Skewing data doesn’t help grow the economy

Posted by on . 3 comments.

Mitt Romney held a speech today in Las Vegas to present his muddled 160-page jobs proposal that helps corporations evade regulations more than anything else.

Over at ThinkProgress, somebody noticed a chart in Romney’s jobs proposal booklet that blames President Obama for job losses from 2007-2009 –  despite the fact that Obama didn’t even become president until January of 2009.

And he wants people to take his proposal seriously?

Comments

  1. kiel says:
    September 7, 2011 at 9:05 am

    The present-day GOP seems to be a refuge for the delusional, the ignorant, and the dishonest. I’m not sure which of these factions is the most dangerous.

  2. Charles says:
    September 12, 2011 at 5:17 am

    I think you’ve misunderstood the figure. Romney is calling the “recession” 2007-2009 and the “Obama recovery” 2009-2011. He’s trying to blame Obama because the “recovery” period involved losing, instead of gaining jobs.

    This is indeed an unfair attack, because the other recessions and recoveries are divided at the moment when the country switched from losing jobs to gaining jobs, while the final panel is divided at the moment when the country switched Presidents. However, it’s not unfair in the way you’re claiming.

  3. nathan says:
    September 12, 2011 at 9:12 am

    I think you’ve misunderstood the figure. Romney is calling the “recession” 2007-2009 and the “Obama recovery” 2009-2011. He’s trying to blame Obama because the “recovery” period involved losing, instead of gaining jobs.

    I think it would be safer to say that the graph is visually misleading. Although the fine print implies that the red “recession” bars are separate from the “24 months following” blue bars, the layout implicitly suggests that both are consequences of the “Obama Recovery.” Either way, the Romney campaign is purposely misrepresenting data to make it look as if Obama — rather than other economic factors — is more to blame for the slow recovery.