North Las Vegas, Nevada (CNN) – Mitt Romney said Friday in Nevada that a monthly jobs report showing the unemployment rate rising from 8.2% to 8.3% proved President Barack Obama had failed to stem the suffering of 23 million Americans still out of work.
The same report showed 163,000 jobs were created in July, a statistic the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said represented only one element of a larger, disappointing record.
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"I'm not going to look so much at every monthly statistic, as much as to say this continues a pattern of American families really struggling, having hard times, and the president's to blame for not having gotten the economy back on track," Romney said after a campaign rally in Las Vegas. Nevada is a battleground state whose unemployment rate is well above the national average.
"A lot of people are suffering in this country," Romney continued. "I think it's an extraordinary failure of policy, a failure of leadership, and I think it's a moral failure for a country as successful and prosperous as our own to go now four years in a mode which feels to many people as a recession."
READ MORE: Obama touts job record, says more remains to be done
Speaking at his campaign rally, Romney offered his own five-point plan as an alternative to what he said were Obama's failed policies.
"These numbers are not just statistics," Romney said. "These are real people, really suffering, having hard times. Twenty-three million Americans out of work or stopped looking for work or under employed."
"This is an extraordinary record of failure," the Republican candidate continued. "The president's policies are not working because he thinks government makes America work. He is wrong."
Romney's plan, which he rolled out Thursday at an event in Colorado, is a simplified campaign message that utilizes traditional conservative stances he says will "get the middle class working again."
The proposals include ramping up domestic energy production; increasing trade and job training; focusing on deficit reduction; and boosting small businesses, with Romney promising that, if elected, he would deliver on them to unleash the full potential of the U.S. economy.
Taking questions from the press following his event, Romney responded to allegations from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that he has not been paying his taxes, reiterating his call for Reid to "put up or shut up."
"Harry, who are your sources? Let's have Harry explain who that is," Romney said.
The candidate said firmly, "I have paid taxes every year, and a lot of taxes, so Harry is wrong."
Asked to weigh in on a pair of culture clashes within the GOP - the growing debate about Chick-fil-A, and its president's opposition to same-sex marriage, and Rep. Michele Bachmann's effort to find Muslim extremists within the federal government - Romney demurred.
"I'm not going to tell other people what things to talk about. Those are not things that are part of my campaign," Romney said.
CNN's Shawna Shepherd and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
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Mitt is trying soooooooooo hard...lol
Romney is the MORAL FAILURE! His god is the almighty $!
Say all you want Robmey, but you are still dodging the real issue, you still have not released your own tax returns. Oh that's right, "you people" don't deserve it.
What a complete buffoon.
JAIL CELL PLEASE!!! Except, of course, if he filled out one of those amnesty requests 🙁
Get a real JOB Mitt. You will not be POTUS.
Interesting that Mr. Romney declares the attempt to rectify the Bush diasaster as a "moral failure", but not the Bush disaster itself, or his policies which will return the country to precisely the same track as Mr. Bush.
To me the bigger "moral failure" is that on the part of the GOP to work against the American people.
I consider taking a tax break for a dancing horse a Moral Failure. As do I consider putting a dog on the roof of a car, and getting your buddies to hold someone down so that you can cut their hair, moral failures. How about hiding in France while you "support" a war? The list goes on...
Lies are actually the real moral failure, which Romney does constantly with his flip-flops, dishonest out-of-context, etc. Sad.
According to Conservatives, it's not the JOB of government to "stem the suffering" of the unemployed. Hey, Mitt, why don't YOU put them to work? Oh, right, you outsource.
When, Mittens are YOU ever going to put up or shut up? Where are those tax returns? You really ARE nothing but a wimp...
How do morals factor into a global economy?
"These are real people, really suffering, having hard times. Twenty-three million Americans out of work or stopped looking for work or under employed."
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And Romney's answer is to cut his own taxes (even though he pays at a lower rate than most middle class taxpayers) and increase taxes for the average middle class family by over $2,000. That ought to relieve their suffering. He wants to go back to the same economic and regulatory policies that led to this recession in the first place. Hopefully, not too many of us are dumb enough to vote for him.
Romney's got better morals than Obama!
The moral failure is the fact that the wealthy haven't help hospitals to pay the charity care; haven't helped start any jobs programs. This is just to name a few. People have a moral obligation to help other people. The wealthy can do more than the middle class, but I think that the middle class give more as a percentage (and possibly raw numbers as well) than many of the wealthy. They need a tax cut as they need a horn coming out of the back of their heads.
As far as Reid's accusation, then show the returns which will clear that right up.
is is recovery?
If one looks at the increase in part-time and temporary jobs (just more jobs, according to unemployment statistics) or at the number bumped from the ranks of the unemployed because unemployment benefits have been exhausted (despite their duration being extended a time or two) or at the number of workers who have given up looking for work and are now "out of the labor force," the picture is even worse. And that is without considering the nature of current "seasonal adjustments" that seem to have an anomalously beneficial effect, and without considering likelihood of adjustment to the recent numbers (which will likely not be played up by the media).
Problems we had at the end of the Bush Administration, BO has made them worse.
The "moral" failure is Mitt acting like the addition of over 100,000 new jobs is a bad thing. The "moral" failure is Mitt and other wealthy types using every loophole imaginable to pay as little in taxes as possible (some say none), while advocating for even more tax "cuts" for the wealthy at the expense of the rest of us. The "moral" failure is Mitt claiming that people are lying about his taxes, but refusing to clear the matter up by releasing his returns. The "moral" failure is Mitt changing virtually all of his positions from the past in order to win the nomination. Mitt is the moral failure here.
Understatement of the year. No kidding. Obama has been an abysmal failure on jobs. The Bermuda triangle for employment and anything relating to US growth.
EVERYONE Google this: "bls months jobs series" Click on the 1st link. This will make Conservatives heads explode all across the USA because their little brains will not be able to process this simple graph.
'moral failure'
is having five sons who would not volunteer for military service , at the same time supporting the war.
WHO DO I BLAME ?
POOR PRESIDENT OBAMA
If he gets reelected, look at
the mess he's going to inherit.
Does Romney think that anybody actually believes what he says. 12,000,000 jobs in 4 years, how can he possibly guarantee that? Lets not forget Obama became President when the world economic system was in disaster and still is. He inherited two wars started by the Republicans, a do-nothing Republican congress that blocks anything he wants to do. How much of his $250,000,000 has he used to stimulate job growth? How about this for a plan. If Romney becomes President if after 2 years he has not created 6,000,000 jobs and unemployment is not under 5% he resigns. If he's so sure of himself he"ll take the bet. What if he was to become President and the congress was controoled by the Democrats, could he do all he says he will. Anybody who believes all the promises he's making is too stupid to be allowed to vote.
163,000 is still a positive number compared to Bush's 8 million lost per month, don't you think. Slow but steady.
ha ha- You think one rich person's tax returns are "the real issue." That is about as significant as Obama's birth certificate. The difference, of course, is that Romney never got into that crazy birther pigsty but Obama approves making campaign videos about anything that distracts from the dismal economy and employment rates that haven't improved a single percent in the last three years! http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS12300000
and keeping tax returns a secret is not a moral failure?