A Glimpse at the Romney/Obama Economic Debates

Jobs and the economy will undoubtedly be the big issue on the voting floor this election. The following debate between congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Austan Goolsbee, the head of Obama's Council of Economic Advisors, gives an excellent taste of what to expect in the months ahead.

The debate breaks into three major issues.
1. The personal records of Romney in Massachusetts (and at Bain Capital) and of President Obama's term in office
2. The philosophies of the parties. Framed by Ryan as free enterprise vs. crony capitalism and framed by Golsbee as balanced taxation and tax relief vs. social system crushing reductions and tax cuts for the wealthy.
3. What's going on now. This issue is by far the most confusing, especially because economists are much better at looking back in time than looking in the future or the present. One of Ryan's best quips is about the state of the current economic growth in which for every job gained, three people stop looking for work. Playing into this theme of what is happening now, are the issues of national debt and the failure of the House and Senate to pass a budget.

The key to winning this election will be in winning issue #2. Convincing the public on where to place the fulcrum in deciding the economic debate is absolutely fundamental. Voter's want to cast their ballots for ideas they think will work. Now it's up to the politicians to convince us they have some.