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there was a big difference uh with
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respect to style I think many people and
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I as I watched it were uh uh interested
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to see Mitt Romney was very energized
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and excited to be at the debate last
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night and I think the president uh very
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articulate but perhaps a little less so
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so with respect to style I think there
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were there were some differences there
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in terms of substance they covered a
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huge set of issues uh and I think it was
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very interesting to me to hear them uh
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talk about tax policy Health Care policy
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energy policy what they're going to do
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about the budget deficit and many other
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critical areas that are really going to
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have a just huge effect on how the
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country performs economically in the
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years ahead with respect to the
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substance I think you know it's somewhat
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less clear partly because the two
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candidates could only summarize their
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own policies or their opponent policies
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at a very high level so some of these
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things are quite complicated energy
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policy tax policy Medicare policy and so
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forth and so I think on that Dimension
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it was somewhat less uh less clear uh
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but in in terms of the style I think
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many people agreed uh had the view
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afterwards that in terms of style uh
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that that the Challenger Mitt Romney
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fared somewhat better on that front so I
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think that the the mainam mainstream
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press enjoys the style stuff quite a lot
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uh and so but I think in terms of the
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voters and not just the voters but kids
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and people who don't vote just the whole
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country it's really the substance that's
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ultimately going to matter and in at
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some level I think it would be helpful
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if uh the media did a better job of
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educating people a bit more about the
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challenges that the country faces we
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have some really big challenges we have
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this huge budget deficit demographics
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that are going to change quite
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significantly over the next few decades
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as we go from having five non five
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non-elderly adults for every elderly
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adult to three for every elderly adult
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and that's going to create some strain
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on uh on the economy because of Social
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Security and Medicare and other things
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and I think to the extent that the media
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could do a better job educating people
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on these challenges that would I think
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make it uh more uh then it would make it
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helpful then more helpful to telescope
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in on the specifics of the policies
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because the policies end up being
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summarized at a very high level
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unfortunately and so that causes people
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to focus a little more on style than on
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substance
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I think on tax policy so tax policy is
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going to be quite possibly issue number
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one after the uh whoever wins the
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election and I think the debate did do
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quite a good job of highlighting the
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differences between the two candidates
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uh you know on the oneand uh Mitt Romney
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has a proposal out that uh involves
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lowering tax rates and broadening the
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base and one thing that he's been
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criticized for is not specifying how is
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he going to broaden the base when we
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talk about broadening the Bas Cas that
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might involve well let's get rid of the
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mortgage interest deduction or let's not
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allow people to deduct state and local
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income taxes from their taxes and so
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forth there's a lot of specifics as soon
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as you talk about those specific
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deductions immediately people say well
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wait wait a sec I'm not I'm not so sure
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and so I think one thing that Mitt
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Romney has been criticized for is even
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people like to hear lower rates but
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that's going to have to come along with
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something else if we're not going to
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have revenues plummet and so last night
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he he did sketch out in a
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in in somewhat more clearly what he has
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in mind on that front with respect to
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the president I think the you know the
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president sort of talked about the
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policies that he has been pursuing and
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that he uh continues to uh push for
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going forward so as an as one example I
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think that a big difference exists in
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terms of how are you going to tax very
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high inome people uh and it is I think
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there's they had a vigorous debate about
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that the the Obama uh Team uh the Obama
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Administration would uh basically push
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to return the tax rates to where they
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were let's say in the 1990s uh and the
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Romney uh uh plan would call for
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lowering them below where they currently
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are and that is that's a really big
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difference and that is going to have a
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big effect on the economy on budget
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deficits and other things too I think it
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was I think it was somewhat helpful but
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I think if you really want to understand
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what the different plans would mean for
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you and your family or for your company
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or for just the country I think one the
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debate wouldn't give you enough
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information unfortunately and I I don't
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fault the moderator or the candidates
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it's just it is somewhat complicated but
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I think it people who tuned into that
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debate and listened closely should
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emerge with a somewhat better better
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understanding of of the two plans so I I
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I think that I think the debate 90
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minutes there's a lot to cover I think
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that that we learned quite a lot I think
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they did a good job of explaining
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why it's
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not great for the country to be running
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such a large budget deficits because
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essentially at some level we're leaving
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this burden to Future generations to our
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kids uh to basically pay for these these
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deficits that we are running up so I
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think they both did a very good job of
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sort of arguing why we shouldn't keep
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doing that uh and why in it's not in the
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country's best economic interests uh
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with respect to and we heard a lot about
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tax policy if you're going to lower the
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budget deficit I I think I I agree with
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the candidates that if you grow the
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economy more quickly that's going to
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help to reduce it but we're also going
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to have to make some difficult choices
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with respect to government spending and
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the Big Ticket items in government
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spending Social Security Medicare
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defense and so forth we didn't hear much
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about how exactly they would slow the
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spending on those programs and right now
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the the budget deficit in the US is
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quite large it's basically you know over
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a trillion dollars so in terms of per us
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resident that's more than uh
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$3,000 per us resident that's a lot
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that's a lot to be to be uh for us as a
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country to be borrowing each year and so
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how we're going to bring that down is is
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going to be driven to a large extent by
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what we do on spending and the
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candidates were pretty vague there
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