GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's reaction to high unemployment is creepy.
During an interview with CBS reporter Jan Crawford last week, Romney smirked as he mentioned that unemployment has remained above 8 percent for 39 months. Then, as the interview ended, he smirked again after saying President Obama had hoped the Recovery Act would reduce joblessness to 6 percent by now.
Romney is loving high unemployment. Just like the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives that has repeatedly blocked President Obama's proposals to increase hiring, Romney believes high joblessness is good for the GOP. It's one thing for a politician to know in his heart of hearts that a calamity for the country may help him achieve his ambitions. It's another to be so callous as to beam about it on TV.
The nation's sustained high unemployment disheartens any normal human being. Friday's report that only 69,000 jobs were created in May was troubling -- that is, to anyone who has ever been laid off or had a friend or relative or neighbor who lost a job. They know the feelings of fear, depression and guilt that accompany job loss. They've experienced the suffering as job applications are rejected, bills pile up and foreclosure is threatened. Normal people don't smile about high unemployment; they cringe.
Romney contends he's the fella to fix those unemployment numbers. But his record as CEO of Bain Capital and governor of Massachusetts provides little evidence of that. The focus of Bain was never job creation. It was money making. And if making money meant destroying jobs, that's what Bain did.
An analysis by the Wall Street Journal of the companies Bain bought in the 15 years Romney ran it found that 22 percent went bankrupt or closed within eight years. That's untold thousands of workers who lost their jobs and untold thousands of Bain creditors who endured losses because of bad Bain business practices.
Romney has frequently contended Bain created 100,000 jobs while he led it. The Washington Post fact checker awarded that claim three Pinocchios. After Republican rivals Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry chanted, "show us the jobs," Romney lowered the number. Kinda significantly. Down to tens of thousands of jobs. Finally, Romney cut the figure even further, releasing a campaign video saying he'd created "thousands of jobs."
If "thousands" is true, that's good. But, frankly, "thousands" over 15 years is hardly a bragging point for a candidate who contends his private sector experience will enable him to create the millions of jobs the nation needs.
Romney's job generation as governor of Massachusetts doesn't instill much confidence in his ability to perform on the national level either. Massachusetts added 45,800 jobs in the four years he was governor. While that's positive, it occurred during a time of economic expansion nationally, not during the grave recession President Obama inherited.
In addition, Massachusetts' net jobs growth declined to 1.4 percent during Romney's governorship, significantly lower than the 5.8 percent growth in the rest of the nation. In fact, Massachusetts dropped to 47th for job growth during Romney's reign, far lower than during his predecessor's time.
Romney claimed at one point during the campaign that he was unemployed, and laughed about it. But this quarter billionaire doesn't have a clue what it's like to really be jobless or desperate. This is the silver-spoon son of a car company executive, a man who attended exclusive private schools, a man who handed his own son $10 million to help start his business, a man who has a car elevator in his $9 million California beach house.
This is a candidate who mocked NASCAR fans for wearing cheap rain slickers while his wife wears $1,000 silk t-shirts. This is an owner of three homes valued at a total of $20 million who opposed helping underwater homeowners, saying the foreclosure crisis should "run its course and hit bottom."
This is a man who actually said he likes to fire people. Not hire people. Fire people. Here's what he said:
"I like being able to fire people who provide services to me."
Unlike the United States and China, both of which invested in stimulus, Europe chose austerity. Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland and Great Britain now are suffering economic contraction and distress caused by austerity.
That's what Romney and the Republicans propose for America. Austerity. Job contraction. Recession. Suffering.
It's not true what Romney says about Americans. They aren't jealous of his wealth. They don't care that he and his wife ride $100,000 horses. They just want to be able to afford a rocking horse for their kid. They don't care about the Romneys' vacations in France. They just want to be able to save enough to get the kids a season pass to the municipal pool.
They don't, however, want their country run by a guy who can't conceive what it's like to be unemployed and has made no effort to find out. They don't want to be led by a guy who likes firing people. They don't want a president who finds enjoyment in high unemployment.
Follow Leo W. Gerard on Twitter: www.twitter.com/uswblogger
Matthew Dowd: How Obama Could Lose the Popular Vote and Win the Election
 |
 |
|
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
That shouldn't affect the American family though - right? I mean, since Obama's been in office, the average American household has lost 40 percent of its worth (Labor Dept.). ONLY 40 percent....
But at least Obama closed Guantanamo B--... Opps. No, he didn't.
Well, now, wait - he DID say he would cut the deficit in half during his first term. I'm sure he MEANT to, even as he signed spending bills and policy changes that have led to the fastest accumulate of debt (more than $5 trillion) in the shortest amount of time (3.5 years) in U.S. history.
Oh, yeah, Obama's a job-creatin', wealth-generatin', country-building sonofagun alright.
Another four years of this and it won't matter who the NEXT president is. There won't be much of a country left to govern.
But heck...eight years from now it will STILL be Bush's fault...right?
Obama's unemployment rate has never been lower than Bush's highest rate. Never.
Initially that was understandable; he inherited the economy that he got. But he's owned the economy now for an additional three budget/policy cycles since Bush left office...and the jobless rate is STILL above 8 percent.
I think if you're question is, "Where are all the jobs?" you need to ask Obama that. It's his economy, and he and Democrats ran the whole show for the first two years when most of his (failed) economic policies were passed.
Let's see.
At least Romney HAS created jobs. There has been a net loss of *1 million jobs* under Obama (Labor Dept. stats).
Talk about your "1 percenters." Have you seen where Obama raises campaign funds these days? At Clooney, Parker and Associates, with corporate offices in Hollywood and New York.
Oh, but hey, Mr. Gerard, you don't seem to be doing too badly yourself. As scores of your union "brothers and sisters" are out of work thanks to Bill Clinton's NAFTA, you're sitting comfy with an annual salary and benefits package worth $188,000 (http://www.unionfacts.com/employees/Steelworkers).
Amazing how statistics can be worded or phared to accomplish an articles intent.
"An analysis by the Wall Street Journal of the companies Bain bought in the 15 years Romney ran it found that 22 percent went bankrupt or closed within eight years. That's untold thousands of workers who lost their jobs and untold thousands of Bain creditors who endured losses because of bad Bain business practices."
So what that means is 78% of companies that are financially troubled and resort to Bain's services...which is why you goto to them, don't go out of business or bankrupt. That's actually not bad considering this isn't always a slam dunk to turn around.
And the metric used in this article, is jobs created. Notice the "saved" part is left out.
Doesn't Obama take credit for the GM bailout because it saved so many jobs? And criticize Romney for opposing the bailouts becasue it would have resulted in many more being unemployed. (somehow, all the dealer agreements being terminated and closing gets dropped in the dialog as jobs lost).
Obama doesn't portray GM as a "job creating" effort, rather, more of a job saving.
If Romney were to use a fungible number like jobs saved...wouldn't all the jobs from those 78% of companies still in business get credited as "jobs saved" under Obama math and be something to use in the campaign.
Not a Romney supported...don't like him or trust him. Just calling a spade a spade.
I hope the person who leads our country has gone to the best schools, led the best companies, worked with the brightest people, and had the most resounding successes.
Do we really want to elect a president with no track of record of leadership and no business successes under his/her belt? (OH THAT'S RIGHT, we did that in 2008....)
"Normal people don't smile about high unemployment; they cringe."
But "Romney is loving high unemployment. Just like the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives that has repeatedly blocked President Obama's proposals to increase hiring, Romney believes high joblessness is good for the GOP. It's one thing for a politician to know in his heart of hearts that a calamity for the country may help him achieve his ambitions. It's another to be so callous as to beam about it on TV."
But that's capitalism. Seeing as how this was written by a union guy, I would really expect him to understand.
So his bragging about his financial success at Bain with no consideration for the financial losses of those who were fired is what makes his comment about loving to fire people sting.
We all change services and we fire people, but it is not a pleasant task that we enjoy to do. We rather get along with people and have no issues with those we get services from.