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Health & Fitness

In Case You Missed The Last Republican Debate, It Went Something Like This . . .

"Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers." ~ Aristotle

Moderator Charlie Rose: "Pundits are saying that Republicans are quick to dismiss any economic stimulus plan that comes from the Democrats or the President and that the GOP has put forth no plan of their own. As a nominee for President, what is your plan to fix the economy?"

Herman Cain: "I have come up with a flat 9-9-9 tax plan that will eliminate all write-offs and tax everyone - the poor, the rich and businesses at the same rate, 9%."

Charile Rose: "How did you and your economic advisors come up with a plan that changes our tax code from a progressive one to a flat, possibly even regressive tax code?"

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Hermain Cain: "I don't know what an economic advisor is, but it's simple - when I was the CEO of Godfather's pizza, whenever we had a new type of pizza we wanted to sell, no matter how it tasted, we sold it for $9.99 and people ate that crap up, literally!"

Michelle Bachman: "When you turn 9-9-9 upside down, it's 6-6-6 and now please excuse me while I mumble to myself in tongues and pray to Jesus Christ my savior."

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Charlie Rose: "Are there any critiques here of Mr. Cain's 9-9-9 plan?"

Rick Santorum: "That plan seems pretty upity if you ask me."

Charlie Rose: "Can we please refrain from using racial slurs during this debate?"

Jon Huntsman: "You mean we shouldn't mention the fact that Rick Perry's family owns a ranch in Texas that for many years was known as "n****rhead"?

Rick Perry: "The real issue is that while Governor of Texas I oversaw the execution of 230 prisoners, most of them black - thank you very much."

Newt Gingrich: "The real issue here is economics and the most-pressing problem of the day is my high-interest rate on my Tiffany's charge account. How do you suppose we get that lowered?"

Ron Paul: "I'd like to say something if I could. . ."

Charlie Rose: "Congresswoman Bachman, do you have anything else to add?"

Michelle Bachman: "(unintelligible mumbles) Jesus (unintelligible mumbles), God, (unintelligible mumbles)."

Mitt Romney: "Is it too late to switch parties?"

(Of course, this is not verbatim, but you get the picture.)

Now for a reality check on Herman Cain's "9-9-9" plan:

Most economists say Cain’s plan would be a tax hike for the lower middle class and a tax windfall for the wealthy.

If you have a family of four with an income of just under $50,000, they could end up paying more under the Cain plan. Currently, they are taxed around $3,850 in income tax. Under Cain’s plan, they would be taxed at 9 percent or pay $4,500.

That’s $650 more.

Although the family would save almost $4,000 in Social Security taxes, it would have to give up the child tax credit worth the same amount. Furthermore, it would pay an additional national sales tax of 9 percent on everything purchased, including groceries and clothes, which totals about $2,000.

That means under the Cain plan that family could end up paying $2,725 more.

“It’s going to raise the price of just about everything by about 9 percent,” said former George W. Bush economic policy adviser Bruce Bartlett. “We know from experience and analysis that that tends to hurt people with low incomes." " http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/10/9-9-9-plan-would-almost-double-taxes-on-middle-class/

We could also be looking at a huge black market, where people start selling and buying everything from clothes and groceries to beer and books under the table in order to save 9%. Think communist Russia in the 80's.

Or people will simply buy less. Either situation means less income for the government, which means more job cuts at the state and federal levels. In other words, this plan stinks.


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