Dear Commons Community,

Mitt Romney’s failure to release his income tax returns is becoming his Achilles’ heel.  Over the past several days, prominent conservatives and members of the Republican Party have publicly commented that he needs to release these data.

Bill Kristol:  “He should release the tax returns tomorrow. It’s crazy,” Kristol said on “Fox News Sunday.” “You gotta release six, eight, 10 years of back tax returns. Take the hit for a day or two.”

George Will:  ““I do not know why, given that Mitt Romney knew the day that McCain lost in 2008 that he was going to run for president again that he didn’t get all of this out and tidy up some of his offshore accounts and all the rest…”He’s done nothing illegal, nothing unseemly, nothing improper, but lots that’s impolitic”

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley: “I think he ought to release everything. I believe in total transparency,” Bentley told reporters.  “You know if you have things to hide, then you may be doing things wrong.”

With so much pressure, it is only a matter of time before Romney will release more of his income tax data.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Good economic advice has been hard to come by during the last four years as our country and the world has floated in and out of the Great Recession.  Many of our fellow citizens are without jobs, the stock market is up and down and cities are filing for bankruptcy.  Not to fear, George W. Bush has a new book, The 4% Solution: Unleashing the Economic Growth America Needs, providing advice on how to get the economy going again.  Essentially it is a push to unleash free enterprise according to one reviewer.   

“The ideas in the book include lowering corporate tax rates, shifting away from taxing income to taxing consumption and property, promoting innovation by letting professors keep gains from their research, expanding free-trade pacts with Japan and other countries, refocusing immigration policy to recruit more high-skill workers, and expanding the work force by lowering payroll taxes on employees with children.”

I am sorry but I have no idea who will buy this book authored by a president whose policies  and lack of oversight brought this country to its knees economically.  Chutzpah anyone!!!

Tony