Economics
The War Over Economic Facts
If the candidates can’t agree on basic facts, what hope does the U.S. have of coming together to fix the economy?
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Lies filled the Long Island air on Oct. 16 at the second debate between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. It’s provable by deduction: Either the candidates’ accusations of falsehoods were correct or, if not, the accusations themselves were false. A typical exchange centered on the rate of domestic oil production during the Obama presidency:
ROMNEY: Production on private, on government, land …
OBAMA: Production is up.
ROMNEY: … is down.
OBAMA: No, it isn’t.
ROMNEY: Production on government land of oil is down 14 percent.
OBAMA: It’s just not true.
ROMNEY: It’s absolutely true.