Mitt Romney’s Economic Advice For Obama
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2012 Election, Barack, Economy, Romney
Sure, Mitt has his sights set on 2012, but he still manages to lay out some ideas that Obama should take to heart.
On governing…
Any management advice for the next president? How does he rally a depressed nation to meet the challenges we face?He should forget entirely about reelection and focus solely on helping the nation at a critical time. He should dismiss the people who helped him win the election and bring in people who are above politics and above party. He should surround himself with statesmen and economists, businesspeople and leaders. In some ways it would be beneficial if our presidency consisted of only one term. That way the President would think about his legacy and the future of the country rather than reelection and partisanship.
Good advice, and my hope is that Obama will stack his cabinet with the kind of folks that represent a true cross section of the political spectrum.
However, does this “one term” talk reveal a 2012 strategy for Mitt? Many thought McCain should have said he’d only run for one term, and that could have worked.
Of course, many more advise against that, and for obvious reasons. Folks don’t think they have to work with you if you’re only in there for 4 years. And in the current political reality, people start running for president almost a year and a half before election day.
Still, the idea of one term could resonate in 4 years if the economy doesn’t pick back up and Romney has an able bodied conservative like Tim Pawlenty on his ticket who could succeed him. After all, what does the VP do except travel across the country pushing the President’s agenda?
Some more advice on American economic exceptionalism…
When you talk about making America more competitive, what do you have in mind?First, America must substantially improve our education system. We’ve fallen behind, particularly in areas of math and science.
Second, we’re going to have to remedy our disproportionate health care cost disadvantage. America spends far more than any other nation as a percent of GDP on health care. This effectively is an enormous tax on the economy and on our businesses.
Third, our national debt is excessive and our entitlement obligations pass a massive burden onto the next generation.
Fourth, tax and regulatory policies weigh down our ability to compete. Specifically, our products carry an embedded tax which makes American goods less competitive abroad and at home.
Fifth, America’s apparent retrenchment from the concept of open, free and fair trade could put us further behind other nations that are aggressively seeking trade relations around the world.
Sixth, our lack of an effective energy policy drains our economy by approximately half a trillion dollars a year.
And, finally, the blow that Wall Street has taken may make us less competitive in financing entrepreneurship.
The first and second points I agree with. Education and health care reform need to happen soon.
However, while I agree that our national debt is getting out of control, removing our safety nets won’t help America becoming more competitive. In fact, I think it’ll be just the opposite and we obviously can’t depend on the stock market for private accounts. Just imagine in the future if we would have some sort of massive collapse when a large number of folks are set to retire. It just wouldn’t work.
His fourth and fifth points are certainly valid, but all countries tax their goods and game the trade system, so making sure we’re competitive can sometimes mean controls that don’t seem market driven at first glance, but are actually dictated by the gamed markets in other parts of the world.
The sixth point about energy…I completely agree and so does Obama. But something tells me that Romney wouldn’t approve of government investment in green energy infrastructure. But maybe I’m wrong there.
And to the last point…of course we need to make sure capital continues to flow so our markets can compete, but how we go about it is imperative. My gut tells me that he would have gone along with the economic rescue package, but I don’t have definitive proof so I’ll reserve judgement.
In any event, some good thoughts here from the former Governor.
More as it develops…in 2011. :-)
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 and is filed under 2012 Election, Barack, Economy, Romney. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 8th, 2008 at 8:55 am
“Just imagine in the future if we would have some sort of massive collapse when a large number of folks are set to retire.”
This statement just reeks of financial ignorance.
If you actually believe that this is how saving for retirement works then I suggest you seek financial advice immediately.
Anyone nearing their retirement should have no more than 30% of their portfolio invested in equities and I would actually suggest 20%. Also, the vast majority of those equities should be blue chips with a high dividend yield.
Asset allocation has to be constantly reassessed throughout life.
There are target retirement funds that automatically adjust this allocation over time, but I, personally, would rather have more control over the timing of reallocation and the specific treasuries and securities acquired.
However, these funds might be well suited for people that simply never look at their retirement accounts.
As to social safety nets, raising the retirement age and maybe using means testing does not equal elimination.
Why is it that anyone even questioning the cost of future liabilities in this country is assumed to want to eliminate all social safety nets?
November 8th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Yup, it was a great interview with CNN as once again Romney had his deliberate, concise, manner of articulation on full display, standing in stark contrast to Bush, McCain and Palin. The Republicans need to look to the Romney School if they’re going to be relevant anytime soon. Mitt, Jindal, Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor all have their acts together, and Pawlenty can sort of straddle the Fiscal and Culturalist wings of the party, so I agree Tim’d be a decent VP pick. I know I’m a bit biased since I defered voting in this election since I’d rather wait 4 years for Romney than settle for McCain, but of all known talent today, my dream ticket would be Romney/Petraeus, should the General take an interest in politics. I’d take the reverse of that ticket too, presuming Obama botches foreign policy somehow. Anyway, we have a good roster with all these names I’ve mentioned. Maybe Palin can repair her image and become relevant, but if not knowing about the Veep’s role in the Senate and not being able to name a single reform effort of McCain’s, well we just cannot have someone whose intelligence is questionable, especially since that’s what everyone has been wondering about with Bush for 8 years and he’s in the tank approvalwise, and has led to two giant losses for Republicans in the past two elections. With Romney, his myriad accomplishments and exemplary record, no one doubts his intellect.
November 9th, 2008 at 1:34 am
WOW! This man really gets it! His responses to the question of how to make America more competitive are spot on. Just as he was able to see the problems in unproductive U.S. Corporations, he identifies here the areas where we need to make changes to get America back on top. Our education system recieves so much money and our educational returns are diminishing. We waste so much on health care. There is so much waste and coruption. Entitlements are WAY out of control and if we don’t cut them now the debt, and our dollar will suffer greatly. Corporate Tax Rates are too high. Obama wants to raise taxes in a RECESSION on those U.S. Corporations which are doing the best. These are our best employers! Why would we want them burdened by even higher taxes and force them overseas to places like China, India, Mexico and other places were tax rates are much, much more favorable. Free Trade has been the best thing to bring nations together. We are all on this earth together and by setting up trade tariffs, and barriers we shrink the economic growth at a time in World history when we need to be growing it all we can. Indeed our own economy and way of life is at stake here. We need to drill now for our own oil and develop alternative energy sources at the same time. We are sending alot of money to foreign tyrants such as Putin, Chavez and the radical Irainian Hitler. We need to restore integrity and trust to Wall Street before we will ever be able to lend and borrow money with confidence again. Mitt Romney is such a man of integrity and trust. He knows what to do. I say again, let his answers to this question speak for themselves.
When you talk about making America more competitive, what do you have in mind?
First, America must substantially improve our education system. We’ve fallen behind, particularly in areas of math and science.
Second, we’re going to have to remedy our disproportionate health care cost disadvantage. America spends far more than any other nation as a percent of GDP on health care. This effectively is an enormous tax on the economy and on our businesses.
Third, our national debt is excessive and our entitlement obligations pass a massive burden onto the next generation.
Fourth, tax and regulatory policies weigh down our ability to compete. Specifically, our products carry an embedded tax which makes American goods less competitive abroad and at home.
Fifth, America’s apparent retrenchment from the concept of open, free and fair trade could put us further behind other nations that are aggressively seeking trade relations around the world.
Sixth, our lack of an effective energy policy drains our economy by approximately half a trillion dollars a year.
And, finally, the blow that Wall Street has taken may make us less competitive in financing entrepreneurship.