Economic Amnesia (More Trickle Down)

The conventional wisdom is that the fate of the presidential elections will rely a lot on how the economy is doing in the fall. For this reason, many have said--even top Republican advisors, out loud!--that Republicans are purposefully hampering the economy in order to kneecap the president and his chances for re-election in 2012.
Meanwhile, recessions have cycles, and while we're not out of it by any stretch, there are signs of improvement. Even Republican governors are contradicting Romney's narrative of economic doom and gloom.

There is no question that our economy is sputtering along and people are hurting. Pres. Obama and his leadership/policies SHOULD be up for debate and review. And so should Romney's alternatives.

While Romney criticizes the weakness of our recovery and Obama's "failures" to bring us out of it faster/stronger, listen for whatever it is he is saying a "President Romney" would have done differently.

What, exactly, substantially, are his policies? And... Would they work?

• We know that he wouldn't have bailed out Detroit and the auto manufacturers ("Let Detroit go bankrupt").
• We know he wants to cut spending and criticizes the Obama stimulus package of 2009.
• We know he wants significant tax cuts, as well as extension of the Bush tax cuts, which go primarily to the wealthiest. 
• We know that he has accused (falsely) Obama of massively expanding government regulations, and said he'd cut the red tape that's supposedly choking economic growth.
• (Update: Tax Policy Center put together Romney's tax plans based on his statements (given that he hasn't released any specifics) and ran analysis of the numbers. Read the breakdown here: "Why Romney's Tax Plan Is Mathematically Impossible" [Aug 6, 2012, "Next New Deal]) 

So... in response to economic failures of  key industries, he would have done nothing. His response to recession would be cutting taxes for the wealthy and slashing regulations.

Who does this sound like?

There is no meaningful difference between the trickle-down economics of George W. Bush, rejected by the country in 2008, and the plans supported by Mr. Romney and his Republican allies in Congress. All the elements are there, from the slavish devotion to tax cuts for the rich, to a contempt for government regulation, to savage cutbacks in programs for those at the bottom. (The Political Contrast - NYTimes.com (6/14/2012))

And we have a record of how things worked out under these policies:

• Killer Facts on Failure of Bush Economic Policies | Americans for Responsible Taxes - http://goo.gl/3mm6F
• The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush | Politics | Vanity Fair (2007) http://goo.gl/A8gT
• Bush Tax Cuts Have Provided Extremely Large Benefits to Wealthiest Americans Over Last Nine Years — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (7/2012) http://goo.gl/xYxrc
• Presidential Job Records - NYTimes.com - Krugman (May 2012) http://goo.gl/Np9v6
• Mitt Romney and Taxing the Rich -   Lowered taxes on the rich have not correlated with faster GDP growth  - http://goo.gl/UJTR8
• Idea of the Day: Great Recession Could Have Been Prevented by Bush Administration - http://goo.gl/czDgD
• Krugman - Why doesn't Bush get economic credit? - NYTimes.com - 1/28/2008 - http://goo.gl/BU4zv
• Mitt Romney Promises to Create Eleventeen Million Jobs - NYTimes.com (5/12/2012) http://goo.gl/CVmxc -- 
• Romney said that we should be creating 500,000 jobs a month — which almost never happens — and that we should have 4 percent unemployment, which is way below almost anyone’s estimate of the lowest rate we can have without accelerating inflation.
  But he understands the economy, right?
• Since Romney is proposing a complete return to Bush economic policies, it might be interesting to note the average rate of job creation during Bush’s first 7 years in the White House — that is, his record even if you ignore the catastrophe at the end. And that average monthly rate, from the BLS, was … drum roll … 66,000.
• Economists: Romney’s ideas wouldn’t fix short-term crisis, and could make things worse - The Plum Line - The Washington Post (6/7/2012) http://goo.gl/gNKXT

Let's not forget.

_____
Trickle Down, Supply Side

• Tax Cuts For The Rich Do Not Spur Economic Growth: Study | TPMDC (9/17/2012) http://bit.ly/UcApTd

More on economic revisionism:

• Must read: Bruce Bartlett (REAGAN's guy), The Clinton Tax Challenge for Republicans (8/2012)
• Economists to Romney campaign: That’s not what our research says (8/8/2012) http://wapo.st/MjCHN3
• The Whole Story: Chairman Conrad's Response to Republican 'No Budget' Claims:  Senate Budget Committee (4/30/2012) http://goo.gl/svlZ0 

More on economy:

• Those Idiots In Washington Don't Know Jack About The Economy (7/27/2012) Business Insider - http://goo.gl/QwgCC
• Includes 10 economic untruths debunked
• The most important issue in this year's election is the economy. But as a survey of economists by the Chicago Booth School makes clear, the last people you should be listening to about how to fix the economy are the people in Washington. Why? Because they don't know jack about the economy. (Or, more likely, they know something about the economy but they care a lot more about getting elected than fixing the economy, so they'll say whatever they think will get them elected.)
• Ed.: Paul Ryan’s Cramped Vision - NYTimes.com (8/11/2012)  http://nyti.ms/Nhkelx
• A candidate of no details — I’ll cut the budget but no need to explain just how — has named a vice-presidential running mate, Paul Ryan, whose vision is filled with endless columns of minus signs. Voters will now be able to see with painful clarity just what the Republican Party has in store for them.
• Alternet: 8/2012: Obama v. Romney: Two Radically Different Visions Of America's Future   http://bit.ly/PAgGFc:
• We've got a stark choice: do we improve the systems that have made us rich and powerful in the past? Or do we tear them down in the name of "freedom," and hope for the best?
• 8/2012: RT @ThePlumLineGS: In an election all about economy, you'd think there'd be more scrutiny on which candidate's plan would fix it http://wapo.st/OHpEov
• Analyzing Mitt Romney's Plan To Fix The Economy... - Business Insider (July 11, 2012) http://goo.gl/dkImW
• Romney Campaign Said to Ask Rep. Gov Scott to Downplay Job Gains http://t.co/IY648OS5
• Katrina vanden Heuvel: Romney’s incredible extremes - The Washington Post (8/2012)  http://goo.gl/VYlX1 -- "Mitt Romney’s tax and spending plans are so irresponsible, so cruel, so extreme that they are literally incredible. Voters may find it hard to believe anyone would support such things, so they are likely to discount even factual descriptions as partisan distortion."
• Romney's tax plan crunches middle class - Tampa Bay Times 8/6/2012 http://bit.ly/PFAJSS
• Scot Lehigh - Romney's Fanciful Tax Plan- Opinion - The Boston Globe (8/8/2012) http://b.globe.com/PFAW8x
• Wonkbog: The Romney campaign says stimulus doesn’t work. Here are the studies they left out. (8/8/2012) http://wapo.st/O5YqWZ