the president responded today. last night governor romney ruled out raising a dime of taxes on anybody ever no matter how much money they make, he ruled out closing the loophole that gives oil companies $4 billion in corporate welfare. and when he was asked what he d actually do to cut the deficit, and reduce spending, he said he d eliminate funding for public television. we didn t know that big bird was driving the federal deficit. but that s what we heard last night. the fact is governor romney s math just doesn t add up. the math doesn t add up? umm. maybe mr. romney needs a little sesame street. joining me now is david corn, washington bureau chief for mother jones, and an msnbc political analyst, and michelle cottle, washington correspondent
big bird holding a sign will work for food. and big bird on an old time unemployment line. here he is as part of the 47%. and the count assuring big bird romney s math doesn t add up. and the sesame street gang warning romney you diss big bird, you diss all of us. sure it s childish and funny, but it s serious, too. his big plan to cut the deficit is it fire big bird? what did big bird ever do to you? tax cuts for big oil? no problem. trillions for defense, go right ahead. but big bird has to go is this get the bird who teaches our kids out of here?
cap on deductions, but i m not sure it s really a solution to the problem he has. in other words, it s not clear to me that this cap on deductions solves the problem with his tax plan which is that it has to be revenue neutral, allow a lowering and allow a lowering of the rates, the math doesn t add up. the romney campaign says the analysis that claims this is flawed and done by left wingers but that s actually kind of a silly response. what i think he s doing now is offering little bits of specificity to create a sense that the plan is all worked out, it s solid, we ve run the numbers, and he s concealing this big problem with it, which is that he either will have to raise taxes on the middle class or increase the deficit. i don t think that this exemption piece he s spelling out solves that problem but it creates an appearance of specificity and you might see them do that in other ways because they are on the defensive. i thought it was striking that paul ryan was asked by a voter
where children are just not eating lunch at school? i mean, the math doesn t add up. romney talks about shuttling these safety net programs off to the states which sounds well and good. what he doesn t tell you is he s going to chop them by a third to a half. all of a sudden the states are going to have no money. either the states will have to raise taxes or they ll have to dramatically slice services to the very neediest at the same time the romney/ryan budget gives a trillion dollars in tax cuts to the very richest. it s insanity. it s ideology run amok and a dangerous prescription for the country. what s interesting about it, we see the secret videotape recording of mr. romney which he wants to run a mile away from where he says people feel entitled to things like food and a roof over their head and clothing, and then when you look at their actual budget proposals, they re not a million miles away from what he actually said in that secret recording. right. no, and a group of pri
what is this going to do to the family budget? well, i mean, we do live pretty frugal the way it is. we cook at home of the i do do a lot of couponing. we re still trying to make ends meet, but ultimately, it s going to come down to paying the mortgage and buying food and if this continues, the math doesn t add up. we ll have to choose what can get paid for. gretchen: i want to look at the city of scranton and the cash strapped situation. the city has $133,000 in cash, but the city owes $3.4 million in vendor bills. bob, i guess this is what started the situation, where the mayor had then gone to city council and asked them to approve a 78% tax increase over three years for members of this community and the city council, most of them also democrat, the mayor democrat, said no. is that correct?