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Labor Day In A Lagging Economy: Obama, Romney And Who's Better Off Heading Into The DNC

Dawn Megli |
September 3, 2012 | 11:05 a.m. PDT

Executive Producer

Labor Day highlighted vulnerabilities for both candidates. Obama must answer for his economic record while Romney appears increasingly out of touch with voters in light of a tax avoidance investigation into his former company. (Courtesy Creative Commons/ Mario Piperni)
Labor Day highlighted vulnerabilities for both candidates. Obama must answer for his economic record while Romney appears increasingly out of touch with voters in light of a tax avoidance investigation into his former company. (Courtesy Creative Commons/ Mario Piperni)
Labor Day was designated a national holiday in 1894 as a tribute to the contributions workers made to the prosperity of the country. But in the midst of a lagging economy, the holiday's focus on the working class has invited some tough questions for both presidential camps. Obama must answer for his economic policies while Romney's private equity firm comes under investigation for tax avoidance.

The big question in the lead up to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, is "are you better off?" The GOP has taken control of the pre-convention conversation by asking voters to compare their current to situation to when Barack Obama took office.

"We're worse off," Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus said on CNN.  

Mitt Romney released a statement asserting "for far too many Americans, today is another day of worrying when their next paycheck will come."

Obama's surrogates weighed in. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis released a Labor Day video complete with charts to show 4.5 million private sector jobs were created under his administration.

A study by the National Employment Law Project showed low-wage employment was gaining at a faster rate than middle class jobs with the biggest gains in the retail and food service industries. 

The economy has its bright spots, however. Brian Hamilton, CEO of the financial information firm Sageworks said many skilled jobs grow indepedently of reccession.

“There are certain sectors where you can get a job, an attractive job,” Hamilton told ABC. “Anything around health care, pharmaceutical businesses, biotech, software companies, information services.”

Vice President Joe Biden appeared in Detroit on Labor Day to stump for Obama, juxtaposing his national security credentials against the auto industry bailout.

"Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive," Biden chanted.

Obama advisor David Plouffe tip toed around the question of whether Americans are better off under Obama but said the nation improved from the “depths of the recession” under Obama’s leadership. 

Romney also issued a statement which accused Obama of being "out of touch" with ordinary voters because of his positive spin on the economy.

But Romney's sympathetic posture toward the working class has become harder to maintain after the New York attorney general announced the private equity firm Romney founded, Bain Capital, was being investigated for tax avoidance. Twelve firms are suspected of converting management fees from their investors into fund investments, which are taxed at a lower rate than other income. Romney supporters suspected the investigation may be politically motivated.

From the New York Times:

Some executives at the firms said they feared that Mr. Schneiderman, a first-term Democrat with ties to the Obama administration, was seeking to embarrass the industry because of Mr. Romney’s roots at Bain. Others suggested that the subpoenas, which were issued by the attorney general’s Taxpayer Protection Bureau, might be part of an effort to recover more revenue for New York under state tax law. The attorney general’s office does not have the power to enforce federal tax laws.

 

Subpeonas were issued in July before a dump of Bain documents to Gawker.com. The release of documents apperas unrelated.

[View the story "Labor takes a holiday:" on Storify]

 

Click here for more unemployment coverage. 

Reach Executive Producer Dawn Megli here; follow her on Twitter here



 

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