If you’re impatient with President Obama’s handling of the economy and think it’s time to give someone else a shot at fixing this mess, Mitt Romney isn’t necessarily your man.
It’s not because Romney doesn’t have a plan. The problem is his plan, by Romney’s own admission, will take at least four more years to turn things around – despite his pledge in Colorado this week to create 12 million new jobs in his first year in office.
The nation faced serious financial problems after 12 years of Republicanomics – eight with Ronald Reagan and four under George H.W. Bush. Eight years of Bill Clinton pulled the nation out of debt and into boom times. Then, eight years of George W. Bush’s brand of economics pulled the country into a recession so deep that the nation was this close to a Depression.
Yet voters expected Obama to totally clean up the mess less than four years into his term, contentious dealings with Congress – even among some in his own Democratic Party – aside.
A recent poll showed that Americans are giving presumptive GOP presidential nominee Romney a slight edge over Obama on the handling of the economy.
It’s understandable. Even though the economy is doing better in several areas, unemployment is still way too high, more than 8 percent overall and in double digits for black Americans. The temptation is strong to toss the president and give Romney a shot at figuring it out.
Romney’s plan, however, is offering little new, largely pushing the same economic plan that Congressional Republicans have proposed.
He is offering to cut taxes on workers and businesses, but fails to say how he would replace that revenue.
He also wants to cut federal spending by $500 billion across the board by 2016, but that is, according to Romney’s website, “assuming robust economic recovery with 4 percent annual growth, and reversal of irresponsible Obama-era defense cuts.”
So he’s going to cut everything but defense spending, which he will increase, while cutting taxes and not replacing any lost revenue.
Hmmm, where have we seen that plan before; can anyone say George W. Bush, 2000-2008?
But if you think waiting until 2016 is a stretch, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
“What I describe in my plan is a series of changes to programs and elimination of programs which save more and more money over time, so we’re able to get America to a balanced budget in eight to 10 years —not in the first year—but eight to 10 years,” Romney told The Wall Street Journal.
“You’re going to see the growth in the economy pick up at 4 percent or better and you’re going to get America, within four years, to about a 6 percent unemployment rate. And after that I see it getting better and better.”
A 6 percent unemployment rate still will likely translate to at least a 12 percent unemployment rate for black Americans, considering that black unemployment pretty much runs about double the overall jobless rate.
Obama’s plan may be moving slowly, but there are some signs of movement. If Romney wins and tosses it all out the window and starts again, will you be willing to wait anywhere from four to 10 years to see improvement using a Republican legislative agenda that has already been tried?
We’re just saying.
