Unemployed? No problem.

Mitt Romney is back to reminding us just how horrible the economy is (even if the stock market is near an all-time high and unemployment continues to creep downward).  To counter act the reality of a slowly growing economy, Romney is pledging to bring the unemployment rate below six percent by the end of his first term, as reported by The Hill.  He plans to do this by implementing policies that remind me of the failed Bush policies.

However, for the sake of argument, if Mitt Romney is elected and unemployment does dip down to the six percent mark, what would be the real cause?  Here are some realistic possibilities:

• The global economy improves significantly and the U.S. rises accordingly.
• Before leaving office, Obama (or Romney as he takes office) pushes through a new significant domestic stimulus to create a huge number of jobs.
• The U.S. gets involved in another massive foreign war.
• The term “unemployment” is redefined.

The United States is no longer the only determining factor in how our economy performs.  We depend on global business to move us along.  With the global economy in shambles, we too are struggling.  Yet, President Obama has done some amazing things to stabilize our economy by putting tools in place for recovery.  Unemployment has been coming down as well.  Yes, it has slowed again, but there’s only so much Obama can do.  Especially when considering the Republican obstructionism and that he really has very little control over the U.S. labor market.

I wonder what the economy and employment numbers would look like today if the Republicans had maintained the White House and imposed the same policies that Romney is advocating now (which are the same ones Bush pushed)?  Would we have seen massive growth and prosperity?  Or would we be even deeper down the hole that Obama is moving us out of?