Outpouring of Support

We are receiving an outpouring ot support for Herman Cain through this site. Although not really designed for that, we want to give each of you, his faithful supporters, a direct email where you can share with HIM your support!!!!

supportherman@hermancain.com

Thank you!!!

Two Comments Received We Are Publishing.

1:

Hello Chip


Please tell Herman not to give up. 

I do believe he is our chance to put the USA back on track.

If these women are the best someone can do, then tell them to "bring it on".  

God Bless you all and keep the faith, the people will follow Herman.

Kathie S

2:

Hi Chip,

Its incredibally obvious that Herman is the only one being attacked.  Sad that virtually no one recognizes this and that it means he is the only worthwhile one.  All sports fans know that you put all your defense on the opposing team's best player (even sometimes "take them out").

I believe that we (the world) have reached the (mathematical) limit as to how much we can expand in one directions while cutting back in the other.  IE, there is no "magic solution".  I think Herman know this also.  Once the Titanic struck the iceberg, we didn't see people fighting to take over Capt. Smith's position.

If our guy quits, I won't blame him, but heaven help all of us.

Bill S.

Thank you both for your insight and for your commitment. Mr. Cain will speak directlt to this today. His decision will be first right for his family and secondly for o9ur country.

9-9-9 and "the Cottage Industry"

Question:

I have a question about 9-9-9.  I currently run a small business out of my home.  I am not incorporated.  Under the current tax code I get to write off all of my expenses to run my business, milage, copies, phones, fax, and computer, business supplies, etc.  Will I get to do this under 9-9-9 if I am not incorporated.  I was told not to incorporate when I opened my business since I would be the only stock holder and any complaint filed would come after me anyway.  Also, I did not want to deal with the hassels that the Fed and State place on anyone that is incorporated.

I totally support Herman Cain, and I truly believe in my heart that he is the only candidate that can beat Ocommunist (don't you love that name!). 

Janis S. T.

Answer:

Janis, this is a tricky question, not from the perspective of 9-9-9, but from one that is legal. I am in no way expert in all the legal ins and outs of incorporation, and the particular advantages of that for you particularly, nor do I think the campaign should, or would give those answers. However, there are feature of 9-9-9 that will effect you, and positively so. First, let's look at the "first 9". the Personal Income tax of 9%. At the present time, as you indicate, you are paying tax on your income after expenses are deducted. The 9-9-9 plan does not recognize deductions of this nature. However, when you reduce the marginal rate from even the lowest amount of 15% down to 9%, that means that, were you to claim 40% of your income as deductions, you would break even. Now, I'm asking myself, and I'd bet you are asking yourself, if you deduct more than 40%. It doesn't matter yet, because as a self employed person, you are required to pay your own payroll taxes, FICA and FUICA. Those are completely abolished under 9-9-9. Betcha a steak dinner that after you stop paying that 16% of every dollar you earn, you will be saving money.

But, let's not stop there. Under the "second 9" you'd be paying 9% tax on all those supplies for your business right? That'd make costs go up, right? You'd be paying sales tax on your household goods as well, right? That'd make costs go up, right? This is the most commonly held misconception about the 9% consumption tax. In fact, hidden in the cost of every sheet of paper you buy for your business, or every sheet of paper towel you buy for your home are embedded corporate income taxes of 35% of profits, 16% payroll taxes for employees (matching) and a bevy of what Mr. Cain calls "Sneak-a-taxes." When these cost are removed, economists believe that the cost of goods will go down significantly more than 9%, actually saving you money.

Whether or not incorporation is, in toto, a good idea under 9-9-9, you will need to speak to your attorney. However, all things considered, if everything you do stays the same, I think this would indicate that you'd be paying less. Mr. Cain has said consistently throughout his campaign that small business is the engine of our economy and that his administration would reward the entrepreneurial spirit. It seems, in your case, he means what he says!!!

And thank you for taking the time to send us this question. And most of all, thank you for supporting Mr. Cain. He is our next best, and possibly our last best, hope for our free market economy.

Herman Cain and Generation X

Question from Aubrey G.: 

I am an avid Cain supporter;  member of my local Tea Party group and the proud dauighter of a Tea Party Precinct Delegate.

My question is both for personal knowledge and also to answer some questions that were asked of me.

I am the admin of Young Americans for Herman Cain Facebook Page, which was built to encourage 18-30 year olds to get involved and take a stand for what we believe in and to make our voices heard when it comes to the decisions being made in Washington. Its time to take back our Country!!

One thing that Obama did right in his campaign was he rallied for the support of the younger generation. The young Americans aged 18-29 make up nearly 18% of the total National Population. Is there a reason HC does not seem to make any special appearances to try to rally the suport of his younger supporters?

I am a part of Generation X. My Parents were Babyboomers. My biggest concerns to myself and the members of my generation right now are:

Stabilizing and turning around the economy,

Saving my money that i work hard for, because by the time i am ready to retire, there wont be a social security system to fall back on,

The safety of this country for my children.

Border Security- if i have to pay my way, so should they

Healthcare reform 

What are Herman Cains views on these issues?

Thanks,
Aubrey G.


Answer:

It's not often that I'm going to take editorial license, but this is one of them. Aubrey, I will bet
the deed to my house" that you have very proud parents. You are the future, and I want to take a moment to thank you. With citizens like you and the whole group at "Young Americans for Herman Cain" Facebook Page, I feel more confident every day that my grandchildren have a bright future in America!

First off, I want to generally answer your question by telling a personal story. I rejoined politics after a sabbatical of 10 years to join the Scott Brown campaign. A couple years before that, I had had the both joyous, and sobering moment of looking, for the first time at my first born grand daughter. I remember going home from the hospital and beginning to ask myself what kind of a world I had left for her. And I was not happy with myself. I rejoined the fray, and here I am. A bit more than a year ago, after the 2010 election cycle and working tirelessly to unseat Barney Frank (unsuccessfully, darn it), I began looking for the next hill to climb, the next battle to wage. I had the opportunity to see a man who was then the "unheard of" candidate for President, Herman Cain. During a speech, early on in New Hampshire, a little boy ran up to him. He picked the boy up and allowed him one question. Mr. Cain was asked who his favorite superhero was, and answered the young man saying that America needed a superhero for President. When he put the boy down, and still holding his hand, he turned back to the crowd and said, "You see, it's NOT about us. It's about the kids (pronounced key-ids); it's about the grandkids (key-ids)!!!" At that moment, my heart was one with with Herman Cain. It was not a prepared remark, nor rehearsed. It was spoken by a man, very different from, and exactly the same as me. Aubrey, this campaign is ALL about you, your generation and your children. Let's look at each of your concerns.

1.  Stabilizing and turning around the economy: Mr. Cain is first and foremost a problem solver, whose whole career has been involved in saving and turning around failing business, BurgerKing, Pillsbury, and Godfather's Pizza. The United States government is no more, economically, that another failed business. Mr. Cain has proposed the "9-9-9 Plan" that through simplicity, transparency and consistency will inspire business to re-invest in America, creating jobs and increasing income. It throws out the current confusing and unfair tax code and replaces it with one fair, equitable code and both affords everyone the responsibility to pay in, and gives back equal opportunity for success. No longer will government be "picking winners and losers."

2.  Saving my money I work hard for because, when I retire, there won't be Social Security to fall back on: First off, Mr. Cain has proposed, during the campaign, SAVING Social Security by proposing the Chilean Model. "I believe in the Chilean model,” Cain said in a GOP debate Sept. 7. “Chile had a broken system the way we did 30 years ago. A worker was paying 28 cents on a dollar into a broken system. They finally awakened and put in a system where the younger workers could have a choice … Give them a choice with an account with their name on it and over time we would eliminate the current broken system that we have.” Maybe you WILL have that.... Secondly, as part of 9-9-9, Mr. Cain has proposed abolishing the capital gains tax. This makes investing more lucrative and allows you to keep all of the money you make investing.

3.  The safety of this country for my children: Mr. Cain has proposed a policy he calls, "Peace through Strength and Clarity". I have linked it for you to his own page and an excellent paper on National Security.

4.  Border Security: Mr Cain does not believe "illegal immigration" is a single problem, but four seperate problems that create issues with the security of our borders. He has proposed a 4 point plan to address these: a. Secure the borders, b.  Enforce EXISTING laws c.  Simplify confusing and unfair immigration regulations and d. Create a pathway to citizenship.

5.  Healthcare Reform:  Mr. Cain's plan would abolish the cumbersome and regulation-laden Obamacare legislation. It would return to a "free market" healthcare system. "The majority of Americans agree: it’s time to repeal and replace Obamacare with patient-centered, free market reforms. It’s time to institute legitimate tort reforms that let doctors practice medicine without fear of frivolous lawsuits. Loser pay laws would be a great start! That is, require those who lose frivolous lawsuits to pay the legal expenses of those found not guilty. Additionally, loosening the restrictions on Health Savings Accounts would help to empower Americans to save and invest their own money to expand their options for health care.

Let’s level the playing field under the current tax code and allow the deductibility of health insurance premiums regardless of whether they are purchased by the employer or the employee. That would help shift ownership of one’s health care back to where it belongs, the individual. Patient-centered free market health care reforms have already been developed and introduced in Congress, but they are stuck in committee and they can’t get out. With the right leadership we can get them out and get them passed." (directly from www.hermancain.com).

I hope this has been helpful. I cannot tell you how pleased I am you came to us for your answers. Check back often!!

Question Regarding the Keystone XL Pipeline

Question from Wade B:   I'm an avid Cain supporter, but wanted to clarify something: What is Mr. Cain's position on the Keystone XL pipeline? I would assume that he is in favor, but wanted to double check. If he is, he needs to publicly express so, I feel that this would really help his campaign.

Thanks!

Answer: Mr. Cain has released no direct statements regarding Keystone. However, both his policy statements on Energy and Regulation would lead one to agree with you. Mr. Cain has consistently expressed his preference for domestically produced petroleum products and equally expressed his trepidation, both from a National Security, and a Domestic Economic perspective, about our continued reliance on foreign oil suppliers, most especially Middle Eastern companies who have expressed no great love of the United States. It is not a stretch to say that, had we to choose a foreign country to import petroleum from, Canada would be right at the top of our list. To call them a friend of America might be an understatement!!! Let me  quote directly from The Official Website: “…liberals have forced excessive environmental regulations that have stifled our domestic energy production, and instead, forced American consumers to rely far too heavily upon foreign oil. In many cases, this oil comes from Middle Eastern countries, some of whom are not friendly to the U.S., who end up dictating the prices of our energy consumption. In return, Americans have seen no improvements in our environment or in the cleanliness of our air. We must expand our domestic energy resources by loosening government’s grip responsibly.”

As, I’m sure we are both aware, Keystone was, in fact, blocked by the EPA which ruled from a strict regulatory perspective, based on Executive Orders from the White House. Let’s look further at Mr. Cain’s stated concerns about the deleterious impact of regulation on our already faltering economy: “According to the Heritage Foundation, burdensome regulations have increased at an alarming rate. In 2010 alone, Washington forced 43 major new regulations on us. The cost of complying with these additional measures is more than $26.5 billion, which according to Heritage, is “far more than any other year for which records are available.”…

We pay for regulations with every bite of food we eat, with every drop of gasoline we put in our cars and with every good or service we obtain. While we might not immediately recognize the impact of such drastic regulations, they are laced tightly in the cost of everything we buy. In fact, the Small Business Administration estimates that complying with regulation costs around $1.75 trillion annually, which is actually twice as much as all revenue from individual income taxes last year.

Alleviating the burdens of cumbersome regulation would be an immediate boost for our weakened economy. It would signal to businesses and investors that the government intends to maintain conditions that allow for them to thrive, not to bog them down with additional costs they must inevitably pass on to their consumers. No one is arguing for lead-based paint in toys for kids or unsafe food. We just want reasonable regulations that cut down on bureaucracy and help businesses succeed. And ultimately, the free market, aided in part by the watchful eyes of investors and consumers, will regulate itself.”

I hope this general answer will assist you, as we enter this Thanksgiving weekend. I am going to further refer you question, and your comments to J.D. Gordon, Friends of Herman Cain, Inc. VP of Communications. I want to be careful here and stick to my promise NOT to speak for Mr. Cain. There is an issue inside Nebraska, coming from their Governor’s Office that muddies this a tad. Please forgive the campaign if they decide to spend the holiday with family. As Mr. Cain so frequently says, “It’s not about us. It’s about the kids; it’s about the grandkids.” Thanksgiving is about the kids..about the grandkids, too!  Finally, I feel safer expressing THIS for Mr. Cain. I am absolutely sure he would thank you personally for being an “avid Cain supporter”. I’ve heard him say numerous times that his campaign is driven by folks like you. Happy Thanksgiving!

What was Herman Cain's Role in the Aquila Affair?

Questions have arisen after an article appeared in the Boston Herald today about financial and legal issues that arose in the Kansas City based utility and energy company Aquila, Inc. Here is the link to the article in question.

This was researched and written a few months ago when this first came out via Mother Jones by Cain supporter Mike Cessac.

"I've actually read the original opinion article posted at MotherJones. I took down much of the information that was claimed and researched it. Here are some of the facts I found.

Herman Cain served on the board of directors for Utilicorp United Inc. from 1992 to 2003. Aquila Energy Corp.--as PSI Inc. was later renamed--was made a subsidiary of UtiliCorp, and in addition to its marketing functions, expanded into such related, but unregulated, areas as natural gas storage and transmission. By 1990 Aquila was responsible for 21 percent of UtiliCorp's earnings.

In 1992, Congress enacted the Energy Policy Act. This legislation allowed utilities and other entities to build electric generators and to sell the power produced at unregulated prices on the wholesale market. In doing so, it unleashed a series of changes in the previously staid utility industry unmatched since its birth about a century previously. This also lead to the Emergence of Enron and other energy trading companies competing in the natural gas market for electric generation. Natural gas prices had doubled by November 2000, and then crashed by February 2001.

In December of 2000, Utilicorp announced a plan to spin off Aquila, and had sold off 20% in stock. However after the crash of the NG prices in 2001, Aquila started to collapse without the force of structure of Utilicorp. So Utilicorp announced it would buy back stock in Aquila to try and save it. Utilicorp assumed the name of Aquila Inc. after the re-merger.  This crash in the prices of natural gas along with the recession hit the entire company hard in both stock and net worth. This was during the same time Enron went down in flames.

The lawsuit against Aquila was a result of employees wanting to invest too much of their matching stock into the company, which was showing huge returns. The employee retirement fund had over 50% of it's holding in company stock, but regulations from 1933 was supposed to limit this to no more than 20%. Employees in the lawsuit claim that the company either encouraged them or didn't prevent them from investing too much directly into the company.

The board of directors had separated itself into three committees to oversee different aspects of the company early on. Herman Cain was the chairman of the compensation committee that oversaw pay and bonus' for executives and other positions. The bonuses that he approved were in line for the time when the entire company was seeing high profits in the late 90's. Bonus's are based on the previous year performance. The financial problems with Aquila didn't show up until mid 2001 during the recession.

There was a Pension and Benefits committee and a retirement committee. Herman Cain was not on either one of those. Thus Cain didn't come across the activity and paperwork to see what was going on with these committees. The lawsuit that was filed named all sorts of people at the top, even if they didn't have basic oversight at issue with the lawsuit. It even named people who came on board later after the period named in the lawsuit.  Class action lawsuits tend to ensnare anyone and everyone that might be remotely responsible in the hopes of catching something."

The MotherJones article author took a few general details and then made all sorts of claims that weren't in the lawsuit they referenced. What we do know factually, is that Herman Cain was not on the committee that oversaw pensions and benefits, nor did he have a hand in the investment of employees money. We also know that Aquila survived an era that caused the demise of other utilities, and, in fact, was purchased and merged into a larger one. We can also assume that, in an era where the improprieties that plagued Enron and ultimately caused significant legal woes for its executives, the legality of every move taken by Aquila was scrutinized legally.

In Response to "TruthOrConsequences"

Question: Hello, I've seen a lot of bloggers looking for someone to support in the primaries. They are looking at Mr Cain but are voicing concerns on how the 9-9-9 plan ia going to effect the low & mid income. Is there a income limit where the middle 9 will not effect that group? I'd like to get info out but I also want it to be factual.
Also the third 9- I know it is not applied on used goods. I'm just wondering why un-prepared food & prescription drugs couldn't also be excempt? As buying these two things takes up a larger porportion of the lower incomes money.

Answer: This is a compilation of a number of the most common questions asked about the 9-9-9 Plan. Let's start by looking at the flat 9% personal income tax provision. At face value, one might think this is more costly to low and moderate income folks. What this theory ignores is that, in the 9-9-9 legislation will be the repeal of ALL other taxes. Included in the ALL is the payroll taxes (FICA and FUICA). What we forget is that the Federal government takes these right off the top of our paychecks, and we never file a form to pay them. They are SIGNIFICANTLY more any increase folks would feel at any income level. In fact, folks would end up with money back in their paychecks.

Secondly, as regards the 9% national sales tax, let me quote directly from Herman Cain's Website: "Unlike a state sales tax, which is an add-on tax that increases the price of goods and services, this is a replacement tax. It replaces taxes that are already embedded in selling prices. By replacing higher marginal rates in the production process with lower marginal rates, marginal production costs actually decline, which will lead to prices being the same or lower, not higher." In short, by abolishing what Mr. Cain has so aptly called "the Sneak-a-Taxes" that plague business, the price of goods will be reduced MORE than the 9% folks are being taxed. This would include un-prepared food and prescription medicines (your direct concerns) as well as ALL goods.

I hope this has addressed your concerns. If it has led to further questions, feel free to ask. Thank you for coming here and asking a thoughtful question. We hope to gain your support and loyalty.