The First Debate.

I am still trying to wrap my head around what it is I heard in last night’s debate.

Mitt Romney said that he isn’t giving us details of his tax plan or where he will cut government programs because Congress doesn’t like to be told what to do. It is enough that we know Romney’s principles, that he wants to lower the deficit while not increasing the burden on the middle class. So you may not get a deduction for your mortgage any more (just rent, let the rich own all the houses) and your children may not be able to attend a prestigious college (not even if they would qualify for a scholarship, since the deduction for charitable giving to organizations that give scholarships might well disappear, but just let the rich go to Harvard while you kid goes to community college), but you will have the satisfaction of knowing … tax rates are lower for small businesses.

So now I am confused. Is Mitt Romney going to leave all details up to Congress, or just the ones that involve cutting tax benefits and government programs that people have relied on for decades? Romney cited Reagan and Tip O’Neill as his models here, that they sat down and negotiated legislation. George W Bush expressed as one of his principles that Social Security be privatized. Congress jumped right on that popular idea, and … oh wait.

Which is what I am wondering about. Making cuts and changes like the ones Romney is talking about is going to be really difficult, especially in this partisan era. So instead of presenting ideas to voters so that voters could consider them and compare with them with President Obama’s, Romney wants to throw the issues to Congress. Congress, of course, never shies away from a tough fight, never kicks an issue down the road. This is what Romney’s experience tells him.

That and if three percent of small businesses employ a quarter of the workforce (over 25 million workers), then how are they still "small" businesses? Plus, if you are a worker at a (big) small business, and the businesses income is really high, does that mean you will be paid a huge sum of money ... well, if you work at Bain capital, sure, all the people worth knowing got big salaries. And the secretaries ... well they are nice people too. Romney made a comment about how raising the top tier tax bracket to Clinton levels (38%, not the 40 he quoted) would raise the taxes of all the workers at these 3% of (big) small businesses that employ 25% of American workers. The guy is seriously math challenged.