Mitt Romney is back to accusing President Obama of having no plan for economic growth:
The president's policies have not gotten America working again. And the president is going to have to stand up and take responsibility for it. I know he's been planning on going across the country and celebrating what he calls 'forward.' Well, forward doesn't look a lot like forward to the millions and millions of families that are struggling today in this great country. It doesn't have to be this way. The President doesn't have a plan, hasn't proposed any new ideas to get the economy going-just the same old ideas of the past that have failed. [Emphasis added]
The political world has all but forgotten the American Jobs Act, but it remains on the table as Obama's plan for juicing the economy. If passed in full, the Jobs Act would cut payroll taxes for businesses, double the size of the payroll tax cut for individuals, give aid to states to prevent public sector layoffs, and increase infrastructure spending. All together, the Jobs Act would create 1.9 million jobs over the next year.
Romney, on the other hand, doesn't have a plan for generating demand and creating short-term economic growth. What he has is a plan designed for long-term problems; he wants to expand domestic energy production, sign new trade agreements, cut the corporate tax rate and confront China over currency manipulation. What's more, he wants to dramatically reduce the size of government and shrink the federal workforce. As Greg Sargent pointed out last month, this agenda-particularly the plans to cut federal spending-would have a negative shock on the economy. If you assume Romney intends to implement the Ryan budget-which he has said on multiple occasions-his plan would cost the economy 1.3 million jobs, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The only jobs plan on the table right now is the one proposed by the Obama administration. Republicans should be pressured to pass it, and Romney should be challenged on his assertion that the White House has nothing to offer.
