Here's What Mitt Romney's Recession/Recovery Chart Should Look Like

We had the occasion on Tuesday to work through some of the controversy that arose in the wake of Mitt Romney's "jobs plan," after this chart from page 16 of his offering caused consternation on the Internet.

One of the things we couldn't help notice was the glib and misleading way this chart purported to tell about recessions and recovery -- in many ways that the statistics don't acknowledge, the Great Recession was a different beast than its predecessors. The way Romney explained it, it is simply part of the natural order of things that recovery follows upon job losses, and that President Barack Obama was somehow disrupting the natural processes of the economy. And on a purely pictoral level, the thing is a complete hash -- the x-axis, as represented, doesn't quite cohere with the legend. As a result, it seems to blame the Obama administration for economic events that took place prior to his presidency. (This was the primary cause of the controversy.)

But as it turns out, the statistics cited by the Romney plan are a complete hash as well. Fortunately, Political Correction is here to help:

The recession ended in June 2009, and in the subsequent 24 months the economy has gained 554,000 jobs on net. That would still stack up poorly next to some other 24-month recoveries from less severe recessions, but that's not because the private sector isn't creating jobs; it's because a half-million public-sector layoffs over the same two years hide the one million new private-sector jobs that have actually been created in the "Obama Recovery."

Here is what the chart should look like:

Hope that helps! For a chart that accounts for private-sector job creation and for further amplifications and sourcing, click here and read the whole thing.

More:
Correcting Mitt Romney's Mistaken Jobs Chart [Political Correction]

Previously, on The Huffington Post:
Mitt Romney's Charts And Graphs Roil The Internet

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Comments

[js0860]

08:55 AM on 09/11/2011

That's really funny. The author wants us to believe that Obama has added jobs to this economy, yet the unemployment rate has gone from 7.2% to over 9.2% since he's taken office.

Then, of course, the author makes sure we know that this is a different kind of recession.

How many excuses can people make for this failure of an Administration?

[janetislight]

12:41 PM on 09/09/2011

I just LOVE a good fact-checker. Thanks for the great work, again, Jason.

[Chris Paleczka]

08:10 AM on 09/08/2011

riiiiiiight, since Mittens has such a great record.....

“We fought every time to grow employment­­,” he said. “I will do so in this country.”

Perhaps the most legally thorny was Bain Capital's 1989 purchase of Damon Corp., a Needham medical testing firm that later pleaded guilty to defrauding the federal government of $25 million and paid a record $119 million fine.

In 1992, Bain Capital acquired American Pad & Paper, or Ampad, from Mead Corp., embarking on a ''roll-up strategy'' in which a firm buys up similar companies in the same industry in order to expand revenues and cut costs.

Through Ampad, Bain bought several other office supply makers, borrowing heavily each time. By 1999, Ampad's debt reached nearly $400 million, up from $11 million in 1993, according to government filings.

Sales grew, too - for a while. But by the late 1990s, foreign competitio­­n and increased buying power by superstore­­s like Bain-funde­­d Staples sliced Ampad's revenues.

The result: Ampad couldn't pay its debts and plunged into bankruptcy­­. Workers lost jobs and stockholde­­rs were left with worthless shares.

While in private business, Mitt Romney used shell companies in two offshore tax havens to help eligible investors avoid paying US taxes, federal and state records show.

http://fir­­edoglake.­c­om/2008/­01­/17/w-m­itt­-romne­y-an­d-the­-loos­e-de­finiti­on-­of-tran­sf­erable-s­k­ills/

[Passenger57]

11:02 PM on 09/07/2011

"Hi, I'm Mitt Romney. I can't even put an accurate stat chart together-but I CAN run the country, I assure you. I won't lie like I did on this chart-I was distracted by the guys working on m'mansion; they wanted to know how big to make the garage because I have so many-well, you don't wanna hear about that.
Anyway, promise you'll vote for me and I'll promise to get someone else to make the charts. 'Bye now...!"

[zigzagger]

10:21 PM on 09/07/2011

Dang! Mitt "flipflopper" Romney couldn't even put a chat of jobs together? How the hell did he "create" jobs before?

[Hell Yeah Im Uhmercan]

10:13 PM on 09/07/2011

Damn libruls with yer pesky facts!

[Mikeystyle]

10:07 PM on 09/07/2011

Romney's chart blames Obama for job losses that happened before he even became president----why isn't anyone hammering him for that?

[Jason Van Sandt]

10:42 PM on 09/07/2011

hahahaha... You expect journalists to ask tough pointed questions? They are to busy kissing his arse so they can cover his campaign. We should expect more from our media but unfortunately people are fine on both the left and the right to believe all the political rhetoric before apply critical thinking and logical reasoning.

[Stone Hendge]

10:01 PM on 09/07/2011

"The recession ended..."

Thanks for letting us know! Perhaps you should spread the word!

[Matt Chernesky]

10:22 PM on 09/07/2011

It's just like a hurricane... the hurricane comes, it creates a lot of damage, and then it leaves... but not without leaving a lot of destruction. The recession came, it created a lot of damage, and then it left... and added a lot of destruction. See the comparison? The recession may be gone, but we're still feeling the damage.

[Peanut Santiago]

10:31 PM on 09/07/2011

I don't know how much money you have or where you live.....but for my working class family and friends living in New Jersey and Florida.....we are in a severe recession that came and STAYED and things are getting worse.

I would say we are entering the Great Depression II....at least for much of the middle and working classes.

Another yardstick?
More and more people are being pushed into poverty through no fault of their own.
Actually American poverty is exploding.

[herewegoagain101]

10:01 PM on 09/07/2011

What's so different about a huge red column pointing down under the "Obama Recovery".

[Matt Chernesky]

10:22 PM on 09/07/2011

The fact that he made that red column positive.

[NoWayMan]

09:53 PM on 09/07/2011

this might matter if anyone had actually seen romney's plan or even knew he had a plan.

and how totally misleading anyway.

only 2009 was included for obama when the whole world knows 2010 was much better.

and most of the jobs lost during that time were during bush's last year in office, when unemployment nearly doubled.

[99er2049er]

09:34 PM on 09/07/2011

If you are a republican and tell a lie and nobody believes you, just put it on Fox News and then they will believe you.

[brockj661]

05:13 AM on 09/12/2011

Or go on MSNBC and hope you hear the whole story and not a buch of liberals who do nothing but try to contradict what any conservative says or doesnt say,it doesnt matter Liberals will believe anything,Case in point,most liberals still think Obama knows what he is doing and doesnt promote cass warfare!!!

[99er2049er]

08:00 AM on 09/12/2011

Funny, coming from a republican who was clearly proven wrong by the Bush Cheney years. What's so amazing about your party is you completely screw up the country and then your next candidates want to do the exact same strategy, only doubling down this time.

Your party used to be the party of war, now it's proven your party is not

Your party used to be the party of economics, now it's proven your party is not

[Panas Wiwatpanachat]

09:16 PM on 09/07/2011

The fact is that there were two recessions followed two Republican administrations and the last one in particular did a spectacular job of annihilating all of the surplus we worked so hard for during the Democratic admin within 4 years of the republican policies. Republicans were in charge in all of the government branches and looked what happened. Now they are arguing that their way of managing the economy will work after we spent all of our money in one illegal war on the back of the middle class. Who was the one got us in to two wars and cut tax at the same time. Ask your self as a fiscally conservative if that makes any sense before you check your brain in with Fox News. Write the answer down then turn on Fox News and I bet you that the answer will be the opposite of what your brain tell you to think.

[AABrownA]

09:02 PM on 09/07/2011

Oh’ Please, he’s a Republican Politician and we all know Republican voters don’t care about math, science, and/or facts. All he has to say is “I am/was a business man, I know how to create jobs, and oh, by the way the government does create jobs… I am in love with America…, I will never apologize for America’s actions…, I am going to cut taxes…, we need to reduce capital gains taxes…, corporate taxes in America are way too high…, I believe marriage is between a man and a woman…, etc, etc, etc…” As Hillary once said, “that’s change you can Xerox” – Republican voters are going to fall for it AGAIN! Poor Mr. Linkins wasting his time trying to use his fancy math, chart, and facts to prove what a Republican Politician said was incorrect… NICE TRY MATH BOY!

[eddw88]

08:58 PM on 09/07/2011

Who needs truth when you have republicans???

[PlayTOE]

08:58 PM on 09/07/2011

The Republican motto is still "why tell the truth when you can just lie?"

[99er2049er]

09:35 PM on 09/07/2011

The republicans are lucky their noses don't grow everytime they lie.