Romney Brainwashing Voters On the Economy

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright August 14, 2012
All Rights Reserved.                                         

          Picking House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) Aug. 11, Romney hoped to lend credibility to his brainwashing about the economy.  Polls show his only traction on the campaign stump against President Barack Obama is scaring voters into believing Barack has bungled the economy.  Ryan’s budget proposals would eviscerate the social safety net, including making Social Security and Medicare a voluntary program.  Hoping for bad economic news, Romney, a former venture capitalist, ignores Wall Street’s 70% rise since Barack became president Jan. 20, 2009.  Neither Mitt nor Ryan acknowledges the sharp drop in the nation’s debt-to-GDP ratio, now running about 7.6%.  When Barack took office the federal budget deficit was running about 1.4 trillion on a GDP of $14.2 trillion with the debt-to-GDP ration of just under 10%. 

                 Romney’s campaign strategy involves one thing:  Convincing voters that Obama has mismanaged the economy.  He wants everyone to forget Barack inherited from former President George W. Bush the worst economy since the Great Depression.  “Entrepreneurs and business people around the world and here at home think that at some point America is going to become like Greece or Spain or Italy or like California—just kidding about that one, in some ways,” said Romney.  Romney knows California runs a state GDP over $1.9 trillion [13% of the total U.S. GDP] with a state budget deficit of about $16 billion, for a debt-to-GDP ration of 8.4%.  Greece currently runs a debt-to-GDP ration of over 15%, causing fits in the Eurozone.  Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland all have similar problems but not to the extent as Greece.  Romney’s hyperbole distorts the U.S.’s true economic picture.

            When Ford Motor Company announced June 12 that it was adding 12,000 new jobs in 2012, it was bad news for the Romney campaign.  Romney and Ryan must convince autoworkers in the Midwest that Obama’s decision to bailout General Motors and Chrysler was a bad idea.  Neither Romney nor Ryan supported bailouts of the U.S. auto industry.  Romney’s tongue-in-cheek remarks about California show the extremes his campaign will go to misrepresent basic facts about the economy to get elected.  Calling Mitt’s comments about California “just silly,” California Gov. Jerry Brown rejected Romney’s remarks, insisting California’s debt was manageable because of more reasonable borrowing rates.  Misstating the economic facts about California is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Mitt’s distortions about Obama’s role in botching the U.S. economy.

            Mitt and Ryan have both signed onto GOP Party boss Grover Norquist’s “No Tax Pledge.”  Despite the lowest federal tax rates in U.S. history, Romney and Ryan want to reduce taxes further for upper income earners, forcing the government to scale back high-priority national programs like Medicare, Social Security, aid to education and defense spending.  Without massive federal layoffs, the federal budget deficit would skyrocket under Romney and Ryan’s budget.  They can only achieve spending goals by slashing the federal work force.  Romney talks of adding 12 million private sector jobs but doesn’t explain how that’s going to happen.  It’s the same Supply Side theory that says cutting taxes makes jobs explode and the economy boom.  Former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush saw what happened to federal budget deficits by cutting taxes:  They increased nearly 500%

Romney talks about adding private sector jobs but knows the largest employer in the country is the federal government.  If he and Ryan get their way, they’d slash thousands to government jobs to help reduce the budget deficit.  With over 2.2 million federal employees, slashing government jobs would dramatically increase today’s 8.3% unemployment rate, causing federal budget deficits to rise paying whopping unemployment compensation.  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned Congress not to cut more tax revenues to the government.  Romney and Ryan’s stubborn refusal to increase taxes on individuals making over $250,000 a year leaves the government with a perpetual budget shortfall.  Their solution of slashing federal jobs and cutting back necessary entitlement programs pulls the rug from underneath the elderly, disabled and poor citizens.

            Brainwashing voters about today’s economy, Romney plays fast-and-loose with the facts to gain traction with voters on the economy.  When the facts are checked, it’s clear they don’t match the published data.  Comparing California to Greece shows the extremes Romney will go to frighten voters.  Autoworkers back on three shifts in the Upper Midwest and South know that Obama’s bailout of Detroit was the right thing to do.  Romney and Ryan both know that the nation’s debt-to-GDP ratio has dropped under Obama increasing the nation’s credit rating.  Standard & Poor’s rejected any comparison with Greece, citing California’s more diverse economy.  “We’re one of the richest economies in the world,” said California Jerry Brown.  “We’re the ninth richest nation-state.  So I think the governor should better rethink some of his thoughts because they’re not accurate.”

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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