SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : View from the Center and Left
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
From: Dale Baker9/5/2012 11:25:29 AM
  Read Replies (2) of 541839
 
The misguided argument over 'net' jobs

By Steve Benen
-
Wed Sep 5, 2012 9:26 AM EDT

This again?

One claim Republicans make to support their proposition that the country's worse off than it was "four years ago" is that there are fewer jobs in America today than there were when President Obama took office.

"[H]e hasn't created one single net new job since he's been president," Mitt Romney's spokeswoman Andrea Saul said on MSNBC Tuesday afternoon.

If the Romney campaign insists on doing this again, fine, let's go ahead and do this again.


Mitt Romney recently said it's only fair to give a new president "at least six months or a year" to get put together an economic plan, assemble a team, and put his or her "policies in place." With that in mind, if we acknowledge President Obama took office in the midst of catastrophic conditions that weren't his fault, and we don't include his first year against him, 3.88 million jobs -- and 4.44 million private-sector jobs -- have been created in less than three years.

That's not using Obama's standard; that's using Romney's standard.

The only way Team Romney's talking point makes sense is if you include job losses that happened immediately after Obama became president -- an argument Romney himself once dismissed as " silly" -- and include public-sector job losses that Republicans say they support.

What's more, if we're only measuring employment by total non-farm payrolls, we're already above where we were in January 2009.

Besides, this is a GOP talking point with a shelf life -- barring a sharp deterioration in the U.S. economy, Obama's "net" job totals will enter positive territory no matter when one starts the clock.
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2025 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News