Mitt Romney took pain the other day to write something about
his gaffe-filled visit to Israel
but has not yet spelled out his economic plan for America
despite the fact that he keeps presenting his personal success in business, and
his knowledge of economics as two reasons why he should be elected president of
the United States of America .
And from what just happened, it does not look like he will ever be inclined to
personally explain his economic plan.
What happened, in fact, is that he had one of his economic
advisers and current surrogate write: “The Romney Plan for Economic Recovery,”
an article that was published in the Wall Street Journal on August 2, 2012. The
article also has the subtitle: “Tax cuts, spending restraint and repeal of
Obama's regulatory excesses would mean 12 million new jobs in his first term
alone.” The adviser is Glenn Hubbard who is now dean of Columbia Business
School
Hubbard begins the article by saying that things are bad
now, the reason why “We must fix our economy's growth and jobs machine.” He
goes on to say that this can be done because America has “the talent, ideas,
energy and capital” to do it. What is lacking, he adds, are the correct
“policies aimed at stopping runaway federal spending and debt, reforming our
tax code and entitlement programs, and scaling back costly regulations.” He
then makes the claim that such policies “cannot be found in the president's
proposals” but that they form “the core of Romney's plan for recovery and
renewal.”
But these proposals do not look like something new to those
of us who have followed the ongoing debate on the subject. Thus, the implicit
promise in the Hubbard presentation is that he will now explain in detail why
they were not taken up by the current administration, and why Romney will be
able to implement them if elected president. Instead of doing this, however,
the author gives a history lesson as to what the “Obama administration chose to
emphasize.” Intertwined with this, however, and to our chagrin, he does
something that shows how much he lacks a sense of history.
For as long as there has been history on this planet, the
history has been that you cannot predict the future. In consequence of this,
any promise you make about the future effect of a policy decision you take
today with regards to the economy will be proven wrong when the future comes,
unless it happens by fluke. In fact, what is plaguing the current
administration is not so much that the economy is not doing well by historical
standards but that it is growing at a slower pace than the promised 5% rate or
better, and that unemployment is still higher than the 8% level below which it
was predicted it will be; and nowhere near the 5.6% level that many economists
had said it will come down to.
Despite all this, Hubbard goes on to cite several studies
that tell by what exact percentage the decisions of the current administration
have impeded the growth of the economy, and by what percentage the Romney
proposals will make the economy grow -- promising that “returning to pre-crisis
levels of uncertainty would add about 2.3 million jobs in just 18 months,” and
further promising that 12 million new jobs will be created in the first term
alone of a Romney administration as you can see in the subtitle of the article.
Thus, if you dismiss as spin the attacks which are leveled
against the current administration; if you dismiss the figures which are quoted
to illustrate how bad the decisions of the current administration have been;
and if you dismiss the predictions for a stellar performance of the economy
under Romney as the phony promises of an electoral campaign, what might you be
left with?
Well, Glenn Hubbard finally tells us what that is: “The
governor's plan puts growth and recovery first, and it stands on four main
pillars.” They are these: (1) Stop runaway federal spending and debt. (2)
Reform the nation's tax code to increase growth and job creation. (3) Reform
entitlement programs to ensure their vitality. (4) Make growth and cost-benefit
analysis important features of regulation.
But how will he do all this? By lowering the taxes,
restraining the growth in the entitlement programs and getting rid of most
regulations, he says. In short, he is promising the same old wine in the same
old bottle – not even a new bottle. Then comes the sales pitch that could not
buy you a castle for a just song. Here it is: “the Romney plan offers an
economic U-turn in ideas and choices.” False, you say, there are no new ideas
here, and the choices are no more than the same old, same old. Undeterred, he
goes on to pitch the following: “When bolstered by sound trade, education,
energy and monetary policy, the Romney reform program is expected … to increase
GDP growth by between 0.5% and 1% per year over the next decade.”
And these are the bogus platitudes that nobody will pay
attention to. It seems, in fact, that the author knows this, which is why he
makes one last pitch. He makes a subtle appeal to the patriotism of the
electorate: “But these gains aren't just about numbers … The Romney approach
will restore confidence in America 's
economic future and make America
once again a place to invest and grow.”
Somebody should tell
Hubbard to tell Romney that patriotism is not to run to Israel and raise money there to be president of America .
Patriotism is not to rehash old ideas when the only new idea that Romney has is
to give the Jews what belongs to the Palestinians, not to him or to America .
Moreover, raising
foreign money to finance an electoral campaign must be recognized as a criminal
act. And selling someone else's property in return for votes or donations must
also be criminalized.
If Glenn Hubbard
wants to do something for America ,
this is where he can put his effort. Nothing is more urgent than that at this
junction in America 's
political life.