Joe Biden Says No 'Stagnation' In Employment Numbers

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Joe Biden says the latest job numbers show an economy still struggling to recover, but not one where hiring suddenly has stalled, which he says just might if Mitt Romney is elected.

"How is he gonna create jobs?" Biden asked in an interview broadcast Sunday. "He talks about another $2 trillion in tax cuts for the very wealthy. You're gonna create jobs? Is that how he's gonna do it?"

The appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" came a day after President Barack Obama headlined the first official campaign rallies of his bid for a second term, at college campuses in Ohio and Virginia. Obama contended that Romney was a likely "rubber stamp" for GOP conservatives, and portrayed himself as a champion of a struggling middle class.

Friday's report on April unemployment showed a continued slowdown in U.S. hiring. The economy added just 115,000 net jobs. The jobless rate slipped to 8.1 percent, but mostly because large numbers left the workforce.

Obama called the numbers "good news" overall. Romney said they were "very disappointing" and more evidence of Obama's economic failures.

"It's been steady growth, not enough," Biden said in the interview. "There's still a lot of people in trouble. But there's no stagnation."

Biden said Romney would return to policies that helped precipitate the worst economic recession in decades. He cited deregulation, deep spending cuts for education and health care, and tax cuts for wealthy Americans who "need it like they need another hole in their head."

Biden also scoffed at Romney's campaign mantra that his record as Massachusetts governor and venture capitalist qualify him to engineer an economic turnaround.

"When he was in business, how did he save companies? By piling debt on them," Biden said.

Romney maintains that in his time as top manager at Bain Capital, he helped revive and strengthen scores of major companies, and overall produced stellar results.

Also in the interview, Biden revealed a not very closely held secret: He's staying on the Democratic ticket as Obama's running mate.

"There's no way out," he joked. "I mean, they've already printed Obama-Biden" campaign materials.

Biden said he was not annoyed by speculation that he might be replaced on the ticket by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Asked which of those two is more likely to run for president in 2016, Biden said, "I think we may run as a team. I'm only joking, obviously. I don't know whether I'm gonna run. And Hillary doesn't know whether she's gonna run."

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Comments

[BWL]

11:04 PM on 05/08/2012

Biden can't find his back side with both hands. Who listens to this Kraken of mis-information that Obama released.

[abacuses]

11:25 PM on 05/07/2012

Obama needs to stop blaming everyone else anymore. His party controlled both Congress and the White House for 2 years ... unemployment kept diving. He got plenty passed and nothing turned things around. It was Obama that allowed the tax rates to be extended EVEN THOUGH DEMOCRATS CONTROLLED BOTH CHAMBERS. Obama promised unemployment would never top 8% if you approved the stimulus. Remember the "summer of recovery?" It was Obama that called Bush's $4 trillion surplus spending "unpatriotic" while exceeding that in less than 4 years.

While were here blaming Bush for everything, let's not forget things didn't go bad until Pelosi and the Democrats took Congress in 2006.

[abacuses]

11:22 PM on 05/07/2012

Biden is "absolutely comfortable with same sex marriage?" Wow! Never realized. I wonder who the unlucky guy is?

[l78lancer]

10:38 PM on 05/07/2012

Anyone who has been laid off during a downsizing, or anyone who is married to has been understands precisely how Romney's business works and what his business experience really did. Romney wasn't a producer, he was a financier. Romney has no real experience in manufacturing and production. He has no experience in economics as evicenced in his support of the Ryan Plan. Romney's "strength" will be his weakness.

[abacuses]

11:23 PM on 05/07/2012

Too funny ... as if you're implying Obama has real experience in manufacturing and production? Fertilizer maybe, but that's about it.

[l78lancer]

01:35 AM on 05/08/2012

Since manufacturing is actually up, oil production is up, exports are up - all for the first time in a decade or more - I don't have to imply anything.

[fourex]

12:02 PM on 05/07/2012

Joe was AWOL for healthcare and ending Jr's wealthy tax cuts. He showed little interest on these two biggest pieces of legislation of the first term. He allowed the GOP with some very powerful Democratic Senators to sabotage both. Go back to sleep Joe.

[l78lancer]

10:45 PM on 05/07/2012

Actually, Joe was on the stump for all of the above. And what does, "he allowed the GOP with some very powerful Democratic Senators to sabotage both," mean? Although he was no longer in the senate he did meet with and was invloved in negotiations, and he's NOT the president, so none of it is actually his policy.

What do you suggest he should have done?

[fourex]

01:14 PM on 05/08/2012

What do you suggest he should have done?

go back to sleep

arm twisting

[alice sophia]

11:42 AM on 05/07/2012

Alexithemic Mitt keeps bragging about 25 years at BAIN, but he cut up companies and sent jobs overseas. When he was gov., MA came in at 47th in job creation. When he pats himself on the back over "saving" the Olympics, he "saved" them with money he begged for from the Fedral Government Agencies. And he would have let Detroit go bankrupt. The only "talent" Mitt ever had was bashing the other candidates, thanks to Koch money, and still obessively bashing President Obama, with no solutions on his side.

[Easy123]

11:00 AM on 05/07/2012

Joe, he can't even explain why he won't show his tax returns. Talk real slow, but, it appears he still won't understand or answer the salient questions.

[FalstaffsMind]

10:52 AM on 05/07/2012

It's a valid question... Here is one I have for conservatives. Why do you not consider demand when forming economic policy. You don't even discuss. It's not part of your reality.

It's like not considering engines when working cars.

[SpeakupNation]

09:57 AM on 05/07/2012

Why does anyone in the private sector 'create' jobs? Out of the goodness of their heart? No. For profit. If no one is buying anything, then there is no growth. So if the private sector is not spending, then the government should and must act in order to get the economy going. This is not theory. It is a proven method.

[FalstaffsMind]

10:48 AM on 05/07/2012

The Conservative approach on the economy utterly ignores demand. It's not even a consideration. They call it supply side for a reason. It's the most astonishingly ignorant approach possible. It's a bit like maintaining a car without considering that the car will be driven. You paint, wax, polish, re-do the upholstery but never open the hood.

[l78lancer]

11:02 PM on 05/07/2012

Every economist worth their salt would agree with you, including Milton Friedman.

[jshook99]

08:49 AM on 05/07/2012

Hey Joe, How long can 1% of the Nation support 99% ? And 45% don't even pay taxes while Illegals are allowed Tax credits and send the money back to Mexico.

[traceymarie]

09:29 AM on 05/07/2012

market watch
75,000->1,000,000 15% pay ZERO in taxes
30,000-40,000 52.5% DO pay taxes
so tell me how the 1% are paying all the taxes?

[SpeakupNation]

09:58 AM on 05/07/2012

Lol. Nice fiction about 'illegals' and tax credits. It dovetails nicely with the story about those who "don't pay taxes". Pure fiction in both cases.

[jshook99]

12:42 PM on 05/07/2012

According to an NBC affiliate in Indianapolis, illegal aliens are getting billions of U.S. tax dollars in refundable tax credits for nieces, nephews, and other relatives back in Mexico, because the IRS has allowed illegal aliens to claim such credits on their tax returns, for people they list as "dependents." (Nearly three quarters of tax returns filed by illegal aliens received such tax credits). For example, an illegal alien with $14,000 in income not only paid no taxes, but received a refund of $10,000. In another case, illegal aliens used a phony address to claim 20 relatives as dependents and get thousands in refunds.

The I.R.S. has paid out billions in refunds to illegal aliens due to this refundable "additional child tax credit," which gives eligible families $1000 per child, ignoring warnings about these abuses from the agency's own inspector general.

The I.R.S. web site suggests that illegal aliens can claim Mexican relatives as dependents for purpose of the tax code's personal exemption (an invitation to fraud, since Mexican children, unlike American children, do not have social security numbers or other federal records of their existence), but not for purposes of the $1,000 per child tax credit that can be refunded to people who pay little or no income taxes to begin with.

[thegreenhornet]

07:46 AM on 05/07/2012

The French election is going to be a real game changer. Paul Krugman has been advocating government spending increases to counter the sagging economy with spending cuts delayed until economic factors had improved. With teh new French president I thin we are going to see the litmus test for Krugman's theory and since it makes perfectly good sense I am hoping there is not to much outside interference that it doesnt have a fair chance of success on its own merit.

[donk970]

11:21 AM on 05/07/2012

What's scary is the the Europeans may wake up and start expanding their economies with government spending while we continue to shrink our economy with austerity measures. We could find ourselves the best armed third world country.

[ohwhatamess]

04:31 AM on 05/07/2012

My dad passed away years ago - id love to have Joe as my dad ... such a great heart

[builderman55]

11:15 PM on 05/06/2012

IF Romney wins in November, an outcome I seriously doubt is possible, the GOP will have pulled off one of the greatest sleight of hand tricks in the history of American politics. It was a thoroughly GOP ticket, Shrub and Dick, that almost destroyed the American economy by giving already fantastically wealthy people more money by targeting tax cuts in their direction, while starting two highly questionable wars with no tax increases with no corresponding tax cuts to fund them AND foisting an unfunded $700,000,000 Medicare drug benefit on the country. Obama, inheriting a country in economic free fall, has managed the stabilization of the economy, a near doubling of the stock market, saving the car companies from collapse, AND the implementing of the $787 billion dollar TARP package PUT IN PLACE BY SHRUB/DICK. But they want us to believe he is a Kenyan born, radical Socialist, destroyer of the country. Absolutely-friggin-incredible that ANY person who can rub two brain cells together would buy this nonsense...

[jerrym930]

11:34 PM on 05/06/2012

No body I know is voting to re-elect the Pres ident. I personally predict that he will lose by a significant amount, unless the new ACORN can get enough people to vote 100 times under an assortment of names in different precincts. I wonder if Mickey Mouse will be registered again this year, or if the Dallas Cowboys will be voting again in Florida.

[builderman55]

11:53 PM on 05/06/2012

Clearly no one you know is voting for Obama because you're all drinking the same Kool-Aid. I sure don't want to be anywhere near where you are when Romney gets spanked in November. It aint gonna be pretty...

[traceymarie]

09:31 AM on 05/07/2012

lmao....bush paid acorn over 5 million dollars to spear head voter registration in 3 years. You baggers always fail because you do NOT understand the diffrence between voter registration and actual voting. Do you really believe a mickey mouse is able to vote?

[BCS]

01:56 AM on 05/07/2012

Dems give tax breaks to wealthy corporations too.
Ever hear of GE?
The TRUTH is that we are screwed no matter who wins.
Both candidates are globalists and BOTh will send jobs overseas while allowing immigrants to lower wages and replace US workers.
The name of the game is CHEAP LABOR and the HISPANIC VOTE and guess what?
Americans don't count in that formula.
So enjoy being in a first world country while you can. It won't last another generation.

[ilysaportax3]

08:19 AM on 05/07/2012

Amen.

[jerrym930]

11:07 PM on 05/06/2012

What V.P. B iden is really doing here is lowering the standards in order to make the Demo crats look better. Demo crats have been lowering the standards for the last 40 years, and the liberals who vote for them are happy about that. Of course everything looks much "rosier" when the standards are barely above ground level.

What we have also seen is that the American People who vote Demo crat have much lower standards also. The reason for this is because they are the vast majority who live on government social welfare. The social welfare programs were not designed to help people get ahead and have a better life. They were designed to get as many people enrolled in them as possible, so the Demo crats could expand the voting base.

[jancf]

02:33 AM on 05/07/2012

You sound out of touch, like you're repeating a decades-old mantra.

[traceymarie]

09:33 AM on 05/07/2012

you repeat ad nauseum the same sound bite and believe you make sense, a perfect example of the bagger mentality, lies and innuendo with zero facts or truth attached

[scooter1]

10:08 PM on 05/06/2012

I think going from the Bush-Romney model of losing 750,000 jobs a month to gaining between 100,000-250,000 jobs a month under Obama is an economic improvement.

[RedWingFan51]

10:32 PM on 05/06/2012

Yeah right since it was the Liberal Democratic Housing failure that led to those 750,000 jobs being lost in the first place!

[jamesPacNW]

01:45 AM on 05/07/2012

"free trade" is the main reason for job loss...over 60,00 factories closed during the shrub debacle, all due to the great search for cheap labor, lower taxes and no regulation. And all brought to you by repugnantcons and corporate "blue dog" Democrats.
as for the "Liberal Democratic Housing failure "...lmao...yeah right...absolutely ridiculous spin...catch up spanky...your embarassing yourself

[traceymarie]

09:34 AM on 05/07/2012

ummm bagger, the crash started in 2006, the repubs had been the majority party making all decisions and heading all committees for years

[RedWingFan51]

11:16 PM on 05/06/2012

Why dont you read up on history of the causing of the Liberal Housing Bubble! And learn why we lost those 750,000 jobs it surly was'nt Bush's fault he tried to stop it and the Democrats including Obama blocked him.

[Tony Twohill]

12:10 AM on 05/07/2012

It's my understanding that Bush instructed housing development to step up home ownership.
The truth is that everybody's involved in this mess. Government, Wall Street, small banks, private citizens who borrowed more than they could afford, Federal Reserve etc. About the only people who really didn't have much to do with it is financial thrifts like credit unions. They're more strict on lending money typically.

[traceymarie]

09:35 AM on 05/07/2012

tell us how the repub party, being in total control for years can blame the Democratic party?