Blog by Kyle Boucher

In 2008, we were told that change would occur, that our economic problems would be a thing of the past. Four years later, the economy does not seem to be doing better than it was. Things like this cannot be fixed overnight, but people will become frustrated over how long it is taking to repair this damage to our financial infrastructure. People are upset over the promises that were made, which they feel were only that, promises without substance.

In this election, it is a major issue which the Republican Party will exploit to their advantage. In Paul Ryan’s speech tonight, he stated it in those words, that President Obama obtained the Nobel Prize for something that he promised and could have been a great thing, but that it didn’t happen. In his eyes, and the eyes of the Republican Party, they can fix this job crisis and lessen our debt, all without raising taxes. It sounds like a great thing for the people; all our problems will be answered, and we don’t have to pay the government more for it to happen. Such a thing would sound too good to be true.

Like President Obama, Mitt Romney inherited a troubled economy when he came into office, with the state having one of the highest debts per capita in the nation. The debt in Massachusetts was always high, even before Romney took office, but he was able to lower the rate of growth; During his term as governor, Massachusetts was ranked 47th in job creation, going up to 28th by the time he had left office. In short, he was able to create new jobs and make things better overall. From his track record there, it would seem entirely plausible that he would be able to fix our economic problems, combined with Paul Ryan’s plan on government spending.

I am not an economics major, but it is blatantly obvious that repairing our economy will take time and won’t happen immediately, though from what Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are saying, along with this record, it may be possible for them to begin to repair this damage.