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Professor Krugman continues his Sisphyean labors pointing out the Romney/Ryan “Snow Job on Jobs“:
… Mr. Romney, it turns out, doesn’t have a plan; he’s just faking it. In saying that, I don’t mean that I disagree with his economic philosophy; I do, but that’s a separate point. I mean, instead, that Mr. Romney’s campaign is telling lies: claiming that its numbers add up when they don’t, claiming that independent studies support its position when those studies do no such thing…
As many people have noted, the plan has five points but contains no specifics. Loosely speaking, however, it calls for a return to Bushonomics: tax cuts for the wealthy plus weaker environmental protection. And Mr. Romney says that the plan would create 12 million jobs over the next four years.
Where does that number come from? When pressed, the campaign cited three studies that it claimed supported its assertions. In fact, however, those studies did no such thing…
So when the campaign says that these three studies support its claims about jobs, it is, to use the technical term, lying — just as it is when it says that six independent studies support its claims about taxes (they don’t).
What do Mr. Romney’s economic advisers actually believe? As best as I can tell, they’re placing their faith in the confidence fairy, in the belief that their candidate’s victory would inspire an employment boom without the need for any real change in policy. In fact, in his infamous Boca Raton “47 percent” remarks, Mr. Romney himself asserted that he would give a big boost to the economy simply by being elected, “without actually doing anything.” And what about the overwhelming evidence that our weak economy isn’t about confidence, it’s about the hangover from a terrible financial crisis? Never mind.
To summarize, then, the true Romney plan is to create an economic boom through the sheer power of Mr. Romney’s personal awesomeness. But the campaign doesn’t dare say that, for fear that voters would (rightly) consider it ridiculous. So what we’re getting instead is an attempt to brazen it out with nakedly false claims. There’s no jobs plan; just a plan for a snow job on the American people.
Snow the wind, and reap the whirlwind…
Joseph Nobles
Shorter Romney: “A recovery is happening, America, and if you elect me your President, I’ll be able to claim credit for it.”
Narcissus
Given the content-free nature of his campaign, what the hell is the deal with that gallup poll?
Ash Can
I think Krugman is being kind. I think Romney knows damn well he has fuck-all of a plan, and has no intention of formulating any plan at all other than shaking the country down for every cent he can. He doesn’t have any details because he doesn’t give a shit about having a plan in the first place.
SFAW
@Ash Can:
Fixed, because I think Romney DOES have a plan, which you nailed in three notes, Johnny.
arguingwithsignposts
flying. ugh.
SFAW
@Narcissus:
27 percent of the country is certifiably nuts, and there are a lot of stupid people that are allowed to vote. I find it ironic – although not unexpected – that the Rethugs keep focusing their anti-“fraud” efforts AWAY from the people who are too stupid to vote, a/k/a low-information voters a/k/a wingnuts/conservatards/Rethugs.
No, not ironic … what’s that word? … oh yeah: “appalling.”
TheMightyTrowel
OT: woo! at work after 9pm on a Friday! I live the wild life!
TMT + negative 30
Schlemizel
@arguingwithsignposts:
I am so grateful that I have not had to do that as part of my job since the early 2000’s. The last couple of years of it were a nightmare. Between Bad Security Theater with Leonard Pinth-Garnell dirty, crowded planes and airlines that clearly didn’t give a crap about their customers it was miserable. I remember the “bad old days” of regulated airlines when things like maintenance were required ant the companies acted as if they cared you bought a ticket.
A couple of years ago we went on vacation to NYC. Spent a total of 5 days driving to get there & back. AS much fun as we had in NYC I would not trade in those 5 days for the extra 3 flying would have given us.
Ash Can
@SFAW: It’s good to have a talented editor. :)
RossinDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
Open Thread? It’s 3:00 am in Hermosillo Mexico. I’m headed off to the airport on my way home after 12 fairly harrowing days away. I’ll never forget this experience or, hopefully, have to go through it again.
Looking forward to catching up on politics when I get back to a fast internet connection.
Schlemizel
@TheMightyTrowel:
What? Are you in Gaum or something? Where is it 9PM now?
And also my sympathy for having that as your Friday night
raven
A thread about hippies and music at ELEVEN at night. Guess they didn’t really want any input from us!
amk
@SFAW: What 27% ? Try 45% which seems to be buying mittbot’s snowjob consistently.
RossinDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
I like the way Krugman has become more blunt and direct in calling out Romney’s lies. When I read that post yesterday it seemed almost resigned. he’s not being snarky or skeptical, just stating the facts that Mitt’s got nothing up his sleeve.
SFAW
@amk:
Yes, I know. The 27 percent is the first/largest chunk of that. The remaining 20-plus percent are low-info morons. (Disclaimer: this is not to suggest that none of the 27-percenters is a moron, only that – no matter many numbskulls vote for Rmoney – 27 percent of the populace is nuts.)
PreservedKillick
Yeah Romney’s plan is simple, and it has nothing to do with the “good of the country” and everything to do with a last-gasp power grab by the 1%.
(1) Cut the crap out of taxes (for their benefit and to starve the beast.)
(2) Decimate the social safety net. Those people don’t vote.
(3) Stack the supreme court.
(4) Make it all look kinda sorta OK through what amounts to cheap tricks: eliminate EPA regs to drive down energy prices in the short term, cut all federal energy tax – same reason, allow interstate health insurance sales and drop minimum policy requirements so people can buy cheap, shit health insurance.
In the short term, this is going to make people happy. Time it right, you could maybe make people happy for eight years or so. The deficit balloons and you’ve left a monstrous mess…but here’s the thing. It’s SOMEONE ELSE’S MESS, just like what they’ve tried with this round / Obama.
It’s entirely self serving. Would you expect anything less?
SFAW
@RossinDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
I believe the double-plus-good word, approved by our Murdochian overlords for use with respect to Krugman, is “shrill.”
amk
@SFAW: After 2008, 2010 and 2012, I think we can safely put that entire 45% into that first group.
RossinDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@SFAW:
And so partisan, too. I’m sure President Romney would get us past all of this partisan-ness. Once the GOP has anyone to the left of Reagan safely under their boot heel.
Third try to post this. The internets here (Mexico, not BJ) need more hamsters. Almost not worth the effort.
SFAW
@amk:
That could be the topic for a real debate. I think enough of the Teabaggers act in what they perceive is their own self-interest to remove them from the “insane” classification. If they acted against what they believed to be self-beneficial, without an overarching, altruistic reason, then I’d say “yeah, they’re all nuts.”
But since a lot of them are acting in what they BELIEVE is their own self-interest, but are too stupid to be able to discern which is and which isn’t, then I don’t throw them into the crazy” classification.
But, reasonable people can disagree about this.
If I were the seminar-giving type, I might give one called “Republicans: Stupid, Crazy, or Just Plain Evil?” (Which would not necessarily preclude them from falling into all three classifications, of course.)
SFAW
@RossinDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
Reagan was too moderate for today’s Rethugs, you know.
jeffreyw
Early Morning Breakfast Porn
TheMightyTrowel
@Schlemizel: eastern Australia. just got home to find i am also out of bread and so dinner is a bowl of cereal. sigh.
Schlemizel
@amk:
Thats it right there isn’t it?
But really, 27% is just the group educated by FAUX News, Rush Lamebrain and chain emails from your crazy uncle. 45% of the country just isn’t paying attention, or not that bright or convinced there is no difference (but I repeat myself). It is that 45% that the campaigns are really fighting over to start with.
The election is not decided by people who consider their needs and wants, the good of the country and the various candidates positions. We knew months ago & the 27% never will buy a clue. The election is decided by the 45% in the middle who like one guys tie or think that other guy was mean. We really are pretty much screwed.
The Other Bob
@Narcissus:
Read testerdays 538. If a poll is way out of line with everything elese, you need not give it much thought.
Schlemizel
@TheMightyTrowel:
Reminds me of my first Xmas away from home. Had to work a long shift & dinner was a loaf of bread I made because it was all I had – the 1% I toiled for failed to make payroll several time & the local stores refused to take my checks because the bounced too often because my paycheck had bounced
Its a heart warming Xmas story I should tell during the Holidays!
Hope Saturday is much better for you
TheMightyTrowel
@Schlemizel: thanks! it should be- Tai chi class in the morning then a shopping spree at the garden shop! i might even make a tray of brownies.
Lojasmo
@Narcissus:
Tennesee, Kentucky, South Carolina, Louisana, Texas, Arkansas.
max
That’s the best emanation from the Great Floating Head of KRRROOOOOOGGGGmann in awhile. If you want to add anything about the Romney economic plan, don’t bother because all the nothing is present and accounted for.
Just finished watching O on Stewart: as usual, he’s at his best in the talk show format. (Did this, did that, gonna do this thing over here, and that thing over there, what’s the problem? If ain’t fast enough for you, maybe you should learn about the way our government does and does not work. Especially when Republicans are involved.)
Meantime, our little Islamicist pal is shooting his mouth off:
One could ask the same of you, sir. But he’s not an al Queda guy, nor even a franchisee, they’re just just his fan favorite.
Charmed, Mr. Random Jihadi Asshole.
Oh, no sir, please, stay out in the open. You might be well advised to worry less about making Libya properly Islamic and more about putting your affairs in the order. But it’s your now-shortened life.
Great correction on the story, BTW:
max
[‘Drink hearty, sir, for tomorrow you may die.’]
Lurking Canadian
@Narcissus: I don’t want to get all “Polls are rigged!!!”, but the key seems to be in the “likely voter” screen. As far as I understand it, pollsters call people up and ask them who to vote for. So far so good.
Then they apply some mathematical transformation to what their respondents told them, to harmonize the data with some model of the population as a whole. If, for some reason, they think Dems are in a bad mood, they will distort their findings in the direction of Reps.
This process could be abused, of course, but it can also just be wrong. Based on what Nate Silver wrote yesterday, it seems that Gallup’s model is very volatile for some reason.
kay
Obama’s at 70 to win on Nate Silver. Those are good odds.
We’re having a big women’s event in OH which I hope to attend (if my 1:00 pre-trial doesn’t go long).
Valerie Jarrett is coming. It will be women from all 88 OH counties.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is people are saying they aren’t getting their absentee ballots, but that’s just this county. So far.
R-Jud
Just returned from the post office, where I cast my vote (£7 to send it abroad with a signature!). I like how the Chicago BEC encloses a “thank you for voting!” receipt with the absentee ballot. I’ve pinned it to the wall behind my monitor, with the one from 2008.
Villago Delenda Est
Well, there’s your problem, right there. Rmoney has no personal awesomeness.
Linda Featheringill
@kay:
Absentee ballots:
I finally got mine, about 10 days after they supposedly started mailing them out. But I’m a little east of you.
kay
Also, older people are saying the ballot is confusing.
Ohio rotates which name goes first on the ballot, so a series for a set of precincts would have, say, Romney first and then the next print series Romney would drop to last and the name beneath his would move to the top. That’s fair, because ballot placement matters. There are, I think, 7 names (minor Parties plus the Big Two).
So they’ve done this years but for some reason our elderly people are finding this confusing, because they’re talking to each other and Obama’s name isn’t in the same place on all of their ballots, county-wide.
Unless it’s the ballot design, which is slightly different, but ordinary.
Or, they’re just nervous wrecks at this point :)
amk
@kay:
The best news this morn. :). Mebbe the OFA should educate them on this basic thing.
We need both the seniors and the yung’uns turn out in a big way so that the thugs don’t steal it.
kay
@amk:
We had a whole group last night who believed Romney placement on the ballot was rigged.
They’re not entirely satisfied with the explanation, either.
There’s no trust in our election system. None. It’s going to have to be addressed at some point.
Southern Beale
In Tuesday’s debate Mitt Romney said “I’ll create 12 million jobs,” then 20 minutes later said, “government can’t create jobs.” So which is it? Can’t have it both ways.
In other news, Republicans are up to their old tricks, tossing out voter registration forms in Virginia. This time an arrest was made.
amk
@kay:
The oldest democracy. Ironic. May be a few UN observers ?
J.
Romney handed binder full of jokes. (Video of Romney and Obama yukking it up at last night’s Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner at the Waldorf.)
Kirbster
@kay:
The way we do elections in this country is ridiculous. After more than 220 years into our experiment in self-government, the United States still can’t seem to decide if it is one nation or a patchwork of 50 little ones.
Lurking Canadian
@kay: When legislators brag about how election process laws will swing the election to one candidate, it’s hard to avoid distrust.
Chyron HR
That’s not fair. He also has magical White Horse Messiah powers with which to stimulate the economy.
CaliCat
She has a very nice voice but there’s only one Julie Andrews…no one can touch her. Do-ray-me-ca-piche?
Shalimar
An elderly couple was asking me yesterday how I could vote for that evil Obama. I replied by asking if they had actually looked at Romney’s economic plan because it basically amounted to eliminating taxes for people like him who don’t actually work for a living (capital gains) and killing Jill (granddaughter/single mother who only survives because of Medicaid and Section 8 housing assistance) to make up the difference in the budget deficit. They weren’t happy, but maybe they will think about it at least some.
Michael
Early voting numbers look strong for Obama. Which is nice
kay
@Linda Featheringill:
We have a genuine problem here. I think it’s one GOP election staffer. A staff person, not a poll worker. I don’t know that it’s malicious, because, honestly, she’s a little unhinged. She should leave the job. It’s detail-heavy, rule-bound, and I think she has reached the point where she’s so afraid of making a mistake that she can’t really function. I don’t know what’s going on (whether or not someone is pressuring her) because she’s always been a little eccentric but now she’s openly hostile and defensive.
kd bart
Does Mitt’s plan involve a monorail?
gnomedad
Letter to the editor in the Chicago Tribune this morning wants to ask Obama the following zinger: “Have you ever seen a poor person create a job?” On so many levels – yikes.
chopper
i feel like someone snookered mittens into buying a magical machine that claims to spin self confidence into gold.
Schlemizel
@chopper:
I think its just what he has learned from his life – he shows up & money falls from the sky! Daddy was the first rain maker but Willard can’t see that. All that money that daddy left him seeded the clouds over his head so money just keeps raining down on him.
Of course he believe his mere presence will cause jobs to fall from the sky, why wouldn’t he?
Marshall
@Narcissus: What is the deal with the Gallup poll ? I honestly believe its disinformation, pure and simple. Gallup is putting its thumb on the scale, hoping that people not paying attention will conclude Mitt is way ahead, and want to jump on the bandwagon.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kirbster: Hell, Wisconsin’s elections are run at the municipal level with supervision and advice from the county and state. 1851 separate little elections. Actually, that gives me confidence that people won’t be able to do anything fraudulent on a major level – too many working parts.
Note: For those who want to bring up Waukesha, the county clerk was incompetent at reporting votes that had been reported to her. She did not manufacture votes. I can’t link to them from my phone, but the reports from the investigation are available on the GAB website.
catclub
@Schlemizel: There is a Stan Rogers song “First Christmas Away from Home” It covers just this case.
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
@Kirbster:
I seem to recall that we once had a shooting war over this very issue.
“Are we a Federated Republic, or Loose Confederation?” is a question we keep being forced to answer. One party currently argues strongly for the latter.
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
@Michael:
I still don’t understand how the early voting numbers can disagree with the polls so much. Even the pro-Obama swing state polls have him up by only a few percent.
If the GOP is so eager to get That Uppity One out of the White House, wouldn’t they be clamoring to vote also? Makes no sense to me.
Nate Silver brought the question up almost a week ago, but never answered it (that I know of, anyway).
feebog
@ Marshall:
As pointed out upthread, part of the problem is with their “likely voter” screen. They ask multiple questions to qualify “likely voters” from “registered voters”. The registered voter margin was plus one for Romney. And that is a from a seven day average, not reflecting any gains Obama may have eearned from his debate performance.
But I don’t think the likey voter screen explains the entire problem with that particular poll. They did not release the demograpics in their cross tabs, but I suspect that Southern voters were over-represented in the poll, which would explain a lot. I also question how Obama can only have a four point lead in the West when California, which makes up over half that population, has ha 20+ margin for Obama in recent polls.
Michael
@Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God: I think part of it is simply that Obama has the superior ground game, so even if Romney is close, right now Obama is doing a better job of getting his supporters to the polls early.
Romney may be relying on the idea that his base will get itself to the polls on election day. Part of the problem for him, though, is that every Obama voter that votes early is 1 less person the campaign has to worry about going forward. Which means they can expand their universe of targets between now and election day.