Romney's Solyndra?

Romney's Solyndra?

Romney romneydoesn'tunderstandeconomics

This is great. From Politico.

Republicans are pounding Barack Obama on Solyndra, but it may be a complicated argument for their front-runner to maintain: While Mitt Romney was governor, Massachusetts also picked some winners and losers with energy subsidies.
And like Obama, some of the companies Romney's state invested in came out on the losing end.
The scale is dramatically different: While the Obama administration dumped $535 million alone into Solyndra — the California solar panel company that subsequently filed for bankruptcy protection — the energy loans, grants and other financial help Romney distributed during four years as governor add up to just a fraction of that amount.
But Democrats — and even some Republicans — say the core issue is the same: If the federal government shouldn't be betting on one company rather than the other, then neither should the state of Massachusetts. . . .

Is Romney really in favor of raising the minimum wage?

Is Romney really in favor of raising the minimum wage?

MinimumWage romneydoesn'tunderstandeconomics

I had to read this piece in the WSJ twice to convince myself that it was true. Romney is a disaster if he really believes that this is good policy. Raising the minimum wage puts the poorest least trained people out of work. The rents created for even those that get the minimum wage jobs are also competed away. From the WSJ:

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Wednesday reiterated his position that the minimum wage should rise automatically with inflation. His top rival, Newt Gingrich, later criticized the idea.

Mr. Romney has said in past appearances that, dating to his time as Massachusetts governor, he believed in indexing the minimum wage to inflation, though his stance hasn’t drawn much attention. “I haven’t changed my thoughts on that,’’ he said Wednesday when asked by reporters aboard his chartered campaign plane, according to the Associated Press. He did not say whether, as president, he would urge Congress to make such a change, the news service noted.

Later on Wednesday, Mr. Gingrich took issue with the automated increase proposal, pointing to past periods of rapid price rises.

“Figure out what the Romney plan would have cost and how radically it would have raised the minimum wage in the late 1970s,” Mr. Gingrich said during an appearance in Reno, Nev. “Historically, that would be a dangerous idea.” . . .