2003: $500M budget cuts, including aid to cities

He had not raised taxes, although a few Democrats groused that he had imposed many new user fees, de facto taxes--ones that would hurt middle-income and poor families in the state. By the time he left office in 2006, Romney had balanced the budget over three consecutive years and generated revenue surpluses totaling $1.2 billion and resolving the $2-$3 billion shortfall he had inherited. This prompted him to boldly declare: "We have successfully closed the largest deficit in our state's history without raising taxes."

2007: Help economy by investing in high-yield stocks

Interestingly, while I was bashed for saying it in October, by January the other candidates were lip-synching virtually the same message.

Couple short-term stimulus with long-term growth boost

A: Well, I like mine better. And there are two reasons. One is mine has a very large dose of long-term growth incentives. It’s not just designed to be a short-term stimulus, but rather a long-term growth boost. Not only by allowing capital expenditures to be expensed over these next two years, but also lowering the corporate tax rate so that we can get more businesses to stay here and grow here. So you really have to divide my incentive plan between those things that are long-term in nature and those things that are short- term and stimulative. And I think it probably divides about 50-50.

Avoid housing foreclosures to avoid recession

A: I’d go aggressively after the housing market to make sure that servicing organizations combine in some cases, perhaps forming cooperatives to work together with homeowners to keep homes that are absolutely not necessary to going into foreclosure, to keep them with homeowners in them so that we don’t dump housing product in the housing market and cause a further reduction in housing prices.

To avoid recession, deal with housing crisis & gas prices

1. We’re going to have to make sure that we stop the housing crisis.
2. We’re going to have to reduce taxes on middle-income Americans immediately.
3. We’re going to have to deal with gas prices. We’re going to have to finally become energy independent and make the investments in new technology that will allow us to get there.
4. And, finally, R&D, investments in science and technology. That’s an area where America can continue to lead the world.

Giuliani increased spending by 2.8%; I held increase to 2.2%

ROMNEY: Well, we both agree with the need to cut taxes and have fought to do so. [But] Mayor Giuliani fought to keep the commuter tax, which was a very substantial tax, an almost $400 tax on commuters coming into New York.

GIULIANI: The difference is that under Governor Romney, spending went up in Massachusetts per capita by 8%; under me, spending went down by 7%. I brought taxes down by 17%. Under him, taxes went up 11% per capita. I led, he lagged.

ROMNEY: It’s a nice line, but it’s baloney. Mayor, you got to check your facts. #1, I did not increase taxes in Massachusetts; I lowered taxes. #2, the Club for Growth looked at our respective spending record. They said my spending grew 2.2% a year; yours grew 2.8% a year. But look, we’re both guys that are in favor of keeping spending down and keep taxes down. We’re not far apart on that.

FactCheck: Closed MA budget gap of $1.2B, not $3B

Disagrees with reported negative study of MA economy

A: I’ve got very different statistics than you do. First of all, there were no censuses taken during that time period, and so any numbers on population are just estimates by various folks. Second, when I came in to Massachusetts, we were losing jobs every single month. Our budget was out of balance by some $3 billion. We turned that around.

AdWatch: Cap discretionary spending at inflation minus 1%

ROMNEY: If I’m elected president, I’m going to cap non-defense discretionary spending at inflation minus 1%. That would save $300 billion in 10 years. And if Congress sends me a budget that exceeds that cap, I will veto that budget. And I know how to veto. I like vetoes. I’ve vetoed hundreds of spending appropriations as governor. And frankly, I can’t wait to get my hands on Washington!

First challenge as governor was $3B budget gap

[After the inauguration, we did a full] bottom-up analysis, resulting in some somber news. The budget gap for the next year was closer to $3 billion. Further, there was a shortfall in the current year of $600 million. Immediate cuts were necessary to prevent a possible cash crunch. The budget for the next year would test the entire administration team: finding $3 billion would be a real stretch.

The vision had already been set: it was the heart of last year’s campaign. I was determined not only to adhere to our themes, but also to fight for every single promise I had made.

Remedies for budget imbalance: cut expenses or raise revenue

So, the answer would have to be new revenues--marketing and sales. The good news was that companies had already signed on as sponsors, most of them at higher support levels than in prior Olympics. But that was also the bad news: the usual suspects had already been rounded up.

Will cut deficit and help Americans save

No bailout for Italy; let Europe take care of Euro

ROMNEY: Europe is able to take care of their own problems. We don't want to step in and try and bail out their banks and bail out their governments. They have the capacity to deal with that themselves. They're a very large economy. And there will be, I'm sure, cries if Italy does default, if Italy does get in trouble. And we don't know that'll happen, but if they get to a point where they're in crisis and banks throughout Europe that hold a lot of Italy debt will then face crisis and there will have to be some kind of effort to try and uphold their financial system. There will be some who say here that banks in the U.S. that have Italian debt, that we ought to help those, as well. My view is no, no, no. We do not need to step in to bail out banks either in Europe or banks here in the U.S. that may have Italian debt.