Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
The Wall Street Journal's take on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's jobs plan begins with an important note: "His ideas are better than President Obama's."
This being an exceedingly low bar, however, the editors proceed with the bad news. The 160 pages and 59 proposals Romney released yesterday are "surprisingly timid and tactical considering our economic predicament."
They're a technocrat's guide more than a reform manifesto.
Which is sort of what you could say about the Romney campaign writ large. The editors say that Romney understands a healthy economy will naturally produce jobs. As part of that understanding, he endorses a move that would have Congress approve major new regulations that cost more than $100 million.
But Romney shrinks from a fight on tax rates and capital gains taxes. His spending plan is modest. He doesn't detail how his Medicare plan differs from Rep. Paul Ryan's. And he doesn't take a position on how to reform Social Security.
And then this:
By far the most troubling proposal is Mr. Romney's call for "confronting China" on trade. This is usually a Democratic theme, but Mr. Romney does Mr. Obama one worse by pledging to have his Treasury brand China a "currency manipulator" if it doesn't "move quickly to bring its currency to full value." He'd then hit Beijing with countervailing duties.
Starting a trade war is a rare policy mistake that Mr. Obama hasn't made, but Mr. Romney claims it is a way to faster growth. His advisers say he doesn't favor a 25% tariff on Chinese goods as some in Congress do, but once a President unleashes protectionist furies they are hard to contain.
The editors say this is folly, perhaps designed to blunt criticism over Romney's private ventures sending jobs overseas.
So while the all-important but exceedingly easy "not as bad as Obama" threshold has been met, it's disappointing to not see a bit more substance.
One of my worries about Romney is that this would be the type of presidency he would have -- technocratic meddling when serious reform and overhaul is needed. What do you think?
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Comments :
Jun '10
Re: Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
Would it be too extreme (in light of Jimmy Hoffa's remarks) to stand before a chart on the behemoth size of the federal government and say:
"This is the federal government. We're going to cut it off and we're going to kill it."
Just a "general" question.
Dec '10
Re: Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
You've got a couple of burnt pistons, cracked a head, and your tranny is leaking like a sieve. Oil change should fix you right up.
May '10
Re: Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
Come on, only two comments, and only one actually Romney-derisive? It's like cats living with dogs!
Dec '10
Re: Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
I held back. I'll project his faults on slide (ala Lucy and Charlie Brown) if you like.
Jul '11
Re: Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
While I haven't had time to review it in detail, I score it as follows:
• Tax Policy - Reduces some growth inhibiting taxes, with a promise for a flatter fairer tax system as a long term goal. Right direction, snail-like pace. C+
• Regulatory Policy - Gets us back to pre-Obama regulatory structure with 2 provisions to keep regulation in check: cap on regulatory costs and requiring more congressional approval. Takes on the EPA. A-
• Trade Policy - Approves pending FTAs and seek more partners. Defends intellectual property from the Chinese and challenges them on currency manipulation. Proposes tariffs. B-
• Energy Policy - Streamlines approval process, amends CAA to prevent carbon regulation, encourages nuclear, oil, coal, and emerging technologies. A
• Labor Policy - Reins in NLRB and mandatory unionization/dues. IMO strikes a balanced approach at reining in union corruption, but without attacking unions. B+
• Human Capital Policy - Reforms jobs programs. Doesn't address illegal immigration or education issues. C-
• Fiscal Policy - Cap spending, BBA, reform entitlements and federal workforce. Nice ideas, still no details. B
Looks like a solid B to me.
-E
Apr '11
Re: Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
The technocrat issue is definitely something I'm worried about. Any serious economic policy (especially with a conservative bent) will require some short-term pain. My fear is that Romney will not have the fortitude to weather such a storm. Remember that Reagan kept Volker on at the fed and allowed him to tame inflation with tough monetary policy (something Carter would not pursue). This caused a massive recession and terrible poll numbers, but the economy began to rebound and accelarate in year 3.
Will Romney bring tough folks to important positions to press forward with reform, or will he play it safe? I for one, don't get a good feeling about the prospects.
Edited on Sep 7, 2011 at 11:32amAug '10
Re: Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
Remember that Romney is a candidate and not a sitting president. He needs to strike the right balance of having enough detail to give us some idea of how he would govern but vague enough to avoid putting a huge bullseye on his back (entitlement reform) in the general election so he can actually get elected. While not perfect, Romney's plan accomplishes those objectives.
That the Wall Street Journal doesn't gush over it won't cause me to lose any sleep. They tend to take a very myopic view of things sometimes, which isn't always in the best interest of the country (such as their advocacy of completely open borders, for instance)
Sep '10
Re: Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
Someone rang the dinner bell again.
Sep '10
Re: Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
Mitt:
Boxers or briefs?
Jul '10
Re: Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
Romney is a 70's style technocrat. His eyes light up like Gene Wilder's at the thought of "fixing" a specific "system". He's served four whole years in public office and gave Massachusetts a "cost cutting" health care scheme that broke the bank and required an ongoing federal bailout.
Bachmann is quite right to point out that issuing 50 waivers does not begin to shut down all that is broken with ObamaCare. That hair, backlit by lightning as he cranks the platform to the roof. The mad cackle as the lightning plays about the tower, infusing RomneyCare 2: This Time It's a Federal Crime! with life. I prefer to skip bad sequels.
Romney is vigorously courting the Tea Party. I hear that he is making headway at FreedomWorks. I don't see a lot of the not so "rank and file" following that lead, though. Eric Odom, whose work I appreciate, tried pitching Mitch to some surly Tea Partiers here.
Jul '10
Re: Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
Pseudodionysius: Mitt:
Boxers or briefs?
Boxers and briefs. Why needlessly alienate important segments of the electorate.
May '10
Re: Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
I agree that we'd all like meat, potatoes, and lots of acid. But this is an election campaign where winning the nomination is worthless if you burn bridges to the independents.
For a change, I agree with Frozen on both the substance and the reason.
Apr '11
Re: Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
I think that the WSJ was pretty positive about it. Mollie describes essentially all of the carping and less than half of the praise. And the carping includes a lot of stuff about how Mitt's jobs document doesn't contain a lot of detail on Medicare or Social Security. Somehow they let him get away with the fact that it also lacks detail on his views of NASA and the conflict in Libya.
A technocrat is a person who believes that society can be improved by appointing experts to run things. The document is overwhelmingly an assault on these things, reducing trade barriers (the FTAs are the headline provision, but he hopes to reduce trade barriers through a variety of other means), regulations, and complexity in the tax code. It's the opposite of technocracy. The one complaint that wasn't about his 169 page document being too short, and it's a valid one, was about China, but his approach there is poker, not chess. Working out the right levels of tit for tat in a prisoner's dilemma does not demand expertise but leadership.
May '10
Re: Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
Thank you for having Glenn Hubbard, one of Romney's economics team advisors on Podcast #84.
May '10
Re: Mitt Romney's Jobs Plan: Not Good Enough.
Yes, good to heard Dr. Hubbard. Next, we need Russ Roberts and Greg Mankiew. And King, of course.
There should be a nice long podcast segment with King explaining all the ins and outs of TARP (which he reluctantly supported originally along with Paul Ryan and many other responsible conservatives, and disliked when it switched from buying toxic assets to direct injection of liquidity), QE2, and the rest of the macro alternatives.
These are not black and white issues, and there are plenty of lefties and conservatives on both sides.