In an Iowa speech last week billed as a “major economic address,” Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney touted his economic stewardship of Massachusetts as evidence of his qualifications to take over the national recovery set in motion by President Barack Obama. “Our state moved up 20 places in job growth,” Gov. Romney said. “We worked to make our state business-friendly.”
An analysis of the private-equity-mogul-turned-politician’s economic record in Massachusetts paints a far less impressive picture. Here’s the truth about Gov. Romney’s Massachusetts leadership from 2003 through 2007, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis:
- The Massachusetts economy grew more slowly than the rest of the country under Gov. Romney.
- The Massachusetts economy under Gov. Romney never reached 2 percent annual growth—not even half the 4 percent growth rate he claims his current jobs plan will attain.
- If Gov. Romney had managed to grow the state’s economy at 4 percent a year, its output would have been 10.3 percent greater at the end of his term.
- The economic output of the Massachusetts economy would have been a full 5 percent greater if Gov. Romney had only managed to grow his state at the same rate as the rest of the country.
SOURCE: AP/Steven Senne