Romney has been storming around the country telling Americans that he has plan that will restore growth and create jobs. His plan is long on generalities, and short on details about how his plan will achieve the growth that he promises. Economists tend to ignore plans without specifics and without numbers. On the other hand many Americans respond well to the encouraging words of a planner without a plan.
President Obama has real plan. It has 27 specific actions that he will take to grow the economy. It is a small bore plan that will have most of its impact by 2020. The plan focuses on investments in education and other things that will make the economy more competitive. It assumes that we don't have enough skilled workers today that can fill the available jobs. Somehow, all of the highly skilled workers that had jobs in 2007 have lost their ability to do similar work. It says nothing about the drop in the demand for skilled workers in the US. The president's plan may reflect political reality more than anything else. Fiscal policy is off of the table in Congress. At least as long a Democrat is in the White House.
Since neither Romney or the president has a plan for stimulating short term economic growth, the 2012 election is not really a choice between competing plans for creating jobs in the short term. Instead we have one candidate who will continue the destructive policies of the Bush administration by cutting taxes, primarily for the rich, and deregulating an under-regulated economy. The other candidate will have an opportunity to implement his healthcare bill and his tax polices will be progressive.
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