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This article compares the presidential candidates in the United States' 2012 presidential election:

Tax policy
Analyzing tax policy requires understanding revenue and deficit changes relative to a baseline. The "current policy" baseline from the Congressional Budget Office assumes the Bush tax cuts are extended indefinitely and the Alternate Minimum Tax (AMT) is not allowed to impact more taxpayers. Combined with a series of assumptions about spending, the current policy baseline is projected to add approximately $10 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. The deficit impact of alternate tax policies is generally discussed versus this current policy baseline, although various assumptions are sometimes made by those analyzing candidate proposals. Neither Romney nor Obama is proposing reducing the national debt, only the rate at which the debt increases (the annual deficit).

For example, CBO reported that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire on schedule at the end of 2012 would avoid $3.2 trillion of the $10 trillion projected increase, resulting in a net $6.8 trillion increase over the next decade. The U.S. is also facing a series of other tax cut expirations and spending cuts called the "fiscal cliff" that would eliminate most of the projected debt increase over the next decade, if current laws are allowed to take effect.

Corporate after-tax profits were at record levels during 2012. U.S. corporations paid 1.2% GDP in income taxes in 2011, versus the 2.0% GDP average for 1972-2011 and versus 2.7% in 2007 pre-crisis.

Financial crisis and bailout
The Subprime mortgage crisis started in 2007 and resulted in the collapse or bailout of the largest U.S. investment banks in 2008. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission blamed a culture of lax regulation and inappropriate risk taking for the crisis, among many other causes. As a result of the crisis, the Dodd-Frank Act was passed in July 2010 to provide additional regulation to the banking sector. The law is complex and implementation will require several years. Its stated goals include ending "too big to fail" and ensuring that major financial organizations have a "living will" or structured method of winding-down operations in a bankruptcy. Research indicates recovery from financial crises can be protracted, with lengthy periods of high unemployment and substandard economic growth.

Trade
The United States had a trade deficit (i.e. the cost of imports exceeded the price of exports) of $560 billion for 2011, with a goods deficit of $738 billion partially offset by a services surplus of $178 billion. Projecting the June 2012 year-to-date trade deficit of $292 billion for the full year yields a figure of $584 billion for 2012.

The US trade deficit with China was $295 billion in 2011 and increasing in 2012. The Chinese currency (Yuan or Renminbi) is "pegged" by the Chinese government relative to the dollar, as opposed to being allowed to "float" freely. It has appreciated/strengthened approximately 22% relative to the dollar since late 2005. A stronger Chinese currency in theory would reduce the US trade deficit with China by making Chinese goods more expensive in dollar terms, but the trade deficit has risen.

A trade deficit requires borrowing (capital inflow) to finance it; this is referred to as the "balance of payments identity." Further, a trade deficit is a reduction to GDP by definition. Advocates of free trade argue that it can create more jobs globally and lower prices for goods, while critics argue it can create higher unemployment and wage stagnation in the US and contributed to the housing bubble as the inflow of capital was diverted to housing. Between 2000 and the present, the U.S. manufacturing employment declined from 17 million to 12 million. The Economic Policy Institute estimated that the trade deficit with China cost the US approximately 2.7 million jobs between 2001 and 2011.

Budget deficit
The CBO has reported that the federal government is facing a series of important financing challenges. In the short-run, tax revenues have declined significantly due to a severe recession and tax policy choices, while expenditures have expanded for wars, unemployment insurance and other safety net spending. In the long-run, expenditures related to healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid are projected to grow faster than the economy overall as the population matures.

During FY 2012, CBO's preliminary estimates indicate the federal government collected approximately $2.45 trillion in tax revenue or 15.7% GDP, up $148B since 2011, with tax receipts rising across all major categories. Tax revenues remained below 2008 levels of $2.5 trillion.

During FY 2012, CBO's preliminary estimates indicate the federal government spent $3.54 trillion or 22.6% GDP, down $60 billion since 2011, with spending falling across all major categories except Social Security and Medicare. Spending has increased 4.4% annually on average since 2008 (most of the increase was 2008 to 2009 and relatively flat since) versus 6.6% annually under President Bush and 3.5% annually under President Clinton.

From 2000 to 2011, defense spending grew an average of 8.2% per year while non-defense discretionary spending grew by 6.6% per year.

Jobs and economy
The U.S. economy was severely impacted by the subprime mortgage crisis. The U.S. unemployment rate rose steadily from 5% in January 2008 to a peak of 10% in October 2009. It has since fallen to 7.8% in September 2012. The number unemployed rose from 7.6 million in January 2008 to a peak of 15.4 million in October 2009. It has since fallen to 12.1 million in September 2012.

The U.S. economy created between 18-21 million jobs in each of the three decades from 1970-2000, an average of approximately 165,500/month during that span. From January 2000 to January 2008 (the pre-recession peak), job creation averaged 77,000 jobs/month. Excluding the early 2000's recession, from January 2003-January 2008 the U.S. created 128,000 jobs/month. During the Great Recession, 8.5 million jobs were lost from the peak in early 2008 to the trough in February 2010. Since then, approximately 4.3 million jobs have been added. During 2011 and 2012, job creation averaged 153,000 and 146,000 jobs/month respectively. Approximately 90,000 net new jobs per month are required to keep up with population growth.

Real GDP (measured in "2005 chained dollars" to adjust for inflation) peaked at $13.3 trillion in Q1 2008 and fell to a trough of $12.7 trillion by Q2 2009 before rising to $13.5 trillion by Q2 2012. Research indicates recovery from financial crises can be protracted, with lengthy periods of high unemployment and substandard economic growth. The International Monetary Fund is predicting U.S. nominal GDP growth will average 3% over the 2013-2016 period. Both households and the financial sector have significantly reduced their debt burdens, but several more years of similar improvements will be required to return to historical norms.

Social Security
The Social Security Administration projects that an annual increase in payroll taxes equivalent to 1.8% of the payroll tax base or 0.6% of GDP would be necessary to put the Social Security program in fiscal balance for the next 75 years. Over an infinite time horizon, these annual shortfalls average 3.3% of the payroll tax base and 1.2% of GDP.

Because of the mandatory nature of the program and large accumulated surplus in the Social Security Trust Fund, the Social Security system has the legal authority to compel the government to borrow to pay all promised benefits through 2036, when the Trust Fund is expected to be exhausted. Thereafter, the program under current law will pay approximately 75%-78% of promised benefits for the remainder of the century.

The CBO identified a series of policy options and quantified their impact on closing the projected gap between program revenues and expenses.

North Korea
North Korea's two nuclear tests since 2006, rising hostilities with South Korea, and questions over Pyongyang's leadership transition all feed U.S. concerns over North Korea.

In January 2011, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates said North Korea was within five years of being able to strike the United States with an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Health care
CBO estimated in March 2011 that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the controversial healthcare legislation passed in 2010 also known as "Obamacare," is expected to reduce the deficit $210 billion total between 2012-2021, with revenues of $813 billion partially offset by outlays of $604 billion. CBO updated its estimate in July 2012, indicating a repeal of PPACA would add $109 billion to the deficit between 2013-2022.

CBO estimates that PPACA includes reductions in Medicare of over $700 billion during the 2013-2022 period, mainly through slightly reducing the trajectory of spending increases expected prior to PPACA. Individual beneficiaries are not directly impacted; most of the cost savings comes from reducing future payments to hospitals and other service providers relative to previous baseline estimates. In other words, PPACA "bends the curve" on Medicare costs down somewhat. Further, since PPACA reduces Medicare payouts, the position of the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund is significantly improved. PPACA extended the life of the Medicare HI Trust Fund by 8 years and reduced the 75-year annual shortfall from 3.88% of the U.S. payroll tax base to 1.35%.