Ryan's speech, the candidates and the economy
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GOP Vice Presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan spoke to the Republican National Convention Wednesday night, hammering President Obama's handling of the economy and the lack of job growth in the country.
"Right now, 23 million men and women are struggling to find work," Ryan said."Twenty-three million people, unemployed or underemployed. Nearly one in six Americans is living in poverty. Millions of young Americans have graduated from college during the Obama presidency, ready to use their gifts and get moving in life. Half of them can't find the work they studied for, or any work at all. So here's the question: Without a change in leadership, why would the next four years be any different from the last four years?"
But while Ryan talked about revitalizing the American economy, neither he nor the candidates at the top of both tickets have talked enough in specific and knowledgeable detail about why so many Americans are out of work. During The Daily Circuit Thursday, Kerri Miller spoke to three guests at the convention about the speech and what the candidates are saying — and not saying — about job creation.
Jodi Schneider, tax policy team leader for Bloomberg News, joined the discussion.
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"He was very careful not to be too wonky," she said. "I think it was a good speech, but in terms of specifics about job creation, I don't think there's anything there."
John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation and associate editor of the Capital Times in Madison, Wis., said Romney and Obama have steered away from specifics when it comes to the jobs crisis.
"We are in an era where job creation is of great difficulty," he said. "Neither side is very willing to talk about some of the realities of why it is a difficulty."
Some of the major reasons, Nichols said, include free trade and domestic economic policies that encourage companies to open factories overseas.
During his speech, Ryan said their goal is to generate 12 million new jobs over the next four years.
"Call it the growth fairy or call it trickle-down economics or voodoo economics depending on what decade you're talking about here," said Washington Post reporter Aaron Blake. "The fact is that everybody has a report they can cite that says their plan will do this or cost this much over a certain period of time... This is the way politics are. Everyone has an argument and as long as their argument is generally feasible, their side of the aisle is going to buy into it."
Steve, a caller from Princeton, Minn., said both candidates aren't addressing the heart of the issue: demand.
"What's wrong with the economy, what makes capitalism tick is demand," he said. "I've been a manufacturer all my life. I can get plenty of labor, I can get plenty of capital, I can get plenty of raw materials. What I don't have right now is people with money to buy my products. That's what makes capitalism work. Demand is going away from America and it's not coming back."
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Kerri Miller contributed to this report.
