Six Facts About Mitt Romney’s Plan
The Romney campaign promised a “major address” today on the economy that was to be the Republican candidate’s closing argument. Instead, we got a gauzy version of his stump speech with nothing new, other than promises that Romney would bring “big change.”
We happen to agree that Romney will bring big change — just not the kind the middle class can believe in. Here’s six key points to remember as the election enters its closing phase:
1) ROMNEY’S BOGUS 12 MILLION JOBS: Romney consistently promises that his policies will create 12 million jobs over his first term. But that’s the number of jobs economists predict the economy will create regardless of who is president. Also, Romney’s math falls apart upon scrutiny. For instance, he claims that his tax plan will create seven million jobs, but uses as evidence a study showing that those jobs will be created over a ten-year budget window, not a four-year presidential term.
2) ROMNEY’S BUDGET WILL KILL JOBS: According to the Economic Policy Institute, Romney’s budget plan will kill more than half a million jobs in the next two years, even if he abandons his plan to pay for his massive cut in tax rates. If he does pay for his tax cuts (which would require raising taxes on the middle class), his plan will cause the loss of nearly two million jobs over the next two years.
3) OBAMA’S JOBS RECORD: Despite the Romney campaign’s dour talking points, the Obama administration is net positive for job growth. The economy has created 1.3 million jobs this year, more than in five of the eight years under the Bush administration. Since February 2010, when the economy hit bottom, 4.4 million jobs have been created.
4) ROMNEY’S TAX CUT FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS DOESN’T HELP THE MIDDLE CLASS: In addition to his income tax plan, which is “severely impossible” according to math, Romney wants to eliminate investment taxes for the middle class. The only problem: the vast majority of middle-class taxpayers don’t have any investment income to exempt from taxation.
5) ROMNEY’S ‘INCONSEQUENTIAL’ EDUCATION POLICIES: Romney likes to tout his education record in Massachusetts as proof that his education policies can boost the economy. However, education experts say that Romney’s K-12 policies were “inconsequential.” His signature college scholarship program, meanwhile, “backfired,” as it largely helped students who were going to go to college anyway.
6) ROMNEY’S $1 TRILLION CORPORATE TAX CUT: Romney talks a lot about his plan to cut income taxes (without detailing how we would pay for it). Less mentioned is his plan to cut corporate taxes by $1 trillion, which the campaign isn’t even bothering to pretend to pay for, even as corporate profits are at all-time highs. Romney’s switch to a “territorial” corporate tax system would also make it easier to outsource jobs.
It’s also worth noting that, as per usual, Romney trashed the stimulus today. Oddly, he chose to do so at while he speaking at an Iowa construction company that had benefited from the stimulus to the tune of nearly $700,000. The company also touts many publicly-funded projects like school renovations on its website.
BOTTOM LINE: Mitt Romney has a one-point plan: everyone else pays more so the wealthy and huge corporations can pay even less. The middle class simply can’t afford the cost of a Romney presidency.