Obama Proves He Does Not Understand the Economy

Guest Post By Congressman Jim Renacci

Last week, President Obama proved he is out-of-touch with the economic difficulties facing America. At a Friday conference he insisted, “The private sector is doing fine.” He must be the only person in America who thinks that.

Over 23 million Americans are struggling to find work. Last month, unemployment in the United States actually increased. Prices at the store are on the rise, but paychecks are shrinking. Many small businesses across the country are struggling just to keep their doors open. But President Obama thinks they are “doing fine.”

Obviously, the opposite is true. President Obama's big government agenda—his health care law, burdensome regulations, reckless spending, and demands for tax increases—have all made it harder for job creators to hire new workers due to added expenses, uncertainty, and red tape.

But President Obama doesn’t understand. He's spent & borrowed money more often and more recklessly than any president in history, and now he wants to spend even more. He thinks we need more government in America, not less. That’s what he means when he says, “The private sector is doing fine.” He wants more government jobs—more jobs paid for by taxpayers and borrowed money from China.

For the last three and half years, President Obama has been trying to borrow our way to prosperity. In less than one term, he’s racked up more debt than any president in history—over $5 trillion. He spent $831 billion on his stimulus, which he promised would produce millions of “shovel ready jobs.” It didn’t create jobs, but it did create debt.

Big government won’t grow our economy. Americans have learned the lesson of the Obama presidency. But President Obama has not. He’s still clinging to the same ideas that have failed us and left our children and grandchildren holding the bill.

That’s the difference between President Obama and Gov. Romney. Mitt Romney understands how the economy works. He knows that the private sector isn’t “doing fine.” He recognizes that racking up more debt won’t help Americans find good jobs. Experience in the private sector is essential to understanding the forces of job creation. Gov. Romney has that experience. President Obama does not.

In early 2009, President Obama promised that if he did not have the economy fixed in three years, his presidency would be a “one-term” proposition. We can all agree the economy has not recovered. Too many Americans are out of work, and too many families are struggling to make ends meet. It’s time President Obama admits he broke his promise.

President Obama may have good intentions, but his ideas are all wrong. He has a fundamental misunderstanding of the challenges facing our country and the solutions needed to overcome them. And now he's asking us to entrust him with our nation's tomorrow by distracting us from all that he failed to deliver yesterday. Mitt Romney will be ready on Day One to tackle our economic problems head on, to undo the damage of the Obama administration’s policies and to get America back on the right track.

Rep. Renacci (R-OH) represents the 16th congressional district.