Okay, before I post Mitt Romney's fraudulent chart, let me post the real numbers, imperfect though they may be:
As you can see, the chart shows the past six recessions (as
marked by the National Bureau of Economic Research) and the number of jobs lost
during the recession as well as the number of jobs created or lost in the 24 months
following the recession (as tracked by the BLS and
reported by the St. Louis Fed).
The basic story the chart tells about the most recent recession is pretty clear: a severe recession (nearly as bad as the previous five combined) followed by extremely weak, albeit positive, job growth.
Mitt Romney included a version of this chart in his economic plan today, but you'll notice a few big differences:
Mitt Romney's version of the same chart from page 16 of his economic plan
First, he claims 800,000 jobs have been lost since the recession ended. That's not true. Maybe he got mixed up with the recovery after the first Bush recession?
Second, he puts a label over that inaccurate portion of the graph and calls it the "Obama Recovery." To the casual observer, it looks like he's trying to blame the entire recession on President Obama even though it began in 2007 when George W. Bush was still president.
Astute observers will also note that Romney also credits Bush with jobs growth that didn't happen after the 2001 recession. He also completely ignores the recession of 1980, but what's a lost recession among friends, right?
The strangest thing about all this is that the economy is in weak enough shape that Romney didn't need to lie in order to make his attack. Nonetheless, he still couldn't help himself.