Romney Enlightens Us on Economics

Well, Mitt's speech, which the New York Times described as "delivered in a treacly tone with a strange misty smile on his face suggesting he was always about to burst into tears," and which contained (as usual for this disingenuous liar) almost no specifics, is now history.  Here, for your edification is the total of everything Mitt had to say about job creation, of course, with Green Eagle's helpful translation into English:

"I have a plan to create 12 million new jobs." 

The CBO estimates that the economy will produce 12 million new jobs on its own by 2016.  So Mitt has a plan to do the same thing Republicans have done for the last two years to create jobs: nothing.

"Paul Ryan and I have five steps. First, by 2020, North America will be an energy independent by taking advantage of our oil, are coal, our gas, our nuclear, and renewables."

I.e. doing away with regulations on the energy industry, and savaging the environment and Americans' health so some hyper-rich guys can get even richer.  Leave aside the fact that, with 2% of the world's proven oil reserves and 20% of its consumption, energy independence through increased production is a goal that is impossible to achieve.  But it will make a bunch of oil and coal guys a lot richer.

"Second, we will give our fellow citizens the skills they need for the jobs of today and the careers of tomorrow.  When it comes to the school your child will attend, every parent should have a choice, and every child should have a chance."  

School vouchers.  Boy, that's an original Republican idea.

"Third, we will make trade work for America by forging new trade agreements, and when nations cheat in trade, there will be unmistakable consequences."

Less regulation on multinational corporations who want to exploit near slave labor abroad and sell their products here.  Of course, for a foreign nation to have no environmental regulations and a near-starvation labor force is not "cheating" in trade- no, for a Republican that's just smart business.

"And fourth, to assure every entrepreneur and every job creator that their investments in America will not vanish, as have those in Greece.  We will cut the deficit and put America on track to a balanced budget."

"Of course a total lie, as every Republican economic proposal involves exploding the deficit to give tax cuts to the rich, at which point they will scream all the louder that people on Social Security and Medicare need to suffer to make up the difference."
 
"And fifth, we will champion small businesses, America's engine of job growth.  That means reducing taxes on business, not raising them.  It means simplifying and modernizing the regulations that hurt small businesses the most, and it means we must rein in skyrocketing cost of health care by repealing and replacing Obamacare."

Doing away with regulations and cutting taxes on corporations and the rich.  And destroying Obamacare and Medicare and Medicaid in the process.

Well there you have it.  Reduced to its essentials, Romney's proposal is to cut taxes on the rich and do away with regulation on corporations.  In other words, not one bit more nor less than the same self-serving cant that Republicans have been pushing on the American people since 1920, no matter what situation the country finds itself in and no matter what its immediate needs are.  At every step for the last hundred years, the Republicans' only thought has been, "how can I exploit this situation to get more for me, regardless of the cost to others," and that's all Romney has to offer us today.We know what it did to us in 1929, and we know what it did to us in 2008.  But that won't stop them, as one of the most monumental avalanches of greed in human history continues its relentless, mindless advance.

You know, after a night's reflection, I think Clint's speech was better.