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Playing Dirty Politics with the Economy

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Playing politics with the economy, GOP presidential nominee former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and his vice presidential pick House Budget Committee Chair Rep. Paul Ryan have built their entire campaign on President Barack Obama’s failure to manage the U.S. economy. While it’s tempting to cherry pick partisan economists to criticize the president, not one advisor with the Romney campaign gives the president any credit where it’s due. When Barack took office Jan. 20, 2012, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was around 8,000. Today, it stands at over 13,200, a whopping 70% increase. If you ask Wall Street whether it’s better off than it was four years ago, the nonpartisan answer is yes. Neither Romney nor Ryan talks about the historic economic collapse under the last Republican administration. They blame Obama for the entire mess and failure to fix it.

Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan called the 2007-08 recession the worst economic calamity since the Financial Panic of 1906, in many ways far worse than the Great Depression. Yet partisan economists like to blame Obama for not delivering on his promises outlined in his Inaugural Address. When Barack took office, the country was losing over 200,000 jobs a month. When the dust settled after the economic avalanche in March 2010, the nation had lost nearly 8 million jobs. Since March 2010, the nation has added back under Barack’s economic policies over 4 million jobs. Detroit was in shambles. General Motors and Chrysler were broke. Neither Romney nor Ryan wants voters to know they opposed bailing out Detroit. Three years after Barack signed—as his first official business as president—his historic $787 billion bailout bill Feb. 17, 2009, the Big Three are back.

Romney and Ryan would have let Detroit go under. When Ford announced Oct. 11, 2011 it would add 12,000 news jobs in 2012-13, Romney yawned. Ford’s upcoming 2013 redo of its popular Fusion model has the Japanese, Koreans and Germans on the run. While Barack can’t take credit for that, he deserves credit from his opponents for keeping the faith and ponying up. GOP partisan economist Niall Ferguson calls Obama’s economic performance “pitiful.” “Hit the Road, Barack: Why We Need a New President,” is the cover of Ferguson’s article in Newsweek. Ferguson cites Obama’s Inaugural Address to highlight broken promises. “Not only to create new jobs but to lay a foundation for new growth,” said Barack Jan. 20, 2009. Ferguson rants about broken promises, saying nothing about the pending expansion in the health care industry that should add thousands of new jobs.

Ferguson, as a partisan economist, surely has better arguments than lifting high expectations from soaring rhetoric in the president’s Inaugural speech. He can’t state with any certainty that any GOP proposal would, as Romney and Ryan promise, do better. Without Obamacare clearing the Supreme Court June 28, there’d be no realistic expectation for expansion and growth in the health care industry. Most of what Ferguson cites has nothing to do with the economy. He complains about the lack of improvement in education but some of Barack’s bailout went to states to prevent further teacher layoffs. Ferguson doesn’t admit that Romney and Ryan’s economic plan calls for a federal hiring freeze and massive government layoffs. Romney and Ryan talk of adding 12 million more jobs but offer only tried-and-failed theories like Reagan’s Supply-Side economics.

Recent Labor Department data indicated that the economy grew at 1.5% during the Second Quarter. While that’s not enough for comfort or to start reducing the 8.3% unemployment rate, it’s better than a recession. When the Labor Department reported that 163,000 private sector jobs were added in July, it wasn’t enough for Romney. When former President George W. Bush was in office, losing over 200,000 jobs a month, Romney and Ryan remained silent. Playing politics with the economy, both want voters to ignore the data and think they were better off under Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney called Obama, July 30, “weaker” than former President Jimmy Carter, but the GOP left the economy in ruins. “Obama inherited an immense disaster—but the president didn’t manage those expectations appropriately,” said economist Henry Blodget.

Looking at the big picture, the economy continues to limp along, fulfilling Greenspan’s prognosis that would take years for the economy to recover. Blaming Obama for today’s slow growth is like blaming him for global warming. If you’re a Wall Street investor, where’s the credit for the Dow rising 70% since taking office Jan. 20, 2009? Where’s the gratitude for helping save Detroit? Romney and Ryan subscribe to the old Supply-Side idea that if you cut taxes the economy will boom. Reagan cut taxes, the economy improved but federal budget deficits quadrupled. Tax rates are already at historic lows. Romney and Ryan rant about the deficit but oppose increasing marginal tax rates on the rich, preventing the Treasury from balancing its books. Nonpartisan economists know that anyone can promise 12 million new jobs. Going back to the same empty well won’t get it done.

About the Author

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.