Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Letter to the editor:

Nevada’s economy not Romney’s fault

In their Wednesday op-ed, “Romney’s ideas are wrong for Nevada,” Harry Reid, Bob Miller and Richard Bryan attempt to pin Nevada’s high unemployment and record foreclosures on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The writers’ only bit of evidence is that 1) Mr. Romney once said that the housing crisis had to “hit the bottom” before it could recover and 2) Mr. Romney made money by laying off workers.

On the former, I doubt Mr. Romney’s comments had the same effect on Nevada’s economy as Mr. Obama’s 2009 comments that criticized Las Vegas as a symbol of excess and greed. After that remark, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported 340 event cancellations that cost the local economy about $131.6 million.

As for Mr. Romney’s time at Bain Capital, I await Messrs. Reid, Miller and Bryan’s equally indignant criticism of Mr. Obama’s layoffs and factory closings at General Motors. In both scenarios, the layoffs were necessary to save the company.

By all means, elections are about the future, but let’s not forget the past.

The author is president and chief executive of the Consumer Electronics Association.

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