Romney hits 59 points

 

“Romney unveils sweeping plan for jobs, economy By Philip Rucker and Karen Tumulty, Tuesday, September 6, 10:57 AM NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney put forward a sweeping economic plan here Tuesday that he projected would boost annual economic growth by 4 percent, create 11.5 million new jobs and lower the nation’s unemployment rate to 5.9 percent over four years.

“Restoring clarity and predictability are essential for igniting hiring and investment,” Romney wrote in an introduction to the plan he titled “Believe in America.”

Romney’s prescription for the country’s ailing economy includes overhauling federal tax, regulatory, trade and energy policies. His is a collection of business-friendly ideas that fit neatly within the mainstream of the Republican Party, but with a few innovative proposals sprinkled throughout, namely tougher stances on China and labor unions.

Channeling the management consultant he used to be, Romney unveiled a 59-point plan, published in a 160-page book, that aides boasted is the most specific any candidate has offered.

Speaking under a banner that read, “Day One, Job One,” inside a sweltering North Las Vegas truck warehouse, Romney laid out 10 actions he said he would take on his first day in the Oval Office that would create more certainty for businesses.

They would include five proposed bills that would: lower the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent; implement free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea; expand domestic energy exploration; consolidate worker retraining programs and turn them over to the states; and cut non-security discretionary spending by 5 percent. (Obama also supports those three trade agreements, although he’s been accused of dithering to satisfy the demands of organized labor.)

If elected, the former Massachusetts governor said he would also issue five executive orders on Inauguration Day. They would roll back President Obama’s health-care overhaul; eliminate Obama-era regulations; issue new oil-drilling permits; sanction China for currency manipulation; and reverse a number of policies that favor organized labor.

Romney also said he would cut the size of the federal workforce by 10 percent through attrition, possibly by hiring only one new government employee for every two who leave.

But even as he touts the comprehensiveness of his plan, Romney leaves out some important details, like setting personal income tax rates, that at least one of his opponents, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr., already detailed in his own economic plan.

While aides said that Romney’s prescriptions would add certainty to the business environment over the long term, there was little to provide an immediate jolt to an economy whose growth has been hampered by low consumer spending and an overhang of mortgage and other personal debt. Measures such as new free trade agreements and leasing more land for oil drilling would take years to have an impact on economic growth.

The plan relies on a presumption that with more predictability in the economic environment, businesses would invest more and hire additional workers — something they have been loath to do, despite the fact that their profits have rebounded to record levels since the 2008 financial collapse.”