Questions For Tuesday's Presidential Town Hall Debate

With two debates down & two more to go time is running out to hear the candidates discuss the economic topics they have so far not mentioned or just barely touched on.  This is especially true with Tuesday's town hall format debate being only 50% devoted to domestic policy & the last debate being only on foreign affairs.

 

Questioners in Tuesday's debate will be undecided voters chosen by Gallup.  Now @ this stage of the election process an undecided voter who has been paying attention could very well be someone who doesn't like what they imagine a second BO presidency has in store for America & doesn't know what Mitt's programs will be.

 

I hope the following topics will be covered in questions asked to both candidates (all topics covered on ReturnToExcellence during the campaign):

 

1.  What will they do to avoid the fiscal cliff & sequester scheduled for January 1 that will affect virtually every American?

 

2.  How will they handle the next debt ceiling deadline?  We already know how BO did – see question #1.

 

3.  How did Fan & Fred (& other federal agencies) get into the position of backing more than 90% of today's home loans – up from two-thirds before the housing bubble? (Fan & Fred don't actually make loans but instead buy them from banks & other lenders. The loans are then packaged & resold to investors as mortgage backed securities with Fan & Fred's backing.)

 

4.  What is the future of the Federal Reserve & the country's monetary policy especially highlighting Chairman Ben Bernanke & quantitative easing?  Do they think it is fair to harm senior citizens' CD interest income by manipulating artificial interest rates controlled by the Fed – do they want the Fed to continue this practice?

 

5.  What does each candidate think about 47% of income earners, according to Mitt, not paying any income tax – the principal funder of the constitutionally delineated functions of the government?  Is it healthy for a country to have nearly half of the people not pay for the government?  I refer to this as the "tax paying gap."

 

6.  BO has extensive experience in community organization – especially the Alinsky method following Rules For Radicals in which the goal is to transfer wealth from the "haves" to the "have-nots" especially in exchange for votes.  How does each of the candidates see this training influencing BO's presidency & do they think the public is aware of this?

 

Questions for Mitt:

 

1.  Mitt should be asked to explain exactly how his (lack of) growth policy will work as it relates to his three legged stool position – 1) "I will not reduce the share of taxes paid by high income earners," 2) "I won't put in place a tax cut that adds to the deficit," & 3) "I will lower taxes on middle-income families."  Mitt's missing point from supply side economic principles is that the reduction of the size of government & its claims on earned income is what fuels economic growth when coupled with marginal income tax cuts & sound money policies.  There is no economic growth if Mitt cuts the top marginal income tax rates & also the deductions for high earners leaving the effective tax rate the same for these people who are the job creators.  Mitt never explains what budget cuts he would make (other than Big Bird) & Ryan's House budget plan adds trillions of dollars to the debt over the next ten years.  Do supporters of Mitt really know what they are getting or are they just believing in what they hope will happen?

 

2) Mitt has developed a protectionist message that is very dangerous in which he wants to "stand up to cheaters (currency manipulators – China)...&...protect jobs for American people."  This sounds good but is @ the heart of what caused the Great Depression.  This gets us back to Mitt's point #1 – what does Mitt really believe?

 

Question For BO:

 

1.  Please answer the following question without mentioning Bush or Mitt – what is your positive plan for returning America to prosperity?