"I know how to create jobs," says Mitt, when he's not claiming President Obama apologizes for America. And whereas no one seems to be able to come up with evidence of how many he actually did "create" while making hundreds of millions at Bain, what's even more interesting and less mentioned is how he did it. Assuming he did. Thinking about it (there's the problem for teabaggRs), how would it translate into a presidency? A presidency behind which Rs could get.
Because, as I understand it, what Bain did was to find foundering companies and attempt to turn them around. BY INVESTING HUGE SUMS OF MONEY IN THEM. Other people's money. Then, when the time was right, often after laying off employees by the bucketload, selling the company.
Fact is, to the extent that governments can create jobs, it's by investing money in projects. That thing that Romney did when he was successful, and which Obama did (too little, owing to his perceived need to accommodate Republicans) with the Recovery Act.
Mitt "I'll-Say-Anything-If-It'll-Get-Votes" Romney created jobs (let's take it on faith) by taking someone else's money and investing in already-existing companies. Sort of like that thing he hates so much: bailing out Detroit. Which worked. So I'm not saying he shouldn't. But the only way he actually created jobs -- as opposed to coming up with a brilliant product, working hard, taking out loans, risking his own money, spreading the word [adventure capitalism as opposed to venture capitalism] -- was to give money to businesses. Sort of -- what would you call it? -- a stimulus plan.
Funny. I haven't heard anyone point it out, or ask him about it. His (self-described) successes with job creation were the result of policies about which he screams like Oli Sykes. When he was actually a political leader, he failed: Massachusetts, under Romney, ranked 47th among all states in job creation.
To the extent that government can actually create jobs, it's by investing money in businesses and creating projects that hire people. As the Recovery Act did. As liberals claim. When Mitt Romney says he knows how to create jobs, he's right, at least insofar as a president could do it. But in the next breath he lies. Like everything else he says, when reality is uncomfortable, he stakes his claim in exactly the opposite of truth. Which, of course, is exactly how teabaggers like it.
