This is the second of two posts. Here is the first, a much shorter high-level version of the outline contained here.
This is my attempt to build a detailed outline of the economic speech President Obama gave in Cleveland yesterday (watch it).
I used his language in some parts, but in many parts these are his concepts expressed in my words, I hope to provide more clarity.
It won’t surprise regular readers that I disagree with much of this. I have tried not to let that cloud this summary.
Detailed outline of President Obama’s Remarks on the Economy
Cuyahoga Community College
Cleveland, Ohio
Thursday, June 14, 2012
I. Big choice — two paths
A. Choice / two fundamentally different visions.
B. Choice and debate are not about whether we need to grow faster, but instead about how to:
1. Create strong, sustained growth;
2. Pay down our long-term debt;
3. Generate good, middle class jobs so people can have confidence that if they work hard, they can get ahead.
C. Big decisions. Not new challenges. Problems more than a decade in the making.
D. Being held back by a stalemate over two different paths for our country. Election should is about resolving this stalemate.
II. Define & blame Republican theory for bad stuff.
A. Long before 2008 the basic bargain had begun to erode
B. Define Republican theory: cut taxes, no regs, market solves everything
C. Results of Republican theory: worked well for the rich, but prosperity never trickled down to the middle class.
III. Be patient.
A. Not your normal recession.
B. It has typically taken countries up to 10 years to recover from financial crises of this magnitude.
C. We’re in better shape than Europe.
IV. Take credit for the good stuff
A. We acted fast. My policies are working.
B. We’re recovering from:
1. Financial crisis of 2008;
2. A decade of middle class falling behind;
3. Erosion of basic bargain over decade[s?]
V. Romney wants to repeat the failed experiment of the last decade.
A. We implemented Republican theory last decade:
1. Best way to grow the economy is from the top down;
2. Eliminate most regulations;
3. Cut taxes by trillions of dollars;
4. Strip down government to national security and a few other basic functions.
B. This failed theory created the fiscal problems we face now and the financial crisis that caused this weak economy.
C. Romney wants to return to and repeat this failed theory.
VI. Romney’s plan is bad for the middle class.
A. Keep Bush tax cuts in place and add another $5T in tax cuts on top of that.
1. 70% of those will go to >$200K/year, and >$1M/year will get an average tax cut of about 25%
B. Cut valuable government programs: student loans, Head Start, health research and scientific grants.
C. Eliminate health insurance for 33m (repeal ACA) + 19m more (Medicaid cuts).
D. Scale back or eliminate tax breaks that help middle class families: health care, college, retirement, homeownership.
E. Repeat of failed top-down growth theory.
VII. My plan is an economy built from a growing middle class. Race to the top.
A. Education;
B. Energy;
C. Innovation;
D. Investment;
E. Tax code based on American job creation and balanced deficit reduction.
VIII. I’m a centrist, look at my record.
A. I have cut taxes.
B. Fewer regulations than Bush in first three years.
C. Signed into law $2T of spending cuts.
D. Deficit reduction plan to slow health cost growth, not shift costs to seniors.
E. Domestic discretionary spending lowest share of GDP in nearly 60 years.
IX. I’m for keeping the American tradition of bipartisan government involvement in the economy.
A. Government is not the answer to all our problems, and I’m not proposing government run everything.
B. Romney and Republicans want to return us to no rules and unregulated market free-for-all.
C. America has succeeded not by telling everyone to fend for themselves, but by all of us pitching in, all of us pulling our own weight. That’s what I’m for.
I hope you find this useful.
(photo credit: Obama campaign)