, fair, and good for the growth of our economy.

Two months ago, Perry was the front-runner. After a terrible showing in several debates and controversies over race and illegal immigration, he has fallen sharply in the polls. Perry is now behind Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and the former successful business person Herman Cain.

While Perry has not yet disclosed the details of how his plan will work, he says he wants to ditch,

the three million words of the current tax code and start with something simple: a flat tax.

Perry adds,

I want to make the tax code so simple that even Timothy Geithner can file his taxes on time.

Timothy Geithner is the current Secretary of Treasury serving under President Obama who received criticism for not filling his taxes on time.

A flat tax would tax everyone at the same level. Currently, our tax system is a progressive system that taxes people with lower incomes at lower rates and those who make more money at higher rates. Critics of the flat tax rate say that the wealthy will be paying less income tax while the poor will be taking on a larger tax burden.

Perry has criticized Cain for his 9-9-9 plan. Cain’s plan would create a 9% tax for businesses, a 9% tax for personal income taxes, and an added 9% Federal sales tax. This plan has gained some popularity with Republicans because of its simplicity and has helped to move Cain to second in the polls behind Mitt Romney.

Perry criticized Cain in the debate because he would be adding a 9% sales tax. Perry says that the states that do not have a state tax will not appreciate that plan very much, but Cain responds that remark is like comparing apples to oranges.

Romney asked Cain if the state tax was going away and Cain responded, “No, that’s an apple.”

Cain says that his plan will take out five invisible sales taxes and replace them with 9 visible taxes. Visible or not, I’m not sure this plan is as good as it once sounded.

Cain says that none of his distinguished colleagues understand his plan.

Perry to Cain

They’re not interested in 9-9-9. What they’re interested in is flatter and fairer. At the end of the week, I’m going to be laying out a plan that clearly — I’ll bump plans with you, brother, and we’ll see who has the best idea about how you get this country working again.

New details about Cain’s 9-9-9 plan include Opportunity Zones. At some point, a seldom discussed Phase Two would kick in when the 9 % personal and corporate taxes would be done away with leaving the nation with only the national sales tax. Proponents estimate this tax to reach 30 %. Is that an apple or an orange?

Cain and Romney Have Fruit-Fight Over 9-9-9

What are your thoughts about Cain’s 9-9-9 plan?

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Social Media and the Presidential Election

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Rick Perry’s YouTube Video “President Zero”

Can Presidential Candidates Tweet Their Way to the White house?

This presidential campaign may become known as the 140 character campaign because the candidates are furiously getting their message to the people using social media such as Twitter. Twitter comments must be 140 characters or less, but you can also include a link to articles of interest to your followers.

Candidates also rely on YouTube, Facebook, blogs, and Google ads.

Social media give candidates power to bypass traditional media and take their message directly to the people.

Candidates must say exciting or controversial things to create chatter on social media. Currently, Cain is stirring up the most buzz on social media according to Engage. For example, last week on Facebook over 560,000 posts were related to Cain. This is one reason why Cain with his 9-9-9 plan has increased by 12 % since the polls in September.

But getting the most social media followers does not always translate into winning an election. Many of Paul’s followers are young people who love social media. Paul has over 20,000 subscribers to his website and over 2.2 million video views; yet he is only 9%  in the polls just ahead of Newt Gingrich at 8% and behind the leaders Romney (26%), Cain (25%), and Perry (13%). According to Pew, Paul has received the most positive and consistent support from bloggers.

As impressive as Paul’s social media following sounds, Perry has surpassed Paul in the social media race. The governor from Texas boasts 2.4 million video views to his YouTube video which calls President Obama “President Zero” referring to the number of jobs that have been created in the Obama administration.

Back in September Perry led the polls at 32%. But his ratings in the polls fell after his poor performance in the first debate and continues to fall as he faces issues about immigration and race.

President Obama has spent millions of dollars investing in social media. But President Obama does not rely on social media alone.  His campaign manager, Jim Messina, has organized thousands of volunteers who have made millions of phone calls and visits to voters.

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