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Election 2012

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Truth Squad: The debate. GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama square off in the first presidential debate.

Truth Squad: The debate

By NBC News Updated at 10:55 p.m. ET Social SecurityTonight, President Barack Obama made a claim about Social Security. OBAMA: Social Security is structurally sound, it's gonna have to be tweaked the way it was by Ronald Reagan and Speaker, Democratic Speaker Tip O'Neill. NBC's Andrea Mitchell does a bit of fact checking after President Barack Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney faced off in the first 2012 presidential debate. President Obama said that, unlike Medicare, Social Security does not need to be fundamentally fixed to remain solvent.

But according to the Congressional Budget Office, Social Security will run into financial trouble, too -- about 20 years from now. By the year 2030, the amount Social Security pays out will exceed the tax revenue coming in -- so in about 20 years the program will NOT be able to pay for itself through the payroll taxes Americans currently pay. Amazing Open Letter to Romney. An Open Letter To Candidate Romney Dear Mitt Romney: I saw your video.

Amazing Open Letter to Romney

I saw you speaking candidly and off the cuff about me. Don’t get me wrong, I know that you didn’t mention me by name or anything, but we both know you were talking about me. When you were talking about 47% of the population that is never going to vote for you because we are “dependent victims” who lazily live on government programs like food stamps, I can’t help but take personal offense. My children eat because of food stamps, Mr. I am watching you run your Richie Rich mouth on TV right now, with your little flag lapel pin over your heart. You said that you think that 47% of Americans “think they are victims” and you even said it wasn’t your job to worry about us. First, I must argue with you. If you don’t believe me, you could ask the doctor who has to take fluid from my spine on a regular basis to preserve my ability to see, due to a rare disease.

You call me entitled. You call me entitled. See? Who are Romney's 47% that don't pay tax? Mitt Romney speaks to the press about the secretly taped video from one of his campaign fundraising events.

Who are Romney's 47% that don't pay tax?

Photograph: Charles Dharapak/AP In the leaked video published by Mother Jones, Mitt Romney claimed that 47% of Americans "pay no income tax", people who he could "never convince … to take personal responsibility and care for their lives". He described such people as those "who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you-name-it".

At a press conference designed to limit the damage to his election campaign, he did not disavow the claim but said Obama's policies are "attractive to people who do not pay taxes". Romney's headline assertion that 47% of Americans pay no income tax is almost correct, assuming he was referring to federal income tax. So would Romney like to see higher taxes? Romney chastised woman for getting life-saving abortion.