The question I have is on Health Care...In my opinion you can do all kinds of reforms and make health care more accessible to everyone with those reforms, but it really does not address the actual cost of health care, I want to know why we are not making reforms on the actual cost of heath care - Like what Hospitals charge per day to stay in a Hospital, or the fact they charge you for even a box of Kleenex, and Cost of procedure's, what the Pharmaceutical companies are charge for Prescriptions. We need to look at what Dental Companies are charging for procedures as well, You cannot have good health if your teeth are not healthy as well. Even though I have health coverage (I dont have Dental or Vision the company cannot afford to offer it), They are a small business and next year they may not be able to afford to keep it. Why are we not looking at this as well as the rest. Iam really tired of hearing what the American people have to pay for with Tax Dollars, but not hearing how the Government's are going to get the Health/Pharmaceutical providers to Control their Cost's. All should have to equally reduce/pay. Thank You

Governor Romney: You’ve said that you have used every legal method to reduce your tax liability. You’ve also said that as president you would close tax loopholes in order to help finance a major across-the-board tax cut. What specific tax loopholes have you used that you would close? A followup: Would you close the loophole that allows private-equity managers to treat their income as capital gains, subject to a 15 percent tax, even when they risk no capital of their own?

President Obama: You have spoken eloquently of the need to reduce the influence of big money in politics. What specific measures will you advance if you are reelected to accomplish this goal?

Governor Romney: You have promised to repeal the Dodd-Frank bill if you’re elected. Yet our largest Wall Street banks are significantly larger than they were before the near meltdown of 2008. How would you prevent another bank from being too big to fail?

President Obama: The Dallas Federal Reserve Board, one of the most conservative in the nation, has called for a limit to the size of Wall Street banks. Sanford Weill, the creator of Citigroup – one of the largest Wall Street banks – says Wall Street banks should be broken up. If you are reelected, will you support capping the size of Wall Street banks?

President Obama: Last December, in a speech you gave in Osawatomie, Kansas, you noted that in the last few decades the average income of the top 1 percent has gone up by more than 250 percent, to $1.2 million per year. For the top one hundredth of 1 percent, the average income is now $27 million per year. And yet, over the last decade the incomes of most Americans have actually fallen by 6 percent. If you’re reelected president, what do you propose to do about this trend?

Governor Romney: Your mathematics has been attacked by those who say it’s impossible to provide the tax cut you propose; expand the military, as you want to do; preserve Medicare and Social Security, as you promise to do; and at the same time balance the federal budget, as you say you’ll do. Can you take us through the math, please, with specific numbers?

President Obama: You have called for equal marriage rights for gay Americans. If you’re reelected, will you support repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act?

Governor Romney: You support states’ rights, and don’t support wealth redistribution. Yet as you know, the citizens of most so-called “blue” states – notably California, New York, and Massachusetts – send more federal tax revenue to Washington than they receive back from Washington, while most of the citizens of “red” states send less tax revenue to Washington than their citizens receive back. Would you, as president, seek to end this subsidy of red states by blue states?

President Obama: In the 2008 campaign you and your opponent, Senator McCain, both supported some version of a “cap and trade” system for limiting emissions of carbon into the atmosphere. During the last four years, evidence has mounted that climate change may be doing irreversible damage to the planet. If you are reelected, will you push for a “cap and trade” system, or a carbon tax, or both?

Governor Romney: America has had some very wealthy men elected president. Your wealth is estimated to be more than a quarter of a billion dollars. The wealthy men elected president – a Republican, Teddy Roosevelt; Franklin D. Roosevelt; and John F. Kennedy – all fought for equal opportunity, reduced the power of large corporations and Wall Street, and gave average working Americans more economic security. Do you share these objectives, and, if you’re elected president, what will you do to achieve them? Please be specific.

President Obama: TARP authorized not only a bailout of Wall Street banks but help to distressed homeowners. You chose not to condition the bailout of Wall Street on the banks reducing the amount people owed on their mortgages. In hindsight, do you think that was a mistake? A follow up question, if I may: It is estimated that one in five American families is still underwater – owing more on their home mortgages than their homes are worth. So far your efforts to help them have fallen far short of the goals you set. If you are reelected, what specific measures will you initiate do more for these families?

Governor Romney: You have campaigned as a “businessman” who has the managerial experience to turn the economy around. Yet some say you’ve run one of the worst campaigns in recent memory – filled with gaffes, misstatements, poor timing, Clint Eastwood, and much else. Conservative columnist Peggy Noonan, for example, calls your campaign a “calamity.” Should Americans be concerned about your management abilities?

President Obama: You faced a particularly truculent Republican congress. But some say you didn’t fight Republicans hard enough during your first term, that you often began negotiations with compromises, and you didn’t use the full powers of your office to get more of what you wanted. Do you think there’s any validity to this criticism and, if so, what will you do differently in your second term?

All my previous questions come from this man's blog:
Robert Reich's blog of 10/02/2012

I am a middle class worker making approximately $115,000 annually. My husband has been unemployed for nearly four years and attends college full-time. He will be a certified teacher at the end of the year, but has no guarantee of a job. Our daughter also attends college full-time. We have paid for these educations with zero assistance. Many tax cuts are expiring at the end of this year. If they do expire, I have calculated that our taxes will increase by nearly $5,000 per year. You both say that you want to help the middle class. How do you plan to handle this tax situation which is going to place a significant burden on my family?

There has been a lot of spin in this years election. Would you as a candidate be willing to take a pledge that from this debate on that if what you or your campaign says is found by 2 different fact checking organizations (non-partisan) to be mostly or totally inaccurate that you will publicly admit that what you said was false, your campaign would also need to release a statement to the same fact without spin. Would you be willing to be honest with the people of the United States?

My question is for the President. What is the exact amount we give China in foreign aid? Is this amount applied to the repayment of debt we owe them? Why are we giving them aid and what is it used for?

Mitt Romney Why do think it's OK as President to have your money in the Cayman Island? Is it to avoid paying US taxes on the money.

President Obama What will you do to stop the billionaire and multi millions from paying tax rate of 14:% or less . I as middle class is paying 15& on 45,000.

Governor Romney: As often as you change positions on political issues, seemingly to gain the favor of your current target audience, how can voters know who you will be if elected?

President Obama: My fiancee is a student covered by her parents' health insurance plan. She works as an unpaid intern and her parents are struggling financially. She recently had an emergency surgery and ended up several thousand in debt as her share of the payment after coverage. Sure, several thousand is less than a hundred thousand, but to someone with no or low income, it is just as unattainable. How is this considered affordable healthcare and what will you do to help those in a similar scenario?

What can the President do to reduce the homicide rate in urban America?

My question is for both parties. With student loan debt passing credit card debt in amount if debt in the country, what do you plan if your elected, to help so many people struggling with student loan debt. Im not asking about future holders of student loan debt, im asking about current holders of debt that hold a majority of private student loan debt that cannot be held to ibr standards. Alot of people cannot afford to invest in the economy, because if this debt. What will you do to help us?

Question Mr. Romney: we want to see all the tax returns you showed McCain asap. Please provide.

President Obama: Do you acknowledge that Congress is democratically elected every two years, reflects the current will of the people, and through separation of powers has authority over spending and law making. In your leadership role, how do you rate your performance engaging, working with, and finding compromises with Congress? If you are re-elected, what will you do to improve your damaged relationship with this branch of our government?

Governor Romney: You expressed concerns about an appointed panel of experts examining the value of some medical procedures. Can we assume that you prefer a clerical worker in Mumbai employed by an insurance company making these decisions via telephone?

President Obama: Are you willing to examine the concept of tax rate reductions tied to specific domestic investment instead of Carte blanche tax rates i.e 15% capital gains. The no strings attached tax cuts have been a disaster for our economy. Taxes have traditionally been used as incentives for desired behavior. Our current economy demands a revival of that mindset.

President Obama: We need immigration reform. What policies will you propose for the Congress to take action on?
Follow up: If we have all eligible people participating in the tax system; that would provide an immediate boost to our economic recovery. With that said; which tax codes would you propose to adjust
immediately?

Gov Romney, How would your private beliefs influence your public policy, and in particular how would your well-documented, deeply held private beliefs about the 47% of US citizens that you despise influence your decisions as President?

President Obama why havent you used the policies you tout now the first four years you were in office. You had total control the first two years to make it happen without Congess holding you back. Now with the economy the way it is and so many people out of work, do you think you "dropped the ball" on the American people.

For both candidates: The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution explains why we have a government. It is very brief, and it includes the following: "We the People, in order to...Promote the General Welfare..." Noting that "promote" is an active verb (we aren't supposed to read it and forget about it), what does the clause "Promote the General Welfare" mean to you?

Gov Romney
In your first debate you quote the Constitution and said you would defend my right to pursue happiness. If happiness to me includes terminating a pregnancy, how are you going to protect my constitutional right to an abortion?

Why are the other parties not included in the presidential debates? I feel by having the other candidates voice their feelings and concerns, we could bring up issues that were not addressed during the first debate.

Question for Mitt Romney: Are you better off financially than you were four years ago?

1. Mr. Romney, please, using history, facts and data, how long should recovery take, and what do the employment, family income, and government deficit & debt figures look like, for a recession that follows upon two wars funded with tax cuts and is then complicated by an unprecedented mortgage-debt financial crisis?

2. Mr. Romney, please, taking into account an honest, cogent and comprehensive analysis of the recession, and the complication of the mortgage-debt financial crisis, what would you have done differently had you been president that would have guaranteed different and better results?

Why is it if we are on the verge of economic disaster that we still hand out billions of dollars in foreign aid still?

Extreme polarization has placed our Congress in perpetual partisan deadlock and rendered our government dysfunctional. Elected Officials are sworn to be loyal to their country, but mostly they put Party before Country. Do you have any plans or policies to ease this standoff?

There have been recent protests over the taking of American citizens property to benefit corporations, including foreign corporations. What are your views on this issue and what would your administration do for the landowners affected by such government action?

Mr. Romney, please clarify if you plan to eliminate the home mortgage interest deduction?

Mr. Romney, please clarify if you plan to eliminate the home mortgage interest deduction?

Mr Romney, please clarify your loopholes and deductions. What income bracket does this affect? Realestate and the cost of living is much higher on the coastlines then midwestern states, and a 100,000 dollar salary in California is much different than a 100,000 dollar salary in Indiana. How do you plan to make deductions to these people without hurting the middle class. Please define what salary you feel is middle class keeping in mind that the cost of living is so extreme across the united states

Las Vegas Grandma
Mr. President, please explain what your administration has to do with some homeowners who are underwater with their mortgage now having the ability to refinance the balance owed on their homes.

Mr. President,
The government historically does not manage any business operation effectively...ie the Post Office. Whats makes you believe the that the government will have any better success managing the the most critical business operation of our society, Health Care?

To both Men: When and how are you going to end our ongoing foreign wars?

To both: Is a choice of just two any choice at all? Do you support including qualified small party and independent candidates such as Rocky Anderson, Virgil Goode, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein participating in the remainder of these debates?

The average interest rate on the Federal debt was 4 percentage points higher in 2000 than now. Regardless of who is elected, take away these artificially low interest rates and just interest on the Federal debt will eventually go up by $500 billion per year. That will blow a much bigger hole in the budget than we now have no matter who is President. Isn't this really a $5 trillion issue (over ten years) the candidates ought to be talking about?

A related question is that while the big-spending Federal government has been the primary beneficiary of these artificially low rates, the elderly have been the one class of people seriously hurt - now earning almost nothing on safe investments from a lifetime of savings. How ethical is that?

Mr. President: Do you believe that the quasi-socialistic democracies of Europe--with their chronic high unemployment, low productivity, and social safety networks collapsing under the weight of an entitlement system that is mathematically, economically and demographically unsustainable, and even unravelling as witnessed in countries throughout the region as we speak--is a viable model for the new and 'transformed' USA you envision? If so why?

Governor Romney: You and the GOP like to offer that the USA is still the "land of opportunity" as your personal success certainly demonstrates. Yet, when based on statistics measuring economic and social mobility, it has been well-argued--even by the conservative Wall Street Journal--that many other developed nations, including Canada, Singapore, and several European nations I allude to above actually present more social mobility and opportunity for climbing the "ladder of success" as we have traditionally defined it than does this nation at present. Do you agree with this assessment? And if so why do you think that is, and what would you do to address this heretofore unseen economic/social "caste system" in the USA?

Mr. Romney: Why did it take 1.5 BILLION dollars in federal earmarks to put on the 2002 winter olypmics under your direction (10 times the cost of the previous winter olympics) plus a remainder of $69 Million left over for Utah taxpayers to pay? And why were so many prime parcels of land, along with brand new access highways to them, given (or swapped for lesser or worthless parcels) to prominent developers? (Source: Dec. 2001 Sports Illustrated article titled "Snow Job") And why, after promising "complete transparency," did you have a staff member destroy the Olympic management records immediately after those Olympics closed? (Source: Boston Globe, July 24, 2012)

Mr. Romney, you has stated that you want to appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe vs Wade, and eliminate abortion in this country. Why are you putting yourself between women and their important healthcare choices?

And, in a related topic, Mr. Romney, why does your healthcare plan not provide coverage for pre-existing health conditions? You said it did in the debate that the plan provided such coverage, but you later admitted that was false.

Mr. Romney:
The American Journal of Medicine reported that in 2007 [before the economic collapse], illness and medical bills accounted for 62% of all bankruptcies.
"Most of the debtors are middle aged, middle class and have a college level education..."

In fact, many of the pople I've dealt with in volunteer capacities had the following life story:

Worked hard.
Got a decent job.
Supported family.
Paid taxes.
Got sick.
Lost job.
Lost health insurance.
Went bankrupt due to health bills.
Lost home (rental or owned).
Wound up at soup kitchen/in substandard housing/homeless.

Whatever class they were in prior to bankruptcy, these are not people who wanted and planned to go through life on a free dole. Most of these souls would give anything to be healthy again; to be able to work and to pay for life's simplest needs.

Why do you not understand that living in poverty is not an enviable condition, and people don't aim for it?
Why do you believe that these poor do not deserve medical insurance that would guarantee their care? Do you understand that sending them to the nearest emergency center costs more than prevention of the illness would have cost?
Do you understand that the rest of us wind up paying for this emergency care anyway, because the rest of us have to subsidize the emergency center?

Mr. Romney:
You say you want to produce jobs and you also say you want to make government smaller.
1: How would this work, given that government IS jobs (teachers, firemen, police, custodians, as well as administrators et al.)
2. Do you believe in sufficient government oversight and regulation to protect our lives, health, and safety in such areas as environmental pollution and food and drug safety?

Mr. Romney:
According to ProPublica, The Boston Globe, and Rolling Stone, the methods and successes of Bain & Company and Bain Capital led to checkered outcomes. In a nutshell, many solvent companies were pushed into debt, the debt was manipulated for gains to Bain--by bailouts from banks and/or the U.S. Government-- and the companies were often left to go bankrupt at the end of Bain's association with them.
Question 1: Do you think this kind of "business experience" is ideal preparation for running the U.S. Government...And who is going to supply the bailouts?
Question 2: Why do you consider government bailouts to companies such as Bain or handouts to friends of the U.S. Olympic Committee to be "good," but consider government food and welfare subsidies to hungry and unemployed people to be "bad?"

Mr. Romney:
Why do you say that lowering taxes will produce jobs, when that policy has never worked? Have your read David Stockman's book? (David Stockman was Ronald Reagan's Director of the Office of Management and Budget.) In his book, "The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Redvolution Failed," Mr. Stockman explains why and how it failed and says that when he explained to Mr. Reagan what damage the policy was causing, Mr. Reagan understood, agreed, and reversed some of the policies. What would you do instead of repeating a failed policy?

MaryH, perhaps you are unaware of Margaret Thatcher's quote, "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." Much of Europe is finding that out today, with rioting in Greece. You talk about public employee jobs. Haven't you been following what is happening to cities in California because of those jobs. Because of Democrats in the Senate, the USA has not even produced a Federal budget in over 3 years. As a family, if you were borrowing 40 cents of every dollar spent that would be unacceptable - why is it acceptable from your government?

Canada is in far better financial shape than the USA. They shrank Federal spending from 24% of GDP in 1985, to 22% in 1995 and 14% now. The USA is at 24%. On November 6 we get to choose to continue on a path toward Greece, which will destroy the standard of living for our children (as if we do not already see it in the 50% of college grads that are jobless or underemployed) or a path toward Canada.

My question to President Obama is: Since the actual goal, as stated in the law, is for a 10-yr period to make sure there are "no increases in the total amount of net Medicare program expenditures" how can that be accomplished without rationing care for the elderly since there are millions each year being added to the Medicare program.

Revised question from Jayne Frank:
My question to President Obama is: Since the actual goal for the 12-person Board in Obamacare is for a 10-year period "to make sure there are no increases in the total amount of net Medicare program expenditures" how can that be accomplished without rationing care for the elderly since there are millions of people each year being added to the Medicare program?

What is fascinating about this entire political process is that both sides know that the USA is heading for a fiscal catastrophe through unfunded mandates that will eventually become overwhelming...and then of course all the entitlements three generartions have come to expect--social security, medicare, college loans, etc.--will cease to function and eventually collapse upon themselves in as mathematical a certainty to anyone with a pocket calculator as was the Titanic's doom after striking the berg. It was just a matter of time. Some may have argued that the ship had an hour, others maybe four, even a few of the deluded thought the ship could right itself based on the "indominable spirit, can-do attitude and perserverance of the White Star Line people." But in the end, even in Washington la-la-land, 2+2=5 can only be carried for so long before mathematics makes its true verdict known again. The democrats know this. The republicans know this. But because of the insidiousness of the pervasive entitlement mentality that now permeates the citizenry, from elders who demand their grandkids cover their retirement and healthcare, to kids who believe that their entry into adulthood should be postponed until they are 27 (which earlier societies considered nearing middle age) neither party dare even talk about it, let alone propose concrete solutions...because they know that that is political suicide. So, I guess we'll have to let mathematics do its thing. And it will.

I think it is hopeless regardless of who wins to be honest. The electorate will never agree (through the ballot box) to the draconian cuts needed to right the ship. The Greeks, Spanish, etc. we are no different than they if we shed the American idea. When we surrender the self-reliance proposition and embrace nanny statism, this is what happens when entitlement results. No one party or change of leadership can affect the change that a citizenry has no stomach for. Just keep the checks coming as long as they clear. Future shmuture. A graph of the growth of government rises steadily from the lower left in 1960 to the upper right today no matter who has sat in the White House. It will continue to do so until outside forces (mathematics) finally cause the checks to bounce. We are quite simply the brokest nation in history by far. It cannot continue forever. The great moral sin of both parties is to equate the level of caring and compassion of a nation with the size of its entitlement apparatus, regardless of the cost in terms of dollars wasted and, even more morally repugnant, human capital destroyed through advancing dependancy. I feel for my children who will be left at the table after we've all conveniently slipped away with full bellies when the mega-trillion dollar check arrives. Mark Steyn said it best: "There is nothing caring and compassionate about spending money yet to be earned by generations yet to be born to bribe the present generation for votes."

Question to the Presidential Candidates: what is your vision of a peaceful existence on this one and only planet supporting human life and what is your plan to ensure and promote the wisest use of limited global resources - given demand on those traditional, dying resources?