Mood: caffeinated
Topic: "Lois, I Never Lie"(8)
"Good Evening, my name is Connie Crawdaddy and I am your moderator for this, the Second 2012 Presidential Debate. Our format for this evening is as a 'Town Hall', in which members of our studio audience who identify themselves as Independents have been selected, at random, to address questions to our candidates. With that, let us begin with our first question. Sir, would you stand and identify yourself?"
"I am standing."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I just couldn't see you."
"No problems. My name is Frodo, and I am, after all, merely a Hobbit, and my home is the Shire."
"Go ahead please, Mr. Frodo."
"My question is for Mr. Romney. Sir, the phrase 'since the Great Depression' has probably been used during this campaign more than any other phrase or sentence. As we know, the Great Depression actually started on the 29th day of October 1929, almost exactly 83 years ago. The incumbent President, Mr. Hoover, did not return to office in the election of 1932, and his successor, Mr. Roosevelt, oversaw an aggressive program of governmental infrastructure development to create jobs and stimulate the economy. Progress was slow, but steady. Eventually, the Republican opposition regained enough influence to reduce spending and increase tax revenue. In fact Mr. Romney, their arguments at the time sound almost exactly like your '5 Point Plan for the Economy'. Unfortunately, this direction then produced a 'double dip' in the recessionary cycle, and the 'Great Depression' continued until the very beginnings of World War II, in 1941. It was the need for expanded wartime manufacturing which actually answered the need for manpower and got capital flowing again. My question, and I apologize for the time spent getting to it, but what would you do, hypothetically, should you win this election, if after adopting your course of action the nation slipped into a 'double dip' situation such as was experienced in the mid-1930's?"
"Well, Mr. Fredo is it?"
"Frodo."
"Yes Mr. Frodo, I'm confident that nothing like that would occur under my plan. A number of Economists. . ."
"Mr. Romney, the point need be made that the only experience we have from a historical point of view is that what you propose did produce a return to recession. How can you argue with history?"
"As I was saying, panels of Economists have assured me that cutting taxes to the 'Job creators' will get our economy to a level where we can produce 12,000,000 new jobs. . .?
"Mr. Romney, please return to my question. What would you do if all your advisers were wrong, and history repeated itself?"
"Well, my Administration would be flexible. . ."
"Enough to increase taxation on the wealthy, and expand government services and projects to put people to work, like Mr. Roosevelt, and Mr. Obama, did?"
"Connie, I recognize there are a lot of people here who would like to ask questions. Can we move on? I think Mr Playdough has gotten an adequate response.
"That's Frodo."
"Yes, well thank you for your questrion, and as I was saying about Libya. . ."