Some amazing predictions from the CBO

Who knows about predicting the economy a year from now, but the CBO has some depressing predictions.

Key facts from the CBO’s Budget and Economic Outlook:

Real economic growth is projected to be to 2.2 percent in 2012, falling to 1.0 percent in 2013;

The unemployment rate is expected to reach 8.8 percent in 2012, 9.1 percent in 2013, and 8.7 percent in 2014;

The FY2012 budget deficit is projected to equal $1.079 trillion, the fourth consecutive year with the budget deficit above $1 trillion;

Total debt is projected to reach $16 trillion in 2012, with debt held by the public to eclipse the $11 trillion mark in 2012 (72.5% of GDP);

Debt held by the public is projected to reach $15.3 trillion by 2022. . . .

"Obama the most polarizing president ever"

So much for running to unit the country. Now the press concludes that if Obama couldn't get rid of the gap it is probably impossible to erase. From the Washington Post:

President Obama ran — and won — in 2008 on the idea of uniting the country. But each of his first three years in office has marked historic highs in political polarization, with Democrats largely approving of him and Republicans deeply disapproving.

For 2011, Obama’s third year in office, an average of 80 percent of Democrats approved of the job he was doing in Gallup tracking polls, as compared to 12 percent of Republicans who felt the same way. That’s a 68-point partisan gap, the highest for any president’s third year in office — ever. (The previous high was George W. Bush in 2007, when he had a 59 percent difference in job approval ratings.)

In 2010, the partisan gap between how Obama was viewed by Democrats versus Republicans stood at 68 percent; in 2009, it was 65 percent. Both were the highest marks ever for a president’s second and first years in office, respectively.

What do those numbers tell us? Put simply: that the country is hardening along more and more strict partisan lines. . . .

For fourth year the deficit will exceed $1 trillion

So much for Obama's promise to cut government spending and the deficit. From the Washington Post:

The federal budget deficit will top $1 trillion for a fourth straight year, congressional budget analysts said Tuesday, the smallest since the Great Recession hit in 2009.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that the gap between government spending and tax collections would continue to fall, dropping sharply in 2013 and through the decade if policymakers follow through with major changes in both tax policy and government spending now on the books.

The $1.1 trillion deficit is the smallest deficit figure — both in nominal terms and as a percentage of the economy — since the Great Recession. . . . .

Even mass murderers appear to fear the death penalty

From the BBC:

The sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai (Bombay) attacks has launched an appeal against his death sentence in India's Supreme Court. . . .

A really surprisingly sympathetic piece on guns from NPR

What do you do when you can't depend on the police for protection? NPR addresses this question in a piece on Mexico's gun control laws, though it does bring in some digs on gun ownership.

In Mexico, where criminals are armed to the teeth with high-powered weapons smuggled from the United States, it may come as a surprise that the country has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the world.

Law-abiding Mexicans who want a gun to defend themselves have no good options. Either they fight government red tape to get a legal permit, or they buy one on the black market.

After an outbreak of violence, one embattled community in northern Mexico called Colonia LeBaron has begun to ask if it's time for the country to address its gun laws. . . .

The cold-blooded murders of Benjamin LeBaron and Luis Widmar galvanized the community, Julian LeBaron says. It prompted them to take a stance that is familiar to Second Amendment advocates in the U.S., but one that is taboo in Mexico.

"I think there would be less violence if there were more guns, in the sense that I could barge in here and do whatever I want, knowing that this guy doesn't have a gun," says Jose Widmar, the brother of slain Luis.

Today, if the gangsters return, the LeBaron colony is locked and loaded. . . .

Victim turns tables on two gun toting robbers

The victim, who was obviously a concealed carry permit holder, wounded one of the two men who attacked him. From Mobile, Alabama:

Spokeswoman Ashley Rains said the intended victim parked his car in his driveway in the 1300 block of Center Street about 4:25 a.m. when two men pointed guns at him, demanding property.
Rains said that the intended victim pulled his gun and fired at the two men, shooting one in the hand. The robbers fled toward Cottage Street, returning fire as they retreated, she said. The intended victim was not hit.
About an hour later, a man showed up at the University of South Alabama Medical center for treatment of a gunshot to the right hand, Rains said. . . .

Thanks to Joseph Rich for this link.

The economy is still a mess

Home Prices drop again

. . . For November, the Case-Shiller index of 10 major metropolitan areas and the 20-city index both fell 1.3% from the previous month. David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Indices, also noted that 19 of the 20 major U.S. metropolitan markets covered by the indices in November saw prices decline from October.

"The only positive for the month was Phoenix" . . . .

The 10-city and 20-city composites posted annual returns of negative 3.6% and negative 3.7%, respectively, versus November 2010. At negative 11.8%, hard-hit Atlanta continued to post the lowest annual return. . . .

Consumer Confidence Plummets

U.S. consumer confidence in January gave back some of the huge gains posted in the previous two months, according to a report released Tuesday. Views on labor markets darkened.

The Conference Board, a private research group, said its index of consumer confidence retreated to 61.1 this month from a revised 64.8 in December, first reported as 64.5. The January index was far less than the 68.0 expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.

The fallback was concentrated in consumers’ view of the current economy. The present situation index, a gauge of consumers’ assessment of current economic conditions, dropped to 38.4 in January from a revised 46.5, originally reported as 46.7.

Consumer expectations for economic activity over the next six months slipped only slightly, to 76.2 in January from a revised 77.0, first reported as 76.4.

“Regarding the short-term outlook, consumers are more upbeat about employment, but less optimistic about business conditions and their income prospects." . . . .

Perceptions about the job markets worsened this month. The survey showed 43.5% think jobs are “hard to get” up from 41.6% saying that in December, while only 6.1% think jobs are “plentiful” down from 6.6% in December. . . .

Greek Private Bond Holders facing 70 Percent Cut in Value of Bonds

From the Associated Press:

Investors participating in a deal to slash Greece's massive debt would face an overall loss on their bond holdings of more than 70 percent, a person involved in with the negotiations said early Tuesday.
European leaders at a summit in Brussels said a final debt deal could be signed off in the coming days . . .

Athens and representatives of investors holding Greek government bonds over the weekend came close to a final agreement designed to bring Greece's debt down to a more manageable level. Without a restructuring, those debts would swell to around double the country's economic output by the end of the year.

If the agreement works as planned, it will help Greece remain solvent and help Europe avoid a blow to its already weakened financial system, even though banks and other bond investors will have to accept big losses.

The person involved in the talks said Monday that the more-than 70 percent loss was the result of cutting the bonds' face value in half, reducing the average interest rate to between 3.5 per cent and 4 percent and pushing repayment of the bonds 30 years into the future. A second person briefed on the talks confirmed that the loss on the so-called net present value of the bonds would be around 70 percent. . . .

Double standards for John Kerry and Mitt Romney's tax records?

John Kerry is wealthier than Mitt Romney, but he has paid a smaller percentage of his income in taxes. Yet, where was the media outrage over Kerry's tax returns?

Obama White House refuses to condemn Occupy Wall Street Rioters

From Fox News:

QUESTION: Occupy Wall Street protesters are making headlines again as you know over the weekend 400 protesters were arrested in Oakland and now today the national park services is expected to clear out protesters potentially as we speak from a site here in DC.

What is your reaction, is the administration concerned that some of these protesters are taking things too far?

CARNEY: Well, with regards to Oakland that’s obviously a local law enforcement matter. Here in Washington I would refer you for specifics to the U.S. National Park Services and U.S. Park Police and our position has been and continues to be that we need to balance first Amendment concerns, the right to demonstrate, the right to speak freely with public safety concerns and public health concerns and we understand that local law enforcement as well as National Park Service and U.S. Park Police are weighing these considerations when making these decisions and that’s appropriate.

16 Climate Scientists say don't worry about Global Warming

Where do Americans stand on Concealed Carry Laws?

Angus-Reid Survey: 59% of Americans support either a right-to-carry law (51%) or a "Vermont" style rule (8%) that doesn't require a permit. Even 50% of Democrats and 50% of non-gun owners fall in this category.

There was also this question. The answer to it raises the question of what the reaction would have been if the 4 Justice minority on the court had their way with the Heller and McDonald decisions. These four justices don't even represent the views of Democrats.

Americans are already facing higher capital gains tax rates?: The question is actually how much higher are they going

Start with the fact that Obamacare will be imposing a 3.8 percentage point increase in capital gains taxes next year. Next comes the question of whether the Bush tax cuts will expire. If they do expire, the base capital gains tax rate goes up to 20%. In addition, there will be another 1.2 percentage points added for high income earners. Altogether, if the Bush tax cuts expire, the total capital gains tax will rise to 25%.

Obama administration doesn't think that it is appropriate to have a parade in NYC to honor the troops that served in Iraq

From the AP:

Bloomberg says Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin Dempsey and other Army officials "made it clear" to the city "they do not think a parade is appropriate now." . . .

Did Obama's union biased Stimulus slightly increase the number of workers in unionized firms?

All those rules requiring that work be done by unionized workers only had a small (I assume temporary) impact on the percent of workers who are unionized. From the WSJ:

The percentage of workers who belong to a union inched down to 11.8% from 11.9% in 2010, a decline the Bureau of Labor Statistics said left the rate "essentially unchanged." . . .

In 2011, the private sector added about 110,000 union members, pushing the total there to 7.2 million. In the public sector, membership fell by 61,000 as budget-strapped federal, state and local governments cut jobs.

Still, public-sector union members continued to account for more than half of the nation's total union members, and their membership rate of 37% remained five times greater than the private sector's rate of 6.9%. . . .

Will Obama be helping public colleges at the expense of private ones?

The key here is how the government defines colleges as being "too costly." Will it simply be tuition or the amount spent? Obviously public colleges cost much more than they charge. I also hate to think of how the federal government is going to determine quality. The article below also has a discussion about possible price controls. From Bloomberg Businessweek:

Saying “we just can’t keep on subsidizing skyrocketing tuition,” President Barack Obama proposed to have the government, for the first time, link federal aid to a college’s ability to control tuition costs and maintain education quality.

“We are putting colleges on notice -- you can’t assume that you’ll just jack up tuition every single year,” Obama said today at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “If you can’t stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers every year will go down.”

For institutions that control costs, the administration is proposing to increase campus-based aid to about $10 billion a year, up from $1 billion. The bulk of the money, about $8 billion, would be devoted to Perkins loans for students, with other aid set aside for work-study grants and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants.

Obama said higher education today is “an economic imperative” instead of a luxury. “College is the single most important investment that you can make in your future,” he said.

The administration’s proposal calls for $1 billion to entice states to help keep costs down at public colleges while encouraging an overhaul of state programs that help finance education.

Obama is also proposing $55 million for individual colleges as an inducement to improve education quality. . . .

Apparently, the public colleges are pretty upset all on their own.

Fuzzy math, Illinois State University's president called it. "Political theater of the worst sort," said the University of Washington's head.
President Obama's new plan to force colleges and universities to contain tuition or face losing federal dollars is raising alarm among education leaders who worry about the threat of government overreach. Particularly sharp words came from the presidents of public universities; they're already frustrated by increasing state budget cuts.
The reality, said Illinois State's Al Bowman, is that simple changes cannot easily overcome deficits at many public schools. He said he was happy to hear Obama, in a speech Friday at the University of Michigan, urge state-level support of public universities. But, Bowman said, given the decreases in state aid, tying federal support to tuition prices is a product of fuzzy math.
Illinois has lowered public support for higher education by about one-third over the past decade when adjusted for inflation. Illinois State, with 21,000 students, has raised tuition almost 47 percent since 2007, from $6,150 a year for an in-state undergraduate student to $9,030.
"Most people, including the president, assume if universities were simply more efficient they would be able to operate with much smaller state subsidies, and I believe there are certainly efficiency gains that can be realized," Bowman said. "But they pale in comparison to the loss in state support." . . .

An amusing campaign ad about Obama's policies

Racism in South African Politics

This story is about Lindiwe Mazibuko, the leader of the Democratic Alliance. From the New York Times:

SHE has unmistakably African roots, from her birthplace (the kingdom of Swaziland) to one of her native tongues (isiZulu) to her mocha skin.

But for many people, Lindiwe Mazibuko is just not black enough.

During a parliamentary session this year, a government minister here called her a coconut (white on the inside, brown on the outside). One political opponent described Ms. Mazibuko as the tea girl, or servant, for the leader of the country’s chief opposition party. Twitter users have flung racial slurs at her, called her a token and said she was naïve. . . .

Looking at the previous recessions can you spot the slowest recovery?

From the WSJ.
Remember Democrats coming to the defense of Obama's economic projections by saying that the worse the recession the stronger the recovery?

Also, only 28% of Americans think that the economy is getting better.

The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, rose slightly on Thursday to 79.2. Consumer confidence is down two points from a week ago and shows little change from a month ago, but is up 13 points from three months ago. Consumer confidence is down 10 points from a year ago. Over the course of 2011, the Rasmussen Consumer Index ranged from a low of 58.1 to a high of 93.3. So far in 2012, consumer confidence has ranged from a low of 78.7 and a high of 89.4. . . .

The "Marriage Killer"?: Nagging?

Is nagging the cause of the problem or is there something that causes the nagging? Do guys ignore requests because they don't care or do women nag because they want a certain level of control? From the WSJ:

Nagging can become a prime contributor to divorce when couples start fighting about the nagging rather than talking about the issue at the root of the nagging, says Howard Markman, professor of psychology at the University of Denver and co-director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies. For 30 years, Dr. Markman has researched conflict and communication in relationships and offered relationship counseling and marriage seminars. He says that while all couples deal with nagging at some point, those who learn to reduce this type of negative communication will substantially increase their odds of staying together and keeping love alive. Couples who don't learn often fall out of love and split up.

Research that Dr. Markman published in 2010 in the Journal of Family Psychology indicates that couples who became unhappy five years into their marriage had a roughly 20% increase in negative communication patterns consistent with nagging, and a 12% decrease in positive communication. "Nagging is an enemy of love, if allowed to persist," Dr. Markman says.

The good news: Couples can learn to stop nagging. Early in their marriage, Ms. Pfeiffer, now 62, repeatedly reminded her husband about household tasks and became more demanding when he ignored her. "If I was asking him to take care of something that mattered to me and he was blowing me off, that made me feel like I didn't matter," she says. . . .

65-year-old woman held criminal at gun point

Larry Summers' December 15, 2008 Economic Memo

Summers' memo that gives some insight into what the Obama administration was thinking on the economy is available here. Here is a list of important points in the memo.

The stimulus was about implementing the Obama agenda
Team Obama knows these deficits are dangerous
Obamanomics was pricier than advertised
Even Washington can only spend so much money so fast
Liberals can complain about the stimulus having too many tax cuts, but even Team Obama thought more spending was unrealistic
Team Obama wanted to use courts to force massive mortgage principal write downs
Team Obama thought a stimulus plan of more than $1 trillion would spook financial markets and send interest rates climbing

Pages 10 and 11 shows a list of what others have proposed for Stimulus amounts.
It provides another forecast about the unemployment rate would be over time with and without the Stimulus.

Sixteen prominent scientists say "no need to panic about Global Warming"

From the WSJ:

A candidate for public office in any contemporary democracy may have to consider what, if anything, to do about "global warming." Candidates should understand that the oft-repeated claim that nearly all scientists demand that something dramatic be done to stop global warming is not true. In fact, a large and growing number of distinguished scientists and engineers do not agree that drastic actions on global warming are needed. . . .

Newest Fox News piece: President Obama's strange definition of fairness

My newest piece at Fox News starts this way:

During his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama pushed for higher tax rates on what he called “the wealthiest Americans.” 

He declared: “Tax reform should follow the Buffett rule: If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes.” As usual, the president motivated the higher taxes with references to “fair play” and getting the wealthy to pay their “fair share” of taxes.

“Fairness” was the codeword of the State of the Union address, not the chronic problem of lingering high unemployment, something the president never even mentioned. 

Of course, Obama emphasized “fairness,” but his newest attacks on the wealthy not paying their “fair share” very conveniently comes right after Mitt Romney revealed that he has averaged paying a 14 percent tax rate over the last two years.

Unfortunately, some Republicans come across as confused about capital gains taxes. Romney pushes a weak defense . . . .

Apparently Justice Kagan was actually involved in Obamacare discussions while at DOJ

From Fox News:

With just weeks until the U.S. Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of President Obama's health care law, there are new calls for Justice Elena Kagan to recuse herself from the case.
Her critics point to a 2010 case regarding a San Francisco health measure, in which then-Solicitor General Kagan's office filed an amicus brief touting the newly passed health care law.
In May 2010, after Kagan had been nominated to the nation's highest court, Principal Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal sent her a memo outlining the cases in which she had "substantially participated." Kaytal specifically referenced the Golden Gate case, noting that it had been "discussed with Elena several times."
That's enough to convince Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow Hans von Spakovsky that Kagan shouldn't take part in the current health care case before the high court.
"I don't see how any ethical lawyer adhering to professional codes of conduct could not consider that they need to recuse themselves from this case," he said. . . .

Another company getting Stimulus dollars goes bankrupt

From CNS News:

Ener1--a company that manufactures batteries for electric cars, and that received $118.5 million in federal stimulus money, and that Vice President Joe Biden visited last year the day after President Obama’s State of the Union Address—announced today that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

In last year’s State of the Union Address, delivered Jan. 25, 2011, President Obama set a national goal of having a million electric vehicles on the road in the United States by 2015—a goal that would be achieved, Obama said, by taking money out of the oil industry and “investing” it in new technology.

“With more research and incentives, we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015,” said Obama.

“We need to get behind this innovation,” he said. “And to help pay for it, I'm asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies. I don't know if you've noticed, but they're doing just fine on their own. So instead of subsidizing yesterday's energy, let's invest in tomorrow's.”

The next day, Biden visited the Ener1 plant in Greenfield, Ind.—which the White House said at the time had received a $118.5 million grant from the Department of Energy and was the type of investment the president was talking about in his State of the Union. . . .

Obama helps get even more government wealth transfers to Soros?

Even if Soros wasn't a leftwinger, he would undoubtedly be an Obama supporter simply because of how much money the Obama administration is sending his way. From the Heritage Foundation:

George Soros, a billionaire investor and major backer of President Obama, stands to reap a windfall from legislation promoting natural gas-powered vehicles. The White House unveiled a proposal on Thursday that would do just that.
The proposal would offer incentives for companies to buy and use trucks powered by natural gas. Obama announced the effort at a UPS facility in Las Vegas that received stimulus funding to buy natural gas vehicles and build a fueling station for them.
The proposal is remarkably similar to the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions (NAT GAS) Act.
One company that stands to benefit handsomely from the president’s proposal is Westport Innovations. The company converts diesel engines to be fueled by natural gas. Wall Street analysts predicted a boom for the company if the NAT GAS Act were passed. CNBC analyst Jim Cramer said he “expects shares to absolutely explode” in the event the legislation were to pass. . . .

Why carry concealed in national parks?

Aren't parks safe? Why would anyone need to protect themselves? Surely this 65 year old man is glad that he had his permitted gun with him. I only wish that the news story explicitly stated that he had a concealed handgun permit. Story from WFMZ-TV about a Cumru Township, PA case:

A 16-year-old boy is dead, another teenager is wounded and another was arrested after a shooting on a popular trail in Cumru Township.

Wednesday night the Berks County District Attorney gave police the go ahead to release the man they say shot at the teens.

Wednesday morning police from multiple departments responded to the Thune Trail near the Bertolet Fishing Dock at S. First Avenue and Chestnut Street in West Reading after reports of shots fired. . . .

Police say four people were involved: three teenagers and a 65-year-old man.

"He was riding a bicycle," said Habecker.

Police said the teens knocked the man off his bicycle and onto the ground.

They said two of the teens were assaulting the man when he pulled out a gun and shot them. . . .

Thanks to Tony Troglio for this link.

UPDATE: Here is a follow up story.

A 65-year-old man was justified in shooting two of three teenagers who were attempting to rob him as he rode his bicycle along a popular river trail Wednesday morning, authorities announced Thursday.

The ordeal unfolded shortly before 11 a.m. on the Thun Trail in Cumru Twp., Berks Co.

The teens knocked the man off his bicycle and onto the ground in their third random robbery attempt in about an hour's time, said Berks County District Attorney John Adams.

Two of the teens were assaulting the man when he pulled out a gun and shot them, police said.

"While I don't condone violence, the bike rider had no choice," said Adams. "He was in danger of death and serious bodily injury. The bike rider did not provoke the situation."

The man is licensed to carry a gun, said Adams. . . .

Thanks to John Kernkamp for the link.

Bizarre Claims that Newt Gingrich was anti-Reagan?

Michael Reagan endorsed Newt.
Might there have been disagreements from time to time, sure. But to claim that Newt was rude to Reagan or anti-Reagan seems like a very strange claim. If this was believed, would Newt have been in the Republican House leadership in the early 1990s? Here is Newt on the subject on Hannity's show.
UPDATE: LIMBAUGH blasts coordinated attacks on Newt: "I first heard of Newt Gingrich when he was perhaps the premiere defender of Ronald Reagan. This was in the early 1980s of course, Reagan assumed office in 1981."
UPDATE: From Sarah Palin:

"Look at Newt Gingrich, what’s going on with him, via the establishment's attacks,” fmr. Gov. Sarah Palin said on FOX Business. They’re trying to crucify this man and rewrite history, and rewrite what it is that he has stood for all these years."

Apparently Obama turns his back on others that he talks to as well

It looks as if Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is getting the type of treatment that I have experienced from Barack Obama (see links to interviews with Mark Levin here and here and Teri O'Brien here), though it appears as if they had a more aggressive discussion than Obama and I had.


A partial transcript is available here.

Apparently, Obama had a similar skirmish with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal:

I was expecting words of concern about the oil spill, worry about the pending ecological disaster, and words of confidence about how the federal government was here to help. Or perhaps he was going to vent about BP’s slow response. But no, the president was upset about something else. And he wanted to talk about, well, food stamps. Actually, he wanted to talk about a letter that my administration had sent to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack a day earlier.

The letter was rudimentary, bureaucratic, and ordinary. .  .  . We were simply asking the federal government to authorize food stamps for those who were now unemployed because of the oil spill. Governors regularly make these sorts of requests to the federal government when facing disaster.

But somehow, for some reason, President Obama had personalized this. And he was upset.

There was not a word about the oil spill. He was concerned about looking bad because of the letter. “Careful,” he said to me, “this is going to get bad for everyone.”

From the NY Times:

Mr. Obama stepped off the plane and was greeted by Ms. Brewer, who handed him a handwritten letter in an envelope that she later said was an invitation to discuss the “Arizona comeback.” The two had an intense exchange for several minutes; at one point Ms. Brewer pointed her finger at Mr. Obama.

Afterward, she told reporters that Mr. Obama “was a little disturbed about my book.”

“I said to him that I have all the respect in the world for the office of the president,” she said. “The book is what the book is. I asked him if he read the book. He said he read the excerpt. So.”

At one point, the two seemed to be talking at the same time, seemingly over each other. Mr. Obama appeared to walk away from Ms. Brewer while she was still talking.

Asked what aspect of the book disturbed him, Ms. Brewer said: “That he didn’t feel that I had treated him cordially. I said I was sorry he felt that way but I didn’t get my sentence finished. Anyway, we’re glad he’s here. I’ll regroup.” . . .

I will stick with Brewer's version of their discussion.

Remember how Chicago murder rate fell last year? Well, don't look to arrests for murder being the cause

"Only 30 Percent Of Last Year’s Murders Have Been Solved"

Murders in Chicago were down last year, but it’s a different story when it comes to the number of murders actually solved.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Steve Miller reports, the murder clearance rate – the number of homicides that were solved the same year – has slipped. . . .

Romney backed by party elites

Romney just can't resist playing class warfare card against Newt

Romney won't explain the difference between income earned from capital gains and income earned from work. Throwing away the chance to explain why his 14 percent tax rate is "fair" Romney would rather win what seems like a short run political gain against Newt. From Politico:

. . . The moment came after Newt Gingrich joked about Romney’s 15 percent tax rate, saying: “I’m prepared to describe my flat tax as the Mitt Romney flat tax.”

Romney jumped in to ask: Do you tax capital gains at 15 percent or zero percent?

Gingrich’s answer: Zero.

“Under that plan, I’d have paid no taxes in the last two years,” Romney said, alluding to the fact that all his income is from investments. . . .

“The real question is not so much my taxes, but the taxes of the American people,” Romney said. “That’s why I put forward a plan to eliminate the tax on savings for middle-income Americans.”

He continued: “But I paid all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more. … I don’t think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes.” . . .