Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/86226
Sarasota News Leader October 5, 2012 OPINION Americans of modest means are somehow less "American" than the wealthy because of their dependence on government programs — and that he has no need to be concerned for them. The ruinous economic policies of the George W. Bush administration, which resulted in the Great Recession and the near collapse of our economy, have had an especially harsh im- pact on the American middle class. Income disparity — the divi- sion in both income and wealth between the richest Americans and the poorest — is the greatest it has been since just before our earlier economic collapse and the Great Depression. Obama, on the other hand, would actually in- crease taxes on the richest Americans, while using infrastructure improvements and re- training programs to help unemployed citi- zens find jobs. He would return the country to policies in place during the Clinton admin- istration, when the wealthiest paid a larger (though by no means inordinate) share of in- come taxes … and the economy had low un- employment and a budget surplus. interests of the nation — of all Americans — ahead of the selfish desires of a wealthy few. He has consistently put the Romney has embraced plans to restructure Social Security and Medicare, sharply lim- iting the value of these vital social safety nets for citizens, especial- ly those now in their mid-50s or younger. Romney's proposed economic policies would add injury to insult for the poor and struggling middle class in this country. He would de- crease taxes on the richest Americans by 20% saving them trillions of dollars. He would pay for that decrease in tax revenues in part by eliminating tax deductions, such as the mort- gage interest deduction, that disproportionate- ly benefit the lower tiers of taxpayers. More- over, the elimination of the mortgage interest deduction would further depress home values in the United States, inflicting even more pain and suffering on the dwindling wealth of the middle class. Obama has pledged to strengthen these pro- grams so future Americans will be able to depend on them as their parents and grand- parents did. Eliminating the salary ceiling for Social Security and Medicare taxes would go a long way toward accomplishing this goal. Romney has repudiated his earlier support for a woman's right to choose, instead now call- ing for outlawing abortion. His party's plat- form, which he has accepted as the standard on which he is campaigning for president, seeks to remove the right to an abortion even in the case of rape or incest, would redefine rape in ways that are abhorrently degrading to women, and would dramatically limit access Page 61