Ryan: US on ‘path to decline’ under Obama

GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) on Sunday said that under President Obama the U.S. was on a “path to decline.”

“I think President Obama has placed us on a path to decline. Four budgets, $4 trillion deficits, 23 million people struggling to find work, the highest poverty rates in a generation, nearly one out of six Americans in poverty,” said Ryan on ABC’s This Week.

Ryan pounced on Friday’s weak jobs report numbers and which showed the economy adding 96,000 jobs in August, well below forecasts and the unemployment rate dropping to 8.1 percent, a slide attributed to more Americans giving up looking for work. 

“We have to create 150,000 jobs every month just to keep up with population growth, and we didn't even do that,” said Ryan.

Ryan also defended projections put forth by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who says his policies would create 12 million new jobs.  

Democrats have criticized that claim, citing economists who project that a normal recovery would create twice as many jobs. But Ryan said the latest jobs report was proof the nation was not in a “normal recovery.” 

“It's President Obama's failed leadership and flawed policies that are why we have such stagnant recovery,” he said. 

Ryan also defended Romney’s proposals for a tax overhaul. Democrats say the proposals, which seek to close tax loopholes, would place a larger burden on working class families while providing more breaks for the wealthy.

Ryan defended the plans, but shied away from identifying specific loopholes. He said, if elected, the GOP leaders would work with Congress to identify changes to the tax code. 

“The best way to do this is to show the framework, show the outlines of these plans, and then to work with Congress to do this. That's how you get things done,” said Ryan.

Romney, in an interview aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” said his proposals would not lower taxes for the wealthy.

“I want to make sure people understand, despite what the Democrats said at their convention, I am not reducing taxes on high income taxpayers,” said Romney.

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