For the better part of two years, Mitt Romney has been relentless. “Four years ago, candidate Obama came to Nevada, promising to help,” he said in his victory speech after the Nevada caucuses on Saturday night. “Today, Nevada unemployment is over 12%, home values have plummeted, and Nevada’s foreclosure rate is the highest in the nation …
Economy
Q&A: Bill Clinton’s Vision for ‘A Smart Government and a Strong Economy’
Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, spoke with TIME’s Rick Stengel about his new book, Back to Work, and how to fix the economy. Excerpts from that conversation follow.
TIME Poll: Obama Leads Head-to-Head Matchups with Republican Rivals
Despite sweeping pessimism about the nation’s fortunes and his own sliding approval ratings, President Obama leads potential Republican rivals Mitt Romney and Rick Perry in hypothetical general-election matchups, according to a …
With Obama Jobs Bill Vote, Democrats Seek to Prove Congressional Dysfunction
The Senate Tuesday night is expected to vote down President Obama’s jobs bill. Democrats aren’t even sure they can get 51 votes, let alone the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. And even if it …
In Thursday Press Conference, Professor Obama Demands Answers
“Why?” Barack Obama asked Republicans about their opposition to his job creation bill. Then he asked it again. And again. By the time he was done, the President had repeated the question, in different ways, some 15 …
Republicans Are Right to Pressure the Fed, Even If What They Want Is Wrong
Monetary policy is dull, so the Republican Party’s bizarre advocacy of job-killing tight-money policies during a jobs crisis hasn’t gotten much attention. But political food fights are exciting, so today’s letter from GOP leaders pressuring Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke not to approve more monetary stimulus is likely to get a lot …
Solyndra and the Green Jobs Fantasy
The talented Mike Grunwald laid out the case yesterday for quarantining Solyndra from the rest of the solar effort. Just because Solyndra’s model failed, he says, doesn’t mean the rest of the push to fund innovation in …
In Jobs Push, Obama Pulls Out the Political Props
President Obama reached into the old prop bag Monday, waving around a printed copy of his American Jobs Act fastened together with a fat black binder clip. “This is the bill that Congress needs to pass,” he said, holding the …
The Sisyphean Stimulus Sell: Why Obama’s Big Job Speech Will Likely Prove Unpersuasive
Governor Rick “Galileo” Perry declared at the Reagan Library last night that President Obama and his 2009 stimulus have “proven once and for all that government spending will not create one job.” Actually, in the last …
In Newly Unveiled Economic Agenda, the Romney Brand Distilled
Mitt Romney’s second presidential run has largely focused on a single theme: Barack Obama has bungled the economy, and I’m the guy who can fix it. Romney points to his business and management expertise, honed in the boardrooms of …
In His Administration’s Own Economic Outlook, Signs of Obama’s Grim Re-Election Prospects
Michael Scherer’s story in our new issue offers a great window into the Obama White House’s plans for taking back the initiative this fall after a fairly dismal summer. Michael shared part of his reporting online with this item on the solace the Obama team is taking from the historical examples of Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, …
In the Midwest, Obama Grapples for an Economic Fix and a Political Narrative
Barack Obama hit the road Monday for his three-day Midwestern bus tour toting an array of political baggage: a downgraded national credit rating, a faltering economy, a stretch of wild market vicissitudes, an approval rating that …
The Fed’s Impotence Would Be Funny If It Weren’t So Tragic
Persistent unemployment is tragic, not funny.
The Federal Reserve is boring, not funny.
The Fed’s impotence in the face of persistent unemployment is scary, not funny.
But the newsy statement from the Fed’s meeting …