Analysis: Candidates' deficit plans don't add up. Issues Page - 2012 Election Center - Elections & Politics from CNN.com. The economy, unemployment, taxes and how to manage the federal government's $14 trillion debt will be leading issues in the 2012 campaign.
With the near-collapse of the U.S. banking and financial system hitting late in the 2008 race, and the nosedive in employment levels, President Obama's tenure in the Oval Office has been defined, in many ways, by the economy and the worst recession in a lifetime. Republicans, led by the tea party movement -- the conservative wing of the Republican party -- have been hammering Obama's economic and fiscal policy since 2009, pushing GOP candidates to hold firm on pledges not to raise taxes and to cut spending. But headed toward the so-called fiscal cliff –when several rounds of tax cuts expire at the end of 2012, resulting in a half trillion dollars in budget cuts and tax hikes that could push the U.S. into another recession – Congress and the president are poised for another fight.
Gov. Tax Cuts Don't Lead to Economic Growth, a New 65-Year Study Finds - Derek Thompson. Here's a brief economic history of the last quarter-century in taxes and growth.
In 1990, President George H. W. Bush raised taxes, and GDP growth increased over the next five years. In 1993, President Bill Clinton raised the top marginal tax rate, and GDP growth increased over the next five years. In 2001 and 2003, President Bush cut taxes, and we faced a disappointing expansion followed by a Great Recession. The grades are in: Obama's first-term report card. Barack Obama vowed to close Guantanamo, but legal hurdles and resistance in Congress neutralized his executive order.
Barack Obama promised to end "petty grievances and false promises" in WashingtonRepublicans were quick to publicly admit they would not make his job easyPolitiFact evaluated 508 promises and concluded the president has kept 37% of themFor the unfulfilled promises, PolitiFact editor said there is plenty of blame to go around Washington (CNN) -- An energized electorate inspired by a groundbreaking election and expectations as high as Mount Everest had grown accustomed to greeting him with spontaneous chants of "yes we can. " Tax battle: Obama vs. Romney - Sep. 7.
Obama and Romney square off on just how much to tax the rich and the middle class in terms of income, investments and estates.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) And for good reason. It accounts for nearly half of all federal revenue. But tax experts and policymakers say that money could be generated in ways that are fairer, simpler and more conducive to economic growth. The top 9,486 ways Jay Carney won’t answer your questions (interactive) White House Press Secretary Jay Carney (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Jay Carney doesn’t have an answer for that.
He hasn’t discussed that subject with the president. He will refer you to the Department of [insert agency here]. He refuses to speculate on that. In Obama era, have race relations improved? PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ask Americans how race relations have changed under their first black president and they are ready with answers.
Ashley Ray, a white woman, hears more people debating racial issues. "I know a lot of people who really thought we were OK as a nation, a culture, and now they understand that we're not," she says. Karl Douglass, a black man, sees stereotypes easing. "White people deal with me and my family differently," he says. Jose Lozano, who is Hispanic by way of Puerto Rico, believes prejudice is emerging from the shadows. In the afterglow of Barack Obama's historic victory, most people in the United States believed that race relations would improve. Obama's spending: Runaway or reasonable? Political Perceptions: Obama Disdains the Quick Q&A - Washington Wire.
10 Things Presidential Candidates Won't Say. Romney’s bullying, Obama’s girlfriends, and the character test: What can we know about a president, anyway? Take a step back from the “Mitt Romney, Teen Bully” dust-up, and ask yourself why The Washington Post spent 5,500 words delving into the details of Romney’s prep-school days, or why Barack Obama’s youthful romances garnered so much attention when excerpts from David Maraniss’ biography appeared in Vanity Fair.
Apart from voyeuristic curiosity, these excursions into the past are justified because they are supposed to provide insight into the character of a president and his rival. That’s been a special focus of the political press ever since Duke political scientist James David Barber first published his ground-breaking work “The Presidential Character” 40 years ago, arguing that an understanding of a candidate’s psychological makeup was a guide to predicting presidential behavior. Fair enough, I guess. An EXCLUSIVE inside look at the Republicans’ anti-Obama war room. Political Punch While Republican candidates battled it out in their primaries and caucuses, the Republican National Committee (RNC) was preparing for the general election battle against President Obama.
Political Punch got an exclusive look inside the committee's anti-Obama attack machine, and the space they call "the war room. " Romney on spending: Guns triumph over butter. WASHINGTON (AP) — Reducing government deficits Mitt Romney's way would mean less money for health care for the poor and disabled and big cuts to nuts-and-bolts functions such as food inspection, border security and education.
Romney also promises budget increases for the Pentagon, above those sought by some GOP defense hawks, meaning that the rest of the government would have to shrink even more. Jennifer Pahlka: Coding a better government.