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Mitt Romney said he expected the nation's unemployment rate to approach 6 percent by the end of his first term, should voters elect him president this fall.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee said that he couldn't predict where the jobless rate might stand after a first year in office, but asserted it would decrease "quite substantially" depending on the conditions in the U.S. and abroad.
"I can't possibly predict precisely what the unemployment rate would be after one year. I can tell you, after a period of four years, by virtue of the policies we'd put in place, we'd get the unemployment rate down to 6 percent -- perhaps a little lower, depends in part upon the rate of growth [around] the globe, as well as what we're seeing here in the United States," Romney told TIME magazine's Mark Halperin.
Romney said in early May that an unemployment rate "over 4 percent is not cause for celebration."
The former Massachusetts governor said that his election and subsequent installation of policies would contribute to a change in perspective among businesses, and attract more investment as a result.
"We'd get the rate down quite substantially, and frankly, the key is we're going to show such job growth that there will be competition for employees again," he said. "And wages, we'll see the end of this decline."
The Congressional Budget Office, in its baseline projection of the economic and budget outlook, said it expects the unemployment rate to drop to around 6 percent naturally at some point in 2016, coincidentally toward the end of what would be a hypothetical first term for Romney.
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YIPPEE for Willard!
The only thing missing from Willard's champagne kisses & caviar wishes is;
HOW DOES HE PLAN TO ACCOMPLISH THIS!
And you suckers are going to fall for this sh!t?
The dumbing down of America marches on...
There we go America; all problems solved!
With nothing more than an empty promise and a wave from his magic wand we will all be enjoying everything we have always wanted!
I can also imagine that the sky is pink and water is red in RomneyLand.
This guy needs a serious dose of reality!!
ROMNEY: Over a period of 4 years, by virtue of the policies that we put in place, we get the unemployment rate down to 6%, perhaps a little lower.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts that unemployment will average 6.3% in 2016; the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), meanwhile, projects unemployment will hit 6.1 percent and ultimately fall below 6% the same year.
So his promise is to achieve no better than what is already projected. Why, with all his private sector experience can’t he do better than the current economic projection?
Typical Teapublican, sit back, do nothing, then take all the credit!
To think people buy into this crap!
Typical Teapublican, sit back, do nothing, then take all the credit!
You couldn't be more right Feisty.
The GOP is always ready to take credit for whatever anybody does and even more prepared to shift the blame if things don't work at well.
There thought process is something right out of the song Lost in the 50's Tonight
And, BTW, Romney’s (Ryan) proposed budget counts on unemployment below 4% to achieve the revenues needed for his budget plan to work.
I guess he forgot about that plan - or was it a promise?
unemployment rate "over 4 percent is not cause for celebration."....
..........but, but Willard says at the end of his first term the rate would be approaching 6%....come'on Willard, THINK!
This is not good, on so many levels!
Romney is planning on using Boehner's plan.....Uh Oh....that's right....we're still waiting for the Weeper of the House's plan.....
GNOP - 'THEY CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH'!
Fiesty,
Sounds better than, "unemployment will not get above 8%"
I heard that one. I think I will try Romney.
Considering what the current incumbent promised, Romney seem quite modest.
Has it been ten years already?
My, how time flies...
Mitt what about your last prediction, 500,000 jobs a month no issue. So why should we have any unemployment after 4 years. Want my next prediction, pull my finger.
Other Romney predictions: the sun will rise in the east, they will play the World Series in October, the tide will come in to the shore.
MRWSR, you wrote,
"Sounds better than, "unemployment will not get above 8%""
I see that's a direct quote, at least the fact that you enclosed that statement in quotations says it's a quote. Where did you hear that? Who said that?
I seem to remember about 4 years ago, an inexperienced man running for the same office made all kinds of promises, never set forth a detailed plan but by golly he was going to get it done for all of us. Then, when given the opportunity by doping people up with his hope and change rhetoric and getting elected, stated "we didn't realize how bad it was". Yet the promises were made, the biggest ones NOT done "I will reduce the deficit by half by the end of my first term", shovel ready jobs, transparent governing, stimulus will keep the UE rate under 8%, and on and on, and people have such a short memory and can only point the finger at the other guy. I guess that has taken out the old and overused "bush's fault" and is the best you've got.
Wow!! 225K saved or created by spending $80B. And this guy has the nerve to claim Romney business experience is not relevant. If Obama goes into private equity be sure to run and hide because your ROI will be negative.
WOW - I do believe your original quote was this;
Hold onto that kilt off yours, I don't need to see the moon while you're contorting yourself into a human pretzel! ;o)
DW, It was Jared Bernstein, one of Obama's economic adivsors. However, he said "unemployment would peak at 8%."
Romney also predicts World Peace on Day 2, if he is elected and a car elevator in every home!
Yippee!!!
Alan, NJ
First, Romney doesn't want to talk about his time as Governor , now he wants the President to lay off Bain. What's left?
The only way to get to 6 percent unemployment is to increase our debt, something Romney has been very critical of the president for doing. I keep trying to figure out what Romney stands for as far as the economy is concerned. Does he wish to increased GDP growth? Fight inflation? Improve unemployment? Lowering the annual budget deficit? Lowering the total deficit? I can’t figure it out and I think it is because he himself has no idea. Deregulate and the free market will fix all. Just like deregulating the energy trading market fixed companies being too willing to take on too much risk (Enron).
The advice I give to any person who lies as frequently as Romney is to include as much truth as possible in your lies. That way you can keep your story strait. Romney is telling so many lies and including so little truth in them that he is getting them confused. If he was an adulterer he would have been caught by now.
I don't want one. Can I have a pony instead?
David Walker,
Several, I will start with our amazing Fed Chairman.
If you would like more that took this quote and ran with it I can. All obama's administration.
Mitt can promise everyone a unicorn but unless he has something solid to show HOW, it's just hot air.
fizzled, Obama has increased the debt by 5 trillion and unemployment is still above 8%. Kinda makes the rest of your drivel irrelevant.
When did he say this?
...and the rest of the quote
so 5 million in 10 years are to say the least optimistic.
Too much for you? I understand.
Rocco and MRWSR:
Rocco first. Bernstein said no such thing. That lie has been debunked time and time again. A position paper co-authored by Bernstein and Roemer suggested that the rate MIGHT come down to 8%. That same paper contained a clearly written disclaimer that said - and I paraphrase - in the world of economics everyone knows it is not possible to make predictions they can guarantee.
Get your facts straight. Do not continue to repeat lies.
MRWSR: I've seen no such quote from Bernanke. I'd be happy to check out any link to which you might direct me that will substantiate your claim.
Not even close... oh... cheeky one! ☺
DW - Paraphrasing again? If so you screwed up a bit. At the time the rate was not AT 8%. to say "come down to 8%" would have been stupid. No matter which goof in the administration, or otherwise, said it, fact remains it did go over 8%. Way over.
Oh the hypotheticals, whether it's the price of gas or what have you, what a populist piece of crap the Republicans throw to the masses to get their votes.
For Pete's sake Romney -- The unemployment rate would only be 7% right now if the public sector wasn't decimated. Then take into account the economic recovery by the next election cycle, which could be faster if congress would do the things on the president's 5-point list, and WTF is Romney doing except trying to take credit for other people's achievements...like usual?
SeekingSanity -- Good-un. Hey at least people would have an elevator to live in (kind of like let them eat cake).
Does Romney the almighty, realize that without help from Congress, he is not going to do s**t?
Talk to the hand:
At the time the paper was written, the economy was in free-fall. Revisions later showed that GDP was actually at a negative rate. Jobs were hemorrhaging in staggering numbers.
That was the entire purpose of the stimulus. It was clear the unemployment rate was going to skyrocket AND it did. The Roemer-Bernstein paper suggested that the rate could be returned to eight-per-cent.
You are ridiculous.
Currently, President Obama has been doing slightly better than the experts had projected for this year.
Mitt promises that, if elected, his plans will accomplish exactly what experts project will happen if nothing changes.
And we are supposed to vote for Mitt because?
Given that his expectation of President Obama is 500,000 jobs created per month Mr. Romney has set the bar pretty low for himself.
Is Mitt the guy who invented "buy one get two for the same low, low price of $19.95!"
Plus any Shipping and Handling costs ($40.00)
A few weeks ago, Willard promised 4%, now he is promising 6%. By election day, he will promise to keep unemployment below 20%! Way to go Willard!
Look, you people- I TOLD you LAST week, that if you write me in, o'l DBO will have unemployment down to negative numbers, breast cancer will be cured and world hunger will cease to exist. (and gas will be 35 cents a gallon, don't forget!)
Crimminy, you don't belive me? Hell, man- I SAID so, didn't I?? Now, where's my dog? I have to strap him on the old Allis Chalmers and do some mowing.
LOL! Epic fail, Mitt. Since the CBO has already predicted this, it doesn't say much for you. And some swing states are already at 7% unemployment, looks like keeping Obama for another four years might be the better option for the unemployed. When he took on the job, unemployment was at almost 10%, thanks to his predecessor. He already has a better track record that what you are willing to promise.
7.3% actually - from the BLS
So why elect you if the Government is already forecasting employment at the level you are predicting by the end of your first term?
Geez, Mittens. Didn't you think anybody would notice that the CBO already predicted this? Look, I know you want to pander to your base and all, but everybody's not as stupid as they are.
Why in the world would any thinking person vote for this guy? No core, no brain, no plan, no vision. Just another yes-man, like W. Hopefully by November, most people will have figured that out.
No one in their right mind would make a statement that the unemployment rate would be near 6% by the end of their first term as president. President Obama found out the hard way as the Republicans did everything in their power to make certain that his first term figure was not met. Remember this: Mr. Romney has no better idea of how to improve job creation than anyone else. He is not knoweldgable enough in business practice to create a plan to increase the number of jobs in this nation. He knows best how to eliminate them.
President Obama never made those claims ... Just Saying .
The last time Mitt worked in Government his record was 49 out of 50 states. What an absolutely joke. Promising 97% more Americans a 6% Unemployment rate if he becomes President and when he had the chance he came in second to last in Job Creation.
Unemployment stabilized and dropped to around 4.7% in Mass... Kinda hard to have substantial job growth with only 4.7% unemployment...
Source. FactCheck
I am really beginning to believe that Mitt Romney holds the entire nation in absolute contempt. He must think we are all the dumbest people on the planet. And if we as country elect this clown then I will be forced to agree with him. 6% by 2016??? Let's throw a party and thank Mitt for accomplishing what the CBO says will most likely happen anyway. There's all that private sector experience for you.
But yet this administration calls what we have now the "new normal". At least Mitt has some vision of it getting better while Obama is satisfied where it is.
Let's try this again, the CBO says it will be 6% based on current policy. That means the 6% that Mitt is touting is actually what will happen with Obama's policies continuing. So to distill this even further for you...Romney and Obama are economically a wash, and Romney just admitted it.
He's white. The teabags won't say it, so I'll say it for them.
other future predicitons for Mitt -
"The sun will go down"
"The sun will come up" (typical flip flop)
"People will grow old"
and the only one you can count on:
"I, Mitt Romney, will be weathier next year than I am now. I can't speak for the rest of you." (take that one to the bank, Cayman preferably)
This actually is not a surprise. The Republicans strategy has been very simple all along. Hold up growth for the next 4 years, knowing that the economy will deleverage and turn around about 2015 naturally. If growth is held up during Obama's turn, they can pin it on him, and reap the reward of a Republican being in office when the economy finally rights itself, which is what it was going to do all along. Anyone reading Simon Wren Lewis over the last two years could have explained this to you. But you watch, if Romney is elected, conservatives will say they are such great stewards of the economy, when they didn't do squat. Any simple analysis of economic growth based on party in the white house will simply show that democrats have always fostered more economic growth than republicans. Numbers don't lie, even when you want them to.
Excellent observation Matt!
It all began in the smoke filled room full of GNOP grand poobah's on the night of President Obama's inauguration...
They can spin it all they want - it don't change the FACTS!
"There are 3 types of lies: white lies, damned lies and statistics." - Benjamin Disraeli
"Figures don't lie, but liars use figures" - Unknown
Like some D-bag in another vine saying he "missed the early days of G.W. Bush". Really? He should have said "I missed that budget surplus Clinton created and Dubya pissed away." Selective memory is a disease among the right, maybe they should hold a telethon. I mean for a cure, not the last telethon they had to further promote it, the primary debates.
Most economists are predicting unemployment will be under 7 by the end of 2013. This is assuming President Obama's policiies.
In addition, now that home builders are picking up, they are saying unemployment will be under 6.5% by the end of 2014. Romney is admitting he can't even keep up with economists projections for job growth under President Obama.
What happened to Romney predicting he would create 500,000 jobs per month for several months in a row?
No one caught, but Romney just admitted to the "new normal." Most of the GOP has been claiming that the recovery should have brought us to the unemployment rate last under Bush, which was 5.7, I believe. So we can't get to full employment in 4 or 8 years, and the press is just missing this stark admission.
Democrats are envious of success. They want what they do not have. So instead of trying harder it is the duty for them to create envy in all Americans.
Not everyone can have everything. We are a society of haves and have nots. Taking something that is not yours is generally called stealing aka taxation.
So you don't enjoy the roads you travel on, the police that protect you, the firefighters/EMT's that may save your life or the people that teach your children? Or maybe you don't like having clean air to breath or unpolluted water to drink either. Magic sky fairies don't pay for those things, taxes do. Sorry that there are other people that interfere in your world and that you have to share things with. Find yourself a remote Pacific Island, move there and talk to a soccer ball. Maybe you'll feel better.
and btw, I'm a Democrat and I don't want anything that you have, trust me.
Amazing how Conservatives have become so radicalized that they define provision for the infrastructure necessary to support a modern, prosperous society as "stealing." If people want minimal government interference they can find havens for such in utopias such as Malawi and Indonesia...I hear in Mogadishu the government does almost nothing that would interfere with a person's ability to achieve whatever they want.
If only Americans had it as good as they have it in those other places...
DBO's predictions are as realistic as the romney's.
Instead of a pony can I have a redhead?
The Ryan budget is for making jobless families starve to death. That will lower unemployment and create new jobs in the funeral industry.
No one is jealous of success, it's what we all aspire to. That's how this country got as great as it is, on the efforts of our immgrant ancestors. Not all of us were born with the same opportunities as the romney however. ( the one thing I'll never forgive my father for, not leaving me independently wealthy )
The problem is that when you're fed the fallicy that those that are independently wealthy will make life easier for you by trickling down their wealth it's pretty laughable. It hasn't worked for the last 11 years, it didn't work during Reagan's tenure and it's never worked in the history of the US. So when someone tells you they can fix the economy by lowering taxes yet again to absolute minimums it's just a fairy tale. And if you believe yor're just incredably gullible.
Since the CBO already predicted that if the current policies where kept, the unemployment rate in 2016 would be at ~6%, why didn't Mitt Rmoney pick a number well below the above? ... Like, for example 1% unemployment.
Moreover, the CBO says in a recent report that further deficit reduction at this point of the economic recovery will cause a new recession.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/22/cbo-report-deficit-reduction-recession_n_1537774.html
So, if (the hypothetical president) Mitt Rmoney applied the policies he outlined in the his meager economic plan or those in the Paul Ryan budget plan (that he qualified as "marvelous"), how in the world will he be able to beat the CBO's prediction and bring the unemployment down. Everybody, hopefully, knows by now that austerity policies have soundly failed to grow the economy in Europe and reduce the unemployment there, to the contrary. It's known that when the republicans are in power, they spend, spend, spend and spend, and balloon the deficit. But then, they whine that the deficit is too large and needs to be cut, when it's the Democrats who are in power. I believe that had it been John McCain in the WH, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner would have gladly spent us out of the that deep recession. So knowing that the austerity policies failed to create jobs in Europe, I don't believe that (the hypothetical president) Mitt Rmoney will apply them here.
The pathological liar that Mitt Rmoney is cannot fool us. Since President Obama did the most difficult work that was to take us out of the deep recession we were in and back to growth, despite the GOTP's systematic obstruction to him, why should we give the leadership of this country to a dude who has done absolutely NOTHING to deserve it? Mitt Rmoney's banks accounts are all located offshore. He made his money by killing jobs in this country. He couldn't even create jobs in the state of MA during his tenure there as governor (47th out of 50 on jobs creation). He hasn't release 10+ years of his tax returns, thus hiding things he doesn't want us to know about. Mitt, on November 6th, we will send you to retirement in the luxurious "chateau" you are building on the coast of California.
REJOICE Repububs You can make things better by doing nothing . We have watched your tea baggers do nothing for 2 years . Enjoy your Vacation from Government , it will only be a few decades .
i thought about it , its unfair to say they did nothing . They got US the first EVER downgrade . You Idiots should be SO Proud .
And just a quick question . To the Ron paul supporters ...Hows that Super secret Delegate count working for ya 'all ???
He means he'll lower unemployment in India and China because that's where he's going to send our jobs.
Last I heard from here was Ron Paul/Ayn Rand had more than 2000 Super Secret Delegates . I see fewer of the Crazys about now though .