Let us all hope so.

“..the guy who probably pays no taxes on his millions ”

and he probably eats children and beats up old ladies too. Probably.

Mrs. Romney has even publicly admitted the reason they’re not releasing his tax returns (a move unprecedented in modern presidential candidates) is that it contains damaging material that would harm her husband’s election chances.

That he pays “no” taxes is unknown. But it’s considerably more likely than the eating of children and beating up of old ladies.

Chances are that, like most of his parasitic class born into privilege, by the time his creative accountants are finished shuffling his funds he is a net gainer from ‘big-government’ business subsidies.

More a case like
Close….. Stable door …….. Horse Bolted

More a case like…
Close. Stable door. Horse Bolted

When has that stopped someone becoming president ? George Bush jr for instance

And the alternative is what??? A clown who has put the USA 14,000,000,000.00 dollars in debt yes can you count that many noughts?? Obama proposes to bring in a law where your age dictates if you are treated first or last in hospitals you dont live there and have no real idea just what CNN tell you is the

People who don’t pay any tax wanting higher taxes I’m glad I don’t live in that country.

Celly, Which man are you talking about with the debt, Bush?

The debt was already 11 billion under Bush. It’s also worth noting that Obama can hardly be responsible for the fact that his debt reduction plans have been consistently blocked by Republicans.

Romney’s farcical plan to kick the can down the road and do nothing about reducing the debt until the 2020s doesn’t impress, certainly not compared to Obama’s plan to begin cutting the debt immediately.

Besides which, as Irish people, we surely have to be most concerned with Romney’s listing of Ireland *by name* as a country which economy he will make it his business to destroy if he can.

@Peter.

The Democrats blame Bush and the Repubicans blame Obama and Clinton. I’m sure there is plenty of blame to go around for American debt. Be it spending on pointless wars (both sides equally guilty) or on pipe dream completely unsustainable healthcare plans.

Obama looks good and sounds good but has achieved precious little in the four years he has been in office, I could be here all day listing his failures and unfulfilled promises or I could name only two concrete things he can claim as victories. These are assassinating Bin Laden (I’m not sure how much responsibility for this he can really claim himself) and saving the American car industry (so that it can stumble along losing money for another few years when it will then need another bail out.).

Are you saying that Obama’s planing to reduce the deficit more aggressively then the Republicans? Really? I find this very hard to believe. When did he say this how is he planning to do this?

When did Romney say he was “going to destroy the Irish economy”? Can you provide some links please?

So do any of the red thumbers want to actually argue the point with me? Or do you not like it when your champagne socialist bs gets called out?

@brian
The thing that really scuppered obamas chances of making significant changes was the fact that republicans won a majority in congress which meant they were able to vote down anything they didn’t like( most things good for the underclass) he had to amend finance bills and the obamacare bills to get some form of support from republicans to get them passed. The healthcare is a very smart idea and as everyone will have to get some form of healthcare the costs should be lower and should mean great things for the low earners. I have great respect for Obama and all he has tried to do against the republicans who are only trying to look after themselves !

Hi Fergus,

You’re right to say that Obama’s hands have been tied in congress and I agree with you that Obama’s intentions (providing health care for the under classes) are very noble, but I believe there is some merit to the republican opposition.

Making something free and freely available to everybody does not make it cheaper. Without competition (and you can’t deny that competition between insurers would evaporate once the state was paying for everybody, . It will end up being horrendously expensive at a time when America is BROKE! Who looks after all the poor when the government runs out of money and can’t afford medicare and medicaid? Well just look at what’s happening in southern Europe. The biggest recession in 90 years is not the time to start massively expanding welfare programs. It’s crazy.

I’m not a big fan of Romney, but I do believe he is the only only one with a chance of saving America from going broke.

Also don’t forget that the reason a lot of them are unemployed in the first place is that people like Romney and the Koch brothers, and other (mostly) Republican Big Business owners Downsize, Rationalise and Outsource as many jobs as the can in order to increase their own Profits and Bonuses…….

I happen to agree with you, Hugo, but there really isn’t any need to call people who don’t agree with you ‘trolls’.

in fairness a lot of the left is even more focused on class warfare with the hatred inducing talk of the one percent vs 99 besides the fact that they pay their taxes, ain’t their fault that the taxes are too low.

Er..Conor…that class war was initiated and is maintained by the wealthy to increase their obese and obscene share of global resources..the dispossessed meantime don’t speak leftism..and have few resources to fight back against such disinformation as your own facile comment.

Er..Damien.. Defending class warfare by saying the other guys started it is the definition of a facile comment. Saying the tax system is unfair is fine (and patently true) however the whole 1% vs us shite is very un-constructive.

Also, “maintained by the wealthy”? Obviously a lot of greedy rich people will fight for taxes to stay status quo however that’s no reason to imbue them with a sort of world dominating conspiracy theory bolocks. They vote for for people who’ll try to keep taxes the same btu if it was really 1 vs 99 should be pretty easy to outvote them. :)

Conor..you introduced those stats…before you hang me with your figures…

..you also introduced the class warfare herring…sauce..goose..gosling…

..take a gander at your own comment.

In fairness??

your obsession with multiple full stops makes your comments diificult to read. but from what I gleaned either your arguing something different from me or else your argument is being ridiculously specific to confuse issues (the 99 vs the 1 is a generic left wing phrase from the last year) . basically I’m just saying both sides rabble rouse. that’s it.

In which case list me among the roused rabble sick of elite golden circle jerks and their apologists…meantime..excuse my punctuation…

Well said Sean

Brilliant Sean! Let’s round all those lazy feckers up a force them to work in camps!
So you don;t have to worry of the abuse of your tax money!

Or how about just doing civic work? Even if it was only 10 hours a week, good for the community, alliviates boredom and as it’s only 10 hours a week based upon our current rates of social welfare would be very highly paid on a per hour basis

Nice ignorant cherry picking there Sean, don’t cover up that agenda too well. The % of ppl claiming social benefits that fit that good a scenario is absolutely minimal. Yes it should be cleaned up but not at the expense of everyone else and his core point is not correct, it’s absolute and utter hypocritical horse manure!

Given the current state of employment in this country I take particular exception to your “choose to work” comment too. Massively ignorant!

Your not far off Sean , but don’t fool yourself fg/lab and the shinners were all doing the same. check the records the notes of opposition were “your not raising the pension enough” “lower x tax more” I’m not supporting ff’s actions but the fact is they were all making hay..

I am one of the Four Hundred Thousand people in Ireland that is unemployed. This is not a lifestyle choice for me aSean your talking Bollocks

Yeah, I mean god forbid we should lose focus on the benefit scroungers and actually look at the other end of entitlement culture ie the super rich eh? Them feckers are the worse, they pontificate about the poor but pay relatively next to nothing themselves. Hypocrites the lot of them just like Romney and his cronies….

Wow Sean. Sweeping generalisation there.

‘Culture of entitlement’…do you mean the inheritors of accumulating wealth, the landlords controlling the housing market to keep rents high, the insider political jobbery for the boys ‘n’ girls, the Ibec-pol corruptors of ALL parties…the church/state mafiosi…be more specific.
Maybe those keeping the outsiders out of the cushy numbers and going for the boat for another wasted generation while the same dynasties feather their nests and tell the rest of us its raining on us ‘all in it together’.

We know who the golden circles are…from the corporate media to the bag-men..its a public secret at this stage.

Entitlements in Ireland and the US( the land of food stamps and no healthcare for millions) are not comparable. Romney criticised people for believing they’re entitled to food, healthcare and housing. Every person should be entitled to those things.

@Diarmaid To illustrate the insanity of the “entitlement” culture of Social Welfare of course I’m going to cherry pick and choose the most obvious example. It was not a false example and I think you’ll find its far more common than you believe (I personally know at least 5 families in this scenario). Regarding “choose to work”: I realise we all have to thread on egg shells when we talk about the unemployed and if I say anything other than they are the “most vulnerable in our society” and “we must do more to help them” I’ll get a bashing, so be it. But let me make the following point. There is a sizable portion of SW recipients that would earn less money if they took a job in say a hotel earning €10/hr, they would also lose benefits such rent allowance, medical card, fuel allowance, back to school allowance, mortgage supplement etc etc. They would be crazy to “choose” to work and I do not blame them, I would not, it is a problem of the SW system we have. But the fact remains….they are choosing not to work. And don’t tell me there are no jobs available at the €8.65 – €10 per hour end of things, read any local paper.

@Damien: I totally accept your point regarding “entitlement culture” relating to all ends of society, I just wanted to keep my post short and only picked out one example. Others examples that stink are
1. Politicians Expenses and Allowances
2. OAP’s earning say €80k per year losing the rag if its suggested to withdraw Free Travel / Medical Cards / Reduced TV Licence / Reduced Phone & Electricity Bills.
3. Well off individuals that may have a Long Term Illness like epilepsy etc. their drugs are paid for by the state.
4. Rate of pay for consultants
5. Child Benefit for families earning over €200k
6. Public Sector Unions fighting to keep extra “Privilege days” holidays
These are all drawing from the public purse and all feel that the “government” owes them something.
I think the expression “The government should always seek to give a Hand Up rather than a Hand Out” sums up my feeling on this. I think people are starting to take a colder look at the benefits and perks handed out by this state, things like the awful situation of disabled people protesting outside the Dail remind us who is really suffering because of cuts and the tax money that is wasted on “entitlements”.

In short, Sean, its broke..they don’y have a clue how to fix it..the victims are being scapegoated for systemic failure(cyclic, and the ‘players’ win on the boom and bust cycles through hedged speculation)…

And it cannot be changed from here, as the Kerryman said when he was asked for directions..its a global set of crises..and the few who have been studying it for decades and know its historic origins are excluded..because the solution will demote the creators of the mess.
The bus is in the ditch, financially, economically(part of the problem is they confuse the two) and increasingly ecologically..and they think the solution is to sound confident and pompous even though they are merely clinging to the wreckage. It would be farcically funny…if it were not for the spreading war and idiocy and the ingrained nature of the superioity complexes of the dunces in the cockpit.

Just came accross this. If you are a single parent eaning less than €425pm (thats €22,100 per annum) you get the OneParent Family Allowance which is €217.80 pm (11,326 per annum). Sweet! Effectively you are earning €33,425 per year. I know a hell of a lot of 2 parent family’s earning that and they dont receive a scrap of support from the govenment.

Good man Sean..
Great to see Sherlock Holmes has a fan…explains everything..those damned lone-parents sank the Tiger.

See if you can come up with a report on our media magnates’ share portfolios..hey go deep..see if you can find out where the spindoctors’ Shellayleys live.

The pit from Batman!

*ruffles hair*

I don’t think the shinners ever even received 20% in ` general election, nevermind 47%! Presumably there is as many people here as in America availing of free social services!

Chuck I’m sure those who vote Labour are in favor of social welfare reform……

Assuming that he’s talking about the 47% who pay no federal taxes, I’m sure they don’t blame unemployment. Most of them aren’t unemployed (do you really think unemployment in the US is at 47%).

For a start the best part of 100,000 of them are actually earning more than $1m a year yet pay no federal tax anyway. For another, the vast majority of that 47% pay payroll tax — what we would call PAYE. I’m not sure since when being a PAYE worker made one some sort of freeloader…

My sister would be one of those 47%. She doesn’t earn enough at her job at a food bank to pay federal income tax and instead pays payroll tax (along, of course, with general taxes such as Washington state sales tax). She has a university degree, but wanted to give something back, so is working for the food bank while completing a masters degree. Her salary is so low that she is subsidised with food stamps.

Claiming that she’s a freeloader is just ignorant and insulting.

That 47% of Americans are welfare spongers who he will never be able to convince to take responsibility?
Obvious nonsense, and perhaps not very endearing to the electorate he wishes to serve.

Untrue, Romney has actually specified Ireland by name. He’s talked about using legislation to force American multinationals to pull out of Ireland.

Maith fear, Ian..keep spreadin’ the Mittological slurry….it’ll make you grow in the end…into an even BIGGER turnip.

Have you ever read the difference in foreign policy between headers like Mitt and The Republicans and Obama. Those lunatics would create a war, which would very much affect us here!

You would have to be incredibly naive to think the result of the US Presidential will have no impact on Ireland or even the rest of the world. Although waning, the US and it’s policies still has the biggest impact on the global economy than any other country.

OK – A little naive with my comment I know the US will affect the global economy. My Point is that no matter who gets in nothing will change for the US. They will still have the huge debt, they will still have high unemployment. The rich will get richer and the poor poorer.

That would be a great analysis of the situation if it weren’t insanely clichéd and entirely incorrect.

Yes, come on Journal; – stop giving us stories about places other than Ireland.

I’d trade my Irish vote for a U.S vote tomorrow, whether we like it or not we are dependent on the U.S economy.

Nice logic..so if Myth Rmoney gets a black skin(melanin graft)? transplant…he might make it in by the skin of his feat..

Ryan you are testiment to the absent intelligence of Tories everywhere. But sure an open mouth never refused feet.

96% of African Americans voted for Obama in 2008. That is a record high. In contrast only 43% of whites voted for Obama.
No I don’t think if Romney was black he would win but I do think that if Obama wasn’t the first president that was not white then his polls support would be lower, maybe not enough to lose but still I don’t think it would be as high.

I think it’s a bit harsh to see me as a “testiment to the absent intelligence of Tories everywhere” but I won’t lose sleep over your opinion.

Tell you what Ryan…go back to that link I posted above…and respond to that.

If its a rational, non-racist apology, I’ll apologise for my flippancy.

Fair??

BTW…I aint no Obambi admirer.

Obama is white as much as he’s black. Half white, half black. Why do people call him black? Maybe every second day we should call him white. His colour should be irrelevant. At the end of the day we are all black, except those of us descended from tribes that left Africa about 80,000 years ago have gone a bit pinkish.