FFM

It is puzzling why Romney refused to release his tax returns beyond 2010 and 2011. One would think the grief he put up with by not releasing an additional three years of returns is greater than anything showing up on the returns. I had an epiphany where the above rationale would not be accurate. Romney had a close relationship with Goldman Sachs while heading up Bain. Goldman was involved in the subprime housing boom and bust over the last decade bringing down the economy. They profited by creating subprime loans, bribing credit rating agencies such as S&P and Moody's to give an investment grade rating on the securities, securitizing the loans and selling them at huge profits. Then, when the economy collapsed Goldman was bailed out by the government while the consumer got nothing. Per Opensecrets.org Goldman employees contributed more than $990,000 to Romney's bid for the presidency. Since Romney was a big client of Goldman it would be natural to recommend Romney buy

This is why Romney does not deserve to be President. How can you trust him? How will other countries be able to trust him? How can other Republicans trust him. I voted for a Republican for President in every election , except one, since 1968. Romney is not Reagan. Per the New York Times on October 29, 2012 "Mr. Romney incorrectly told a rally in Defiance, Ohio, late last week outright that Jeep was considering moving its production to China. (Jeep is discussing increasing production in China for sales within China; it is not moving jobs out of Ohio or the United States, or building cars in China for export to the United States.) It is a high-risk strategy: Jeep’s corporate parent, Chrysler, had already released a scathing statement calling suggestions that Jeep was moving American jobs to China “fantasies” and “extravagant”; news media outlets here and nationally have called the Romney campaign’s statements — initially based on a poorly worded quotation from Chrysler in a news ar

Based on the chart below do you really believe Romney is going to handle the banking and wall street industries with an independent mind? The information was taken from Opensecrets.org

Above is a video of Bill Clinton explaining Romney's proposed "tax cut". Yes, it is a political video; however, that does not mean it is not worth watching. Free Free Markets was not paid or encouraged to post this video.

Click on image to listen to podcast After the election we must quickly address the debt crisis or we will fall off the sequestration cliff and automatic cuts to our national budget will start. To the left is a civil discussion of the topic and everyone should listen to it. The discussion was on the NPR show On Being and includes Pete Domenici and Alice Rivlin. The discussion is 55 minutes

It was inevitable big money would rule politics once Citizens United was ratified as the law of the land. It is the culmination of the oligarchs of big business taking over our free markets. As a result of not enforcing antitrust laws these crony capitalist have taken over what use to be free markets. Their next step was to take over the political process by buying politicians and control the regulators who are the referees having responsibility to keep our free markets free. Citizens United allowed these oligarchs to do just that. This country, in total unison, demanded the experienced referees in the NFL be brought back immediately after the first week of the season when their replacements made several game changing blunders. Yet, little is said about the lack of enforcing antitrust laws. The founder of capitalism, Adam Smith, and one its strongest proponents, Milton Friedman, both acknowledged that free markets needed a referee in order to function properly. Now the crony capit

What is more important to the long term survival and prosperity of the United States, our military or the education of our citizens in order to compete in the world of today and tomorrow? Both are necessities and we must put both in perspective of each other so we will properly allocate scarce resources in the most efficient manner possible. Most would say the military takes priority because it is a mandate in the constitution that the federal government "provide for the common defense" while the governments role in education is justified under the "general welfare" section of the founding document and is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution. However, most would also say education must be a top priority. An article in the New York Times on June 11, 2012 summarizes Mr. Romney's position on the federal governments role in education as

Obama won the last two debates, but will not recover all he lost to Romney in the first debate. Romney's policy continues to be what he perceives voters want to hear and that changes daily. There are two major issues facing the country: 1. How we get the economy on solid footing and overcome the disparity in income distribution? 2. How we handle the evolution of the governance of countries in the Middle East going from dictatorships to other forms of rule? The income disparity problem and the lackluster performance of the economy is related. The more concentrated wealth, the more demand for goods and services will decline. The more competition is reduced, the more concentrated power and less competitive we become as our GDP falls relative to the world. WHY WOULD WE ELECT SOMEONE FOR PRESIDENT WHO IS PART OF THE 1%? Who will be best at handling the mess in the Middle East depends alot on their personal backgrounds and experiences? Mitt Romney's entire life experienc

There should be hearings held on Benghazi and the cut in security budgets should be part of the review. It is very easy to rush to judgement on this issue. There are several issues related to the attack that have made the news. Blaming it on The Video: Initially the White House blamed the riot on a video made in the United States and posted on Youtube that denigrated the Prophet Muhammad, resulting in riots in Egypt with the alleged result that the riots spilled over into Libya. This was proven wrong and it was a terrorist attack. If there was a deliberate attempt to mislead the public we should find out why and who was the perpetrator. If it was a simple error and a rush to calm the public let's learn from the error and move on. Request for Additional Security: Was there a request by Ambassador Stevens or his aides for additional security and if so, why was it denied? There are some Republicans claiming that if an Ambassador requests more security he should get it. This is a

The world is changing and it is hard to accept. We are declining in our superpower status and this is not totally bad. We helped bring it about. Our decline is less the result of becoming weak, but rather other countries becoming stronger economically as a result of our quest to help them be free. Our country has always been a promoter of democracy and free markets. We have always opposed repression, dictatorships and central control. We cherish our own freedom and the freedom of others. A historically defining moment was the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It was the beginning of the fast end of the Soviet Union. It was also the beginning of other nations believing they also could be free and determine their own future. China is another example of peoples quest of freedom. China's ruling power in the 1970's made a strategic decision to convert much of its economic apparatus to a more open system to unleash the power and ingenuity of its people by capturing the benefits

Think beyond Romney getting your vote and assume he becomes President. How does the Congress and Senate work with him? Under our form of government not much gets done without compromise. It becomes very difficult to reach an accord with someone when you do not trust he will follow through on what he says. The squabbles between the President and the Republicans over these past four years have been primarily of philosophy. There is a serious divide in vision between the Democrats and Republicans as to how to move the country forward. The Republicans have refused to break their pledge to Grover Norquist saying they will never raise taxes, including to help solve our debt crisis. This problem of the government not working together is compounded when one side cannot trust the other when commitments are made. This is surely something the Democrats need to worry about, but so should the Republicans. The Republicans need to review the shifts Romney has made over the last two years to ge

A major reason this country is in such a deep recession is banks and Wall Street concocted and sold a toxic asset called sub-prime loans, and made a substantial profit doing so. This same asset could have caused many of these financial institutions to fail except for the government bailing them out. While the banks were bailed out very little was done to help the homeowner. The banks have been able to make substantial progress in getting on a healthier footing since the bailout. Now, per an article in the New York Times,   http://nyti.ms/OY2Of1  , it is expected that the banks will receive a large boost in their profits due to an expected refinance boom brought about by a new round of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve . This expected "gift" to banks should be used to pay retribution to the homeowners that were brutalized during the last decade by the very same Wall Street and banking industries. The recovery of net worth of the consumer is paramount to the recov

Here is why you should be still supporting Obama. 1. The alternative is worse. Romney changes positions based on who he is talking to or trying to influence. I want a President that is consistent about his core values and whose objective is to do what is best for the country. I cannot rely on Romney doing that. 2. Obama made mistakes in his first term. He became intoxicated with how the country, and the world, became enamored with him before he did anything in office. To some extent, he took the mandate by which he won the election, and his Nobel Peace Prize, as a free pass to do whatever he wanted without consulting with the other branches of government and the other party. He has been detoxed during this election and much of his first term. He knows he must act and lead. Many will not agree with this conclusion and I say Obama is too wise not to have learned and it would be a mistake to throw his experience out with the bathwater. 3. He will not be encumbered with running f

Let's jog our collective memories. Two reasons we are in such a financial mess right now is Iraq and Afghanistan. There are others, but the two wars cost us dearly. We should never have gone into Iraq and if we focused on Afghanistan all along, we would have been out by now. This would have resulted in saving billions of dollars and thousands of lives. Further, the last time I checked, Israel is not a state or territory of the United States. It is an ally. Democracy is coming to other countries in the region and we must take their needs into consideration if we want them as allies. Israel needs to work with us and its neighbors to create a Palestinian state. The time for Israel to stall on this matter is over. The President should not be publicly drawing a red line where once Iran crosses we attack their nuclear facilities. That would be stupid and unnecessarily box us in a corner. I am confident Iran knows where the red line is drawn. If they cross it, they will hear the b

Putting much effort into the "Big Bird" strategy is foolish. The American public will see through it. Attack weaknesses of substance. Attack his five point plan . Clearly show how his economic plan of lowering tax rates on the wealthy must be paid for by either increasing taxes on the middle class or raising growth to such high levels that it is not feasible. Show how Romney's proposition that if you lower tax rates on the wealthy and take away their lucrative tax deductions growth will be spurred by small business is false. Speak up about his investments in China . Use this to demonstrate that tax returns show more than how much money someone has made and how taxes were legally avoided. Above everything else, show examples of how Romney is not trustworthy. Address the comments about the 47%. Address that Romney's campaign contributors are centered around Wall Street and Las Vegas . The challenge is how to keep the explanations easy to understand. Romney has s

We are in a war in Afghanistan and I do not understand why many in our country and the rest of the world are upset we are using drones to kill targets that are our enemy and threaten the lives of our soldiers and the mission of the war. If we did not have drones we, in many cases, would be sending in ground troops or doing more traditional bombing raids. This would not only result in the killing of more American and allied troops but also more innocent civilians. Look at how many civilians were killed during World War II with the bombing of London, Dresden and Hiroshima. War is hell. One of its objectives is to destroy the enemy. It is not a computer game where afterwards the opponents have a shot and beer together. As a result of using drones fewer innocent people are killed on both sides. Ask the innocent survivors of Hiroshima whether they would have preferred we use more precision killing machines than the atom bomb that obliviates everything within a wide radius. What we

"More than one in five of Britain's largest corporations are channeling political donations to favored candidates ahead of next month's elections in the US – though these sums may be only the tip of a new campaign-financing iceberg, according to leading politicians, judges and pro-transparency watchdogs.... ...As election year reaches its climax, America is forecast to experience the most extensively corporate-influenced race for the White House, and for control of Capitol Hill, in living memory." How British Companies Pour Cash Into American Elections , The Guardian, October 6, 2012 The above makes me feel alot better. I was beginning to think that American companies were starting to own our politicians. We can relax. Our Oligarchs have their hands full with competition from overseas. Per the same article sited above, The Guinness brewer made US donations of £400,000 last year, which it says "were all made, consistent with applicable laws, to federal

Have we gotten to a point in the United States where attaining victory at any cost is good? "He (Romney) used the first presidential debate to speak out forcefully to its wide television audience against the idea of cutting taxes for the wealthy, noting that “high-income people are doing just fine in this economy.” Asked if there was too much government regulation, he answered, “regulation is essential.” And he praised the Massachusetts health care bill, calling it a “model for the nation.”" NY Times, October 5, 2012 "Mitt Romney for the first time characterized his comments during a fundraiser that were surreptitiously filmed and caught the candidate essentially writing off 47 percent of Americans as "completely wrong." ABC News, October 5, 2012 I can understand voters being opposed to President Obama because of his policies. I can even understand, although not agree with, why some voters are against him simply because of his race. What I do not understa

Mitt Romney won the first debate. He started out aggressive and did not stop. Everyone has to ask where was the real Barack Obama. Romney started off with an untruth and that may have thrown Obama off his game. According to the Tax Policy Center, if you cut tax rates by 20 percent as proposed under the Romney plan, you give wealthy Americans a multi billion-dollar tax break. After taking away all of their credits and loopholes, they still do not owe the government as much as they did before. If the rich are paying less, then the poor and middle class pay more in order to raise the same amount of money. Romney says this would be offset by a faster growing economy, which most economists disagree with. When someone denies the facts, other than calling him a liar, there is not much you can do.

One has to wonder how much of the tragedy in Libya resulted from the almost year long distraction caused by our Presidential election. The country benefits when a President is not sidetracked by politics. The President was elected for a four year term and for the past year his focus was on reelection. This is not the fault of Obama. Our method of electing a President needs to be changed. President's need to be allowed to run for only one six year term and the campaign season needs to be shortened. The following was written on the blog "Free our Free Markets" in January of this year. Is Libya a part of the result? "American politics is one of the few jobs where you are allowed to hunt for another job during 98% of normal working hours and continue to be paid for your present position. "Republicans hope Mr. Obama’s pronouncement that a full-year extension of the payroll tax cut was the last “must-do” piece of legislation for the White House will work in t

Politicians need to take a lesson from the average household. When a family reviews its budget it first identifies the amount of funds it has to spend and then decides what it needs and wants. First are the necessities; food, clothing and shelter. It then ascertains the funds remaining and decides how best to spend or invest it. The family budget also takes into account how much debt it needs to pay down each year. This is the approach government must take with our national budget. One expenditure in our budget cannot be looked at in a vacuum. The country needs to get a handle on its spending. Yes, we need to look for ways to generate revenue, including trying to jump start the economy with a targeted stimulus package; however, we also need to gain control of the governments spending habits. The up front stimulus package must be a part of our long term budget. If the stimulus is done right, it will increase our net revenues in the long run because it allows us to build infrastructur