Point 1: Energy Independence. Increasing access to domestic energy sources. This is a good idea, but a little vague. Are we talking lifting the ban on shallow water offshore drilling in the gulf? Allowing drilling on land currently protected? Streamlining the permit process for exploration is good, provided that it doesn't cut corners and makes sure that only fiscally and environmentally responsible companies are rewarded the permits. The coal industry has taken major hits from recent EPA regulations brought on by the Obama Administration. Cleaner energy alternatives are without a doubt the end goal for our nation, and the world. What we as a nation need to be careful about is being realistic about our goals. I'm actually fine with most of the regulations that have been put in place, but it is a little too soon for them without a viable alternative to replace coal with. We don't have one today. Approval for the Keystone pipeline is long overdue. If we are going to source more domestic and non middle eastern oil, we need a way to transport it to our processing facilities. Much of the domestic oil we have access to is in Canada and Alaska. Without the pipeline we have to transport everything via ship down the Pacific, across the Panama Canal and up through the Gulf. The Keystone pipeline is a much more efficient alternative and will help keep the price of oil and gas lower.
Point 2: Skills to Succeed. This point reminds me of much of Presidents Obama's plan. Very good talking point, but with no real direction behind it on how to make it happen. Where are all of these great schools that we need to give access to? They certainly aren't out nations public schools for the most part. They have become lost between labor union negotiation, and teaching to standardized test scores instead of true learning. I believe the training programs are already out there, we as a people need to do a better job of helping people choose realistic career paths. Why do we want to attract the best and the brightest from around the world? Shouldn't we focus more on making our own citizens the best and brightest in the world instead?
Point 3: Trade That Works For America. Cracking down on China's trade practices looks good on paper. What we should be very aware of is the sheer amount of dependence we have on the goods that they trade to us. Many many of the products we use depend on today are either made in china, or have their components made in china. There is also the pesky little issue of owing them a large sum of money in the form of bonds and other federal debt. Opening new markets is a good idea, but where are these markets that we aren't involved in? I work for a company that touches over 125 countries. I'm curious to understand exactly what Mr. Romney means by building stronger economic ties to Latin America. If we are talking about an expansion of NAFTA then I am quite skeptical. NAFTA was an attempt to make us more competitive from a manufacturing standpoint, bu tend the end it moved jobs north and south of the border. The Reagan Economic Zone is party of a larger Romney economic plan that would allow countries adhering to a "free market" set of trade rules designed to promote international business. I think the idea itself is sound, but this international trading zone is a 2 way street for import and export. We have a real problem in this nation of a lack of export so the benefit might not be as great as Mr. Romney hopes it will be
Point 4: Cut the Deficit. I have a huge problem with this issue with both parties today. Before I go into the individual bullets on Mr. Romney's plan I want to cover this briefly. Why is all the talk about deficit reduction? Why aren't we talking about debt reduction? The Ryan plan takes over 28 years before we balance the budget and quit going into the hole. That means we'll likely double our current $16 TRILLION debt before we start paying that down. we are already very near a tipping point. Our nations credit rating has been downgraded, we are very near exceeding our GDP in debt and it doesn't look like either party is interested in changing this any time soon. Cut 5% from non defense discretionary spending. That only takes us from $1.264 TRILLION to $1.178 TRILLION in discretionary spending. That's barely a drop in the bucket. Cap federal spending to less than 20% of GDP. 2011 GDP was $15.09 TRILLION meaning that if we worked under the Romney plan last year the federal budget would have had to have been under $3.018 TRILLION (actual were $3.630 TRILLION) This means that the budget would have been cut by $612 Billion dollars, or ~1.6%. Again, this is another drop in the bucket and doesn't make any real impact when you look at the numbers. Give states the responsibility for programs they can implement more efficiently. I'm in favor of this in general. My personal believes are that way to many of our programs are in the Federal Governments hands when they don't really have a constitutional authority to do so. Instead of eliminating them, they should be handed over to the states to run. Consolidating agencies and align pay and benefits to the private sector average. This is a good idea as there really isn't a reason to pay a government employee more (or less) than what they would make working for a private firm.
Point 5: Champion Small Business Reduce taxes on job creation through individual and corporate tax reform. Lower taxes are always better in my book. How this enacted will be crutial to understand what impact, if any it would have on the ability for businesses to create new jobs and for individuals to start new businesses. Stop the increasing regulations on businesses. This is a major sticking point of new job creation today. This administration, and the past several, have not been good at communicating their regulation strategies. They also have felt the need to continuously create new regulations. The problem with this (and with the continued pushing down the road of the extension of the Bush tax cuts) make for an environment that is very hard for businesses to plan for. Everything in business runs on 1, 3 and 5 year plans. Without having confidence that they can model their business and know what they chances are for profit, then they will stay where they are today. Protect workers and businesses from aggressive unions. I'm not a big fan of unions, though I believe they still have a place in the world today. I'll save my longer thought process for another entry, but when union leadership make 6 figures, they've become their own business and begin to operate to make more money by expanding their union. Replace Obamacare with real health care reform. ObamaCare had a few good points scattered in with creating more bureaucracy. It has helped to continue the increase of cost at the consumer level. I don't believe that the plan that Romney supports to replace it is the right direction either. I'll save more on that for another entry
Overall I think that Mitt Romney's plan has more substance to it than President Obama's, but only by a narrow margin. Both candidates have some talking points that are good for debates, but I think they lack the background substance and feasible actionable items behind them to make them come true in a real world situation.
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