Romney Bashes Obama on Jobs and Spending

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright June 3, 2012
All Rights Reserved.                                         

             Ripping President Obama for killing jobs, GOP presidential nominee former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney blamed the president for a dangerous rise in federal spending, now driving the national debt to over $16 trillion.  Romney, a founding partner of Bain Capital, has strongly hinted at slashing the federal budget to get spending under control, potentially tossing thousands of federal workers into unemployment.  Obama campaign officials have warned of Romney’s pattern at Bain Capital with leveraged buyouts, laying off as many workers as needed to make companies profitable.  “This is not a distraction,” Obama said of Romney’s track record at Bain.  “This is what this campaign is going to be about,” namely, pointing out that Romney laid off thousands while turning around distressed companies.  Obama’s own Party questioned the advisability of such criticism.

             Criticizing Romney at Bain Capital opens up a can of worms for Obama.  On the one hand, he wants to show compassion for American workers.  On the other hand, he wants to show he’s an effective manager capable of the tough decisions needed to grow the economy.  “Forty years ago, corporate America was bloated, and losing ground” to foreign competitors said New York Times columnist David Brooks.  Brooks points out that American enterprise needed to become “leaner, quicker and more efficient,” something you can’t blame on Romney or Bain Capital.  “Brutal and involved streamlining and layoffs” went with the territory, criticizing Obama’s attacks on the 65-year-old GOP presidential candidate.  Criticizing Romney’s work at Bain Capital “opens Obama to the charge that he is waging an attack on free enterprise,” said the Washington Post columnist Jamelle Bouie.

             Voters have a right to question not only the incumbent’s track record on jobs and the economy but his opponent’s economic ideas.  Signing on to Grover Norquist’s “No Tax Pledge,” Romney can’t raise money or balance the federal budget by increasing taxes.  He’s limited to only raising revenues by creating more private sector jobs and waiting for an increase in tax receipts.  Romney’s running on the GOP platform that insists only by cutting budgets and taxes can the government promote economic growth.  While it’s risky to recall Romney’s past practices at Bain, it’s reasonable to point out he might apply the same model to the federal government.  If Mitt can’t raise taxes, slashing the federal work force becomes the next best thing to get control over government spending and budget deficits.  Obama’s approach involves more government spending to stimulate the economy.

              Former presidential candidate and House Speaker New Gingrich (R-Georgia) blasted Romney for his heartless approach at Bain.  Voters “don’t begrudge the wealthy but are angered that someone could take huge risks, fail and walk away with profit,” said Gingrich, criticizing Romney.  Whatever Romney did on Wall Street, it’s reasonable to ask what he’ll do in the Oval Office.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if he’s committed to a “No Tax Pledge,” he’ll be balancing the budget on the backs of  federal workers.  With an 8.1% unemployment rate, it won’t take long for it to rise if Romney lays off federal employees.  While criticizing today’s sluggish growth, Romney doesn’t mention how former President George W. Bush piled up over $4 trillion in national debt.  Romney doesn’t admit the nation’s 2008 economic meltdown took place on Bush’s watch.

             Romney offers no specific plans for where he’d cut the federal budget other than rescinding Obamacare, something currently being decided in the U.S. Supreme Court.  Promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Romney received loud applause from a partisan Tampa audience.  He never mentioned that the Congressional Budget Office estimated that Obamacare would reduce, not add to, federal budget deficits over the next 10 years.  Suggesting he’d save $1 trillion over 10 years, Romney doesn’t acknowledge the CBO’s estimate of increased revenue to the federal government.  If Obamacare gets out of the Supreme Court, economists estimate the largest boom in the medical-pharmaceutical establishment in the nation’s history, adding millions of health care jobs and billions to the federal treasury.  Adding 30 million to ranks of the insured promises to add millions of health care jobs.

             Slapping Obama for not working in the private sector, Romney characterized Obama as clueless when it comes to the economy.  Romney can’t explain why the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 8,000 when Obama took office and ended today at 12,419.  No matter what the economy’s fits-and-starts, the economy has added over 4 million private sector jobs since June 2010.  “This is an individual who has not been in a leadership capacity before and is learning on the job,” said Romney, forgetting Obama has been president for nearly four years.  Mitt suggests that had he been president, he would have turned things around sooner.  Voters know that even under Obama public sector jobs growth has ground to a halt.  With Romney at the helm, it’s possible to see a sizable portion of the federal workforce tossed into unemployment.  What happens in the private sector is anyone’s guess.

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