History Lessons: Romney vs. Obama

Every dollar that goes to China or for imported oil that does not return to buy U.S. exports is lost demand for U.S.-made goods and services, and together those deficits are costing Americans 10 million jobs.

All this is exacerbated by Dodd-Frank financial reforms, whose bureaucratic burdens are forcing small banks to sell out to their larger brethren on Wall Street, where the deal making, sharp practices and gambling continue seemingly unabated.

Small businesses can't get loans, and a day doesn't seem to pass that the financial press doesn't publish a story about federal and New York State regulators chasing some slippery scam or tax dodge begotten by Manhattan's big-bonus aristocracy.

As President Obama faces the voters, the economy is growing at a 2.2% pace. Unemployment has fallen to 8.3% but only because so many adults have quit looking for work altogether. If the adult labor force participation rate was the same today as when he took office, the jobless rate would be 11% and most economists see little room for improvement on that sad record.

Listen to Governor Romney closely -- he's offering Ronald Reagan's Morning in America all over again -- not a replay of the inept Bush Administration, as Barack Obama would have voters believe.

Encouraging individual initiative and entrepreneurs, an understandable tax system, producing more American oil, getting a fair deal for American workers competing with China, lowering health care costs, and smarter regulation of Wall Street -- it all makes sense.

It's the smart choice.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.