<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4">Dear Visionaries:</font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4"><br>
</font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4">I've exhausted myself keeping up with all the fact checkers and I've now decided to stop at 3,400 words. The full version is attached.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4"><br></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4">I will be publishing and recording this in at least three portions over the next three weeks. I'm starting with taxes, energy, and the deficit.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4"><br></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><font face="Georgia, serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:18.18181800842285px">For those who choose not to read it, I'll just give you the last paragraph:</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><font face="Georgia, serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:18.18181800842285px"><br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;line-height:14.545454025268555px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><font size="4">"Cynics say that all politicians lie, but I say choose the ticket with the most truth telling, and the best record for governing during the worst recession since the Great Depression."</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;line-height:14.545454025268555px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><font size="4"><br></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left">
<font face="Georgia, serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:14.545454025268555px">A McCain presidency with this House would have put in country into a Depression.</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left">
<span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;line-height:14.545454025268555px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><font size="4"><br></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;line-height:14.545454025268555px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><font size="4">The choice is clear for Nov. 6,</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;line-height:14.545454025268555px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><font size="4"><br></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left">
<span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;line-height:14.545454025268555px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><font size="4">Nick</font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><font size="4"><br></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center">
<b><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4"><br></font></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4">THE
ROMNEY/RYAN REIGN OF ERROR</font></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4"><br></font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4">By Nick
Gier</font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4"><br></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><i><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif;background-color:white"><font size="4">A lie can travel halfway
around the world <br clear="all">
while the truth is putting on its shoes.</font></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><i><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif;background-color:white"><font size="4"><br></font></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><i><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif;background-color:white"><font size="4">—Mark Twain</font></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><i><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif;background-color:white"><font size="4"><br>
</font></span></i></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:3.55pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:.5in;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4">I
have now collected 37 distortions and falsehoods from Mitt Romney and Paul
Ryan. The full version can be read at <a href="http://www.nickgier.com/RomneyRyanErrors.pdf">www.NickGier.com/RomneyRyanErrors.pdf</a>.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:3.55pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:.5in;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4"> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif;background-color:white"><font size="4">Out of 501 statements tested by PolitiFact, Obama and Biden
have a total of 145 mostly false, false, and pants on fire. That is a record of 71 percent
truth-telling. Out of 221 statements
Romney and Ryan have 97 mostly false, false, and pants on fire. They were telling the truth only 56 percent
of the time. </font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif;background-color:white"><font size="4"><br></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.25in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><font size="4"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">
</span></span><i><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif">In the first debate Romney began by declaring that Obama has given us “a
bigger government” and is “spending more, taxing more, and regulating more.”</span></i><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"> According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 416,000 fewer government
employees than when Obama took office.
The <i>Wall Street Journal</i>
reports that spending is now the lowest in decades. From 1982-85 Reagan increased spending by 8.7
percent versus Obama’s spending over four years has risen only 1.4
percent. The total taxes Americans pay
are at the lowest level since 1950s. Finally, Obama has issued fewer
regulations (1,004) than Bush II did (1,073) in his first term.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.25in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4"> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:3.55pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.25in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="4"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">
</span></span><i><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif">In the first debate Romney
denied repeatedly that his plan would produce $5 trillion in tax cuts and
pointed to six studies that proved him right.</span></i><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"> These studies,
however, do not dispute the simple arithmetic of leaving the Bush tax cuts in
place and reducing tax rates 20 percent across-the-board. The studies instead attempt to show how
Romney could pay for those cuts without increasing the deficit, and most
experts agree that authors do not succeed.</span><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:3.55pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.25in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4"> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:3.55pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.25in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="4"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">
</span></span><i><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"> In the first debate Romney charged
that Obama has doubled the deficit</span></i><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif">. At the end of Obama’s first year the deficit
was $1.4 trillion and over four years he has brought it down to $1.1
trillion. If Romney was talking about
the total national debt, he was also incorrect.
During Obama’s term the national debt has risen 52 percent not 100 percent. In stark contrast, Reagan nearly tripled (187
percent) the debt in his first three years.
See </span><a href="http://www.nickgier.com/DebtGOPObama.pdf"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif">www.NickGier.com/DebtGOPObama.pdf</span></a><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif">.</span><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:3.55pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.25in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><b><i><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4"> </font></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-top:3.55pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.25in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="4"><span style="font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">
</span></span><i><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif">In his
debate with Biden, Ryan maintained that Obama promised “unemployment would
never get to 8 percent.”</span></i><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif"> This
estimate of the employment rate was contained in a report (complete with strong
disclaimers) released by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. These economists were correct in the number
of jobs the stimulus would create, but they underestimated the number of jobs
the Great Recession would eliminate. </span><b><i><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif"></span></i></b></font></p>
<p class="e-entry-title" style="margin-left:.25in;line-height:115%;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><b><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4"> </font></span></b></p>
<p class="e-entry-title" style="margin-left:.25in;line-height:115%;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="4"><span style="font-family:Symbol">·<span style="line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif">During the primary campaign Romney declared that “more Americans
have lost their jobs under Barack Obama than any president in modern history.”</span></i><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif"> Exempting the first year of all presidents
since World War II, a proviso that is always granted, George W. Bush was the
only one who had a net loss of jobs—1.31 million. According to free-market<i> The Economist</i> Obama now (October 2012) has a net gain of 125,000
jobs after the loss of 5.2 million jobs to the Great Recession</span><b><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif">.</span></b></font></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph"><i><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4"> </font></span></i></p>
<p class="e-entry-title" style="margin-left:.25in;line-height:115%;background:white;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="4"><span style="font-family:Symbol">·<span style="line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif">In the first debate Romney maintained that
“about half” of Obama-supported green industry companies “have gone out of
business.”</span></i><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif"> Of the 26 firms
given loan guarantees only four have filed for bankruptcy. The loan support for Solyndra, the GOP’s
favorite whipping boy, was started under the Bush administration. <b></b></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left:.25in"><strong><i><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif;background-color:white"><font size="4"> </font></span></i></strong></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:.25in"><font size="4"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">
</span></span><strong><i><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif;border:1pt none windowtext;padding:0in;font-weight:normal">In
the first debate Romney charged that “all of the increase in natural gas and
oil has happened on private land, not on government land.”</span></i></strong><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"> Since Obama took office oil production
is up 13 percent on federal lands, and the 14 percent drop that Romney touts is
for 2010-2011 when BP had to shut down its wells in the Gulf of Mexico. <b><i><span style="background:white"></span></i></b></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.3pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:115%;background:white"><font size="4"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif">Cynics say that all politicians lie, but I say choose the ticket
with the most truth telling, and the best record for governing during the worst
recession since the Great Depression. </span><b><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif"></span></b></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif"><font size="4">Nick Gier taught philosophy at the University of
Idaho for 31 years. </font></span><b><i><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Georgia,serif;background-color:white;background-repeat:initial initial"></span></i></b></p>