Laura Tyson: Mitt Romney and America’s Four Deficits:
The United States is beset by four deficits: a fiscal deficit, a jobs deficit, a deficit in public investment, and an opportunity deficit. The budget proposals put forward by presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, could reduce the fiscal deficit, but would exacerbate the other three.
To be sure, Romney and Ryan have failed to provide specifics about how they would reduce the fiscal deficit, relying on “trust me” assertions. But the overarching direction of their proposals is clear: more tax cuts, disproportionately benefiting those at the top, coupled with significantly lower non-defense discretionary spending, disproportionately hurting everybody else – and weakening the economy’s growth prospects.
Damned if I can see how this would reduce the long-run fiscal deficit. Plans that increase the deficit save for magic asterisks never work: the reason that the deficit-reducing measures are not specified is that they are political poison--and they will remain political poison after the election, and will not be implemented then.
Laura goes on:
Despite 30 months of private-sector job growth, the US still confronts a large jobs deficit.... More than 11 million additional jobs are needed to return the US to its pre-recession employment level. At the current pace of recovery, that is more than eight years away. In the meantime, persistent high unemployment reduces the economy’s growth potential by robbing today’s workers of skills and experience.... Romney promises to slash federal spending.... And he has ruled out additional temporary fiscal measures aimed at job creation, like President Barack Obama’s proposals...
