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Labor Secretary: Romney's Bush-like economic proposals not 'a good path'

While many economists celebrated today’s better-than-expected jobs report as a sign the US is ramping up its sluggish recovery and President Obama’s efforts

While many economists celebrated today’s better-than-expected jobs report as a sign the US is ramping up its sluggish recovery and President Obama’s efforts are working, Mitt Romney called the report a ‘hammer-blow’ to the middle class.

Clearly, there's plenty of room for improvement, but the economy added 163,000 jobs in July, the 29th consecutive month of job growth. So what would Romney be doing differently? We got some insight earlier this week when former Bush economic advisor/current Romney economic advisor Glenn Hubbard wrote in the Wall Street Journal that Romney’s plan will add 12 million jobs in his first term alone, using trickle-down “job creating” policies.

On Friday’s PoliticsNation, Rev. Al Sharpton asked US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis if Hubbard’s projection is realistic, given the types of policies he promotes. Solis echoed the sentiments of economists who believe Bush’s policies were a mistake we can’t afford to make again: 

“If we continue down this same path that he wants to propose, and that’s to give tax breaks to the very wealthy and not close any loopholes and not look at the desire to bring jobs back home, not making those good investments in our safety system...I just don’t see us going down a good path. I think we stick with the President’s plan that he’s offered and we get the Congress to act. We have some proposals that have been sitting up there for 10 months that could create a million jobs right now in construction, just through infrastructure development alone, and putting money back in for our teachers and our firefighters. Those are good middle class jobs. I’ve heard nothing elaborated by Romney about looking at the most vulnerable, and that’s the middle class families who’ve been hit the hardest.” 

Rev. Al pointed out we shouldn’t be taking advice from Glenn Hubbard in the first place. Hubbard served as chairman of Bush’s economic advisory council – over Bush’s two terms, the private sector lost 673,000 jobs.