The Golden Report

BREAKING: Longtime “60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney, who just recorded his final essay for the CBS newsmagazine a few weeks ago, is hospitalized in stable condition tonight after what the Washington Post reports were “serious complications” following minor surgery

WE CAN’T WAIT: President Obama continued his administration’s “We Can’t Wait” initiative today, announcing executive branch actions directed towards helping veterans and students. The Department of Education’s student loan restructuring program will accelerate reforms of the student lending system that were scheduled to go into effect in 2014 with two key elements: capping loan payments at 10% of income and forgiving remaining debt after 20 payments. For veterans, the Administration through the Health and Human Services department announced that they are challenging the 8,000 community health centers scheduled to open as a result of the Affordable Care Act to hire at least one veteran each and providing additional training to transition veterans to careers as physician assistants.

A FLAT TAX: In South Carolina today, Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry announced his much-anticipated tax plan- which Perry calls a flat tax. Two big elements: the plan allows for anyone who chooses to remain within the existing system (the campaign will therefore say that it is not a burden because anyone can “keep their existing tax bracket”) and the Perry proposal would place a 20% cap on individual income taxes.

In an Op/Ed in the Wall Street Journal this morning, Perry introduced his “Cut, Balance and Grow” plan,

“The plan starts with giving Americans a choice between a new, flat tax rate of 20% or their current income tax rate. The new flat tax preserves mortgage interest, charitable and state and local tax exemptions for families earning less than $500,000 annually, and it increases the standard deduction to $12,500 for individuals and dependents.

This simple 20% flat tax will allow Americans to file their taxes on a postcard, saving up to $483 billion in compliance costs. By eliminating the dozens of carve-outs that make the current code so incomprehensible, we will renew incentives for entrepreneurial risk-taking and investment that creates jobs, inspires Americans to work hard and forms the foundation of a strong economy.

My plan also abolishes the death tax once and for all, providing needed certainty to American family farms and small businesses.”

TONIGHT in his first appearance on THE O’REILLY FACTOR, part of the Perry re-introduction and the campaign’s Cut, Balance & Grow roll-out, the Texas Governor had some interesting comments on his 10 weeks in the Republican race, including the series of debates  he has participated in, to date,

“Actually, these debates are set up for nothing more than to tear down the candidates. It pretty hard to be able to sit and lay out your ideas and your concepts with a one minute response. So, you know, if there was a mistake made, it was probably ever doing one of the campaigns [debates] when all they’re interested in is stirring up between the candidates instead of really talking about the issues that are important to the American people,” he said. 

NATIONAL JOURNAL AND CBS NEWS announced today that they are sponsoring a Republican presidential candidates debate in Greenville, South Carolina on Saturday November 12th with a focus on foreign policy and national security. This debate is squeezed in between the debates we already had on the calendar for November: Wed 11/09 in Rochester, Michigan and Tuesday 11/15 in Washington, DC. The NJ/CBS debate will be the 10th of the primary season.

CBS/NEW YORK TIMES POLL out today:

• Cain 25%
• Romney 21%
• Gingrich 10%
• Paul 8%
• Perry 6%
• Bachmann 2%
• Huntsman 1%
• Santorum 1%

Observations on this poll- which is surprising for a number of reasons:

• Herman Cain remains in first place despite a weaker debate last Tuesday and two weeks of critical reporting on the the candidates’ 9-9-9 economic plan

• Newt Gingrich is in third place- he has been in single digits in nearly every other poll this year and has run a disorganized, flustered and even angry campaign

• Rick Perry, who the conventional political narrative suggests is challenging Mitt Romney for the nomination, places fifth in this poll, registering only 6% of the national Republican respondents and behind Rep. Ron Paul

• Jon Huntsman, who went on the Colbert Report last night on Comedy Central, still can’t rise above the 1% mark in a major national poll

PRESIDENT OBAMA JOB APPROVAL RATING: Approve 46%, Disapprove 46%

CONGRESSIONAL JOB APPROVAL RATING: Approve 9%, Disapprove 84%

EUROZONE BALOUT- the latest from BBC News-

“The Polish presidency of the EU has confirmed to the BBC that key meetings have been postponed. The EU’s 27 finance ministers and the 17-nation Eurogroup will not now meet on Wednesday, although a full emergency heads-of-government summit will happen.

This could mean a delay to final announcements on solutions.”

WALL STREET- on the news from Europe, the final hour of trading saw a selloff today, sending major indices lower:

• DOW down 207
• NASDAQ down 67
• S&P 500 down 25

IBM today named Virginia Rometty its next CEO, the first female CEO in IBM’s history. She will begin on January 1st.

FINALLY..If you haven’t yet watched HERMAN CAIN’s new campaign video- released last night- you just have to. It is one of the most bizarre campaign ads you might ever watch. Keep in mind that this candidate leads the CBS News/NYT poll we referenced earlier.