Posted on 09/06/2011 7:47:53 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Anyone who wants to be president in January 2013 is talking about jobs, and for good reason. President Obama will unveil his new “plan” on Thursday night. Some candidates like Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul have a harder time, aside from the employees of their medical clinics. Herman Cain can certainly take credit for a fair number of them, but they mostly involve pizza. Rick Perry has a somewhat shorter speech on the subject, where he smiles, points a thumb over his shoulder and says, “Texas.”
But Matt Lewis at the Daily Caller points out that Mitt Romney may have a bit more complicated job if he wants to claim the mantle of job creation.
The central premise of former-Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is that he is a job creator whose private sector success demonstrates his expertise on the economy. “From my first day in office, my No. 1 job will be to see that America once again is No. 1 in job creation,” Romney said on Friday after another dismal U.S. jobs report. It was a line he had also delivered nearly three months earlier — the day he launched his presidential campaign…
But an analysis of available jobs data for Massachusetts under Romney’s tenure as governor shows Romney may have difficulty selling himself as a job creator at a time when out of work Americans are looking for results.
When Romney took office, there were 3,224,600 nonfarm seasonally adjusted jobs in Massachusetts. When he left office, there were 3,270,400, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (xls).
That means under Romney’s economic policies Massachusetts saw a net gain of only 45,800 jobs; a growth rate of 1.42 percent. Other estimates vary. For example, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development estimates job growth of 51,400 over that period. But in another analysis by Moody’s Economy.com, the number was lower: only 24,400.
That placed Massachusetts 47th among all states in job creation from January 2003 to January 2007. Nonfarm seasonally adjusted jobs across the United States grew by 5.265 percent throughout the entire U.S. The Romney economy in Massachusetts significantly underperformed compared to other states in terms of job creation.
Expect those numbers to come up over and over again in the primary debates. (And in the general as well if Romney winds up winning the nomination.) Creating jobs in a company that you own and operate is serious, real world experience to be sure. But employees are, by definition, part of a company. Making the magic work to attract jobs when you’re a chief executive (e.g. governor of a state) is a feat which translates much more directly to the role of president.
Of course, will Rick Perry even need to open up this line of attack on Romney? Given the latest poll numbers for the Texas governor (including the “intensity quotient“) how much time will he spend going after his primary opponents and how much will he simply steal Romney’s schtick and go directly after Obama like he’s already got the nomination in the bag?
Go home, Mitty, wherever that may be.
The true qualification isn’t how many jobs one ‘created’ but understanding govt should have nothing to do with it other than staying out of the way. Really though one doesn’t create jobs as such. They are created based on demand so if you can figure out what the consumer wants jobs necessary follow. Current thought tends too much toward make work situations in which theres little or no demand. Basically they’re a contrivance by the pols as a talking point.
Well, we are in the 5th year of Obama’s mini-me, Deval Patrick’s administration.
It's true that Massachusetts' unemployment rate was below the national average in Romney's first three years as governor in 2003, 2004 and 2005, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics figures for yearly averages. But in 2006, the last year he held office, the Massachusetts unemployment rate was 5 percent — higher than the national rate of 4.6 percent. So the unemployment rate improved more slowly in Massachusetts (dropping from an annual average of 5.8 percent to 5 percent) than it did nationally (from 6 percent to 4.6 percent.) The monthly unemployment rate tells a similar story. The unemployment rate in Massachusetts stood at 5.6 percent when he took office in January 2003, slightly lower than the nation's 5.8 percent rate. But the rate was 4.6 percent when he left in January 2007 — the same as the national average.Romney’s Economic Exaggerations (FactCheck.org)
Romney was dealing with Democrats so I could give him slack. However...so is Christie. Christie seems to have accomplished more against the opposing party when given the opportunity. I guess I would like to hear from Romney other then making legislation less bad (that’s his claim) what he managed to accomplish FOR a conservative agenda while there. Christie has some pro-life appointments and victories against the unions. I think it’s only fair to measure Romney against another blue state governor right?
Only a socialist thinks government create jobs. Where does the government get the money??????
1000% correct, government takes your money, wastes half of it and then say it invested(spent) the balance creating jobs. BS, if the business owner, work had spent and invested the money they would have created demand which would have caused more jobs.
True...the government does not create “real jobs”. However, the government does create the “climate” that supports job growth - i.e., reasonable regulation, favorable tax rates, etc. None of which have surfaced under this administration.
Perry and Romney are the Democrats picks for republicans to vote for..
Makes many people go “Hmmmmmmmmmmm” when considering the impact of that.....
Its almost like 2008 when they chose Juan McLame for “US” to vote for...
Even the very slow... mentally challenged of us are “WoWed” by the hubris of it all..
Has the unemployment in MA ever come up as a question in any of the debates?
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