Associated Press
When it came to economic metrics and the 2012 campaign, Mitt Romney has struggled to pick a line and stick with it.
The initial line from Romney was that the unemployment rate is higher now than when President Obama took office. It was a foolish argument, which is no longer true.
The second line has been that the unemployment rate has been above 8% for four consecutive years. That's a weak pitch -- in FDR's first term, the rate was above 17% for four consecutive years, too -- and with the figure down to 8.1%, Romney's at risk of losing his talking point.
So, it's apparently time to move the goalposts once again.
"[A]nything near 8 percent or over 4 percent is not cause for celebration," Romney said.... Earlier Friday, Romney said the economy should be adding half a million jobs a month, and blasted the jobs news as "terrible."
"We should be seeing numbers in the [range of] 500,000 jobs created per month," Romney told Fox News.
Remember, economic policy is supposed to be Romney's strong point as a candidate.
Part of the problem here is with Romney's wildly unrealistic benchmarks, which, if he's elected, he'll be unable to reach. Indeed, in the event of a Romney presidency, he just helped create the 2016 attack ads -- 500,000 jobs per month and 4% unemployment is the new standard for success.
But the other concern here is historical -- over the last three decades, the unemployment rate has dipped below 4% just four times out of 496 months. Each of those four months was during Bill Clinton's presidency.
In other words, Romney's goal was achieved, but only after a Democratic president raised taxes in 1993.
What's more, as Paul Krugman explained, "Incidentally, since Romney is proposing a complete return to Bush economic policies, it might be interesting to note the average rate of job creation during Bush's first 7 years in the White House -- that is, his record even if you ignore the catastrophe at the end. And that average monthly rate, from the BLS, was ... drum roll ... 66,000."
Bush's pre-crash average was roughly half of last month's job totals -- totals Romney described as "terrible."
I can't wait to see where the goalposts end up next.
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Go Bills!
Well lucky for Mitt Mr & Mrs Average American has the attention span of an 8 week old puppy .
What's a goal post they ask
of course, he's moving the goalposts
should not be a shock
"In other words, Romney's goal was achieved, but only after a Democratic president raised taxes in 1993."
I'm still trying to figure out if this guy is really trying yet. Because it sure doesn't look like it! "Hey, our goalpost is only attainable through my opponents policies." Hilarious!
Or, he could use this:
"We tried having a black president for four years, and it didn't work. It is time to go back to a white one."
Wull, dang! All them thar elite Job Creators who still have the tax loopholes an' tax breaks gotta git bizzy an' hire a few thousand people instead 'a shippin' all them profits ta Belize an' the Caymen Islands, don'tcha think?
Tax hikes make jobs, not tax cuts. Tax cuts make only debt and lead to national bankruptcy, which is why Republicans obsess on tax cuts.
so exactly how does an increases in taxes (and I assume you mean income taxes) "make jobs"
I know they like to ignore facts, but what do they say when pressed with the realities that their ideas don't work?
Had anyone pressed them? Any follow-up question when they spew their idoitic comments?
Austerity isn't working in Europe, Bush policies didn't work, tax cutting Reaganomics didn't work, high tax rates post WWII worked, Clinton worked, Sweden works... what's their answer?
The REAL conservative way hasn't been tried yet? Jesus Christ on a cracker!
I see that you didn't watch Rachael's interview a couple of weeks back on MTP, when she started talking "FACTS" the GOP pundit and politician actually told her "she had her facts wrong". Not only was she floored by that response, I realized that WE are in an altered universe where things like FACTS, science, and basic comprehension never enter.
Yes, that's their platform . . . in five simple words, no less.
Yes, that's their platform. In 5 easy words, no less
"I can't wait to see where the goalposts end up next."
And more interesting, where a press, oblivious as to how it allows itself to be lead around by the nose, where and how far Rmoney is allowed to go.
Romney is going to have to be more specific about his plans to get the economy moving. Obama has already countered Romney's arguments noting that Romney's current proposals are just a rehash of more trickle down economics that brought us the Bush Depression. This leaves Romney with the only argument about his business experience and that is not going to be enough to swing independent voters to change leadership of the country. The business experience argument is a dead end considering what Bain Capital does for profit. And that opens Romney to the same type of attack ads that Kennedy used against Romney. If the economy continues to improve, then Romney is going to need a more compelling argument.
91% of the merchandise sold in Staples is made in China. Mitt Romney is good at creating jobs...in China.
Romney's horsepuckey is going to backfire (not a nice visual).
Republicans are demonstrably bad for unemployment.
Apart from Alzheimer's and assassination, unemployment increased under every Republican president and dropped under every Democrat presidents for about 100 years.
US Department of Labor Statistics provides this information. Average unemployment is 0.9% better for each Democrat presidential term and about 1.5% worse for each Republican presidential term.
The last depression occurred during the Republican presidencies of Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover. We are in another depression.
Do the math.