Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has told voters that his election “would be very positive news to the American economy,” and that by voting for him, voters could spark an economic turnaround.

Romney continued that narrative today, telling Time Magazine’s Mark Halperin that his policies would reduce unemployment to 6 percent by the end of his first term in 2016:

ROMNEY: Over a period of 4 years, by virtue of the policies that we put in place, we get the unemployment rate down to 6 percent, perhaps a little lower.

Watch it:

Though 6 percent unemployment is significantly lower than the current 8.1 percent rate, the feat isn’t all that remarkable. In fact, it is exactly where multiple government agencies project unemployment will be at the end of that time frame. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that unemployment will average 6.3 percent in 2016; the Office of Management and Budget, meanwhile, projects unemployment will hit 6.1 percent and ultimately fall below 6 percent the same year.

The automobile industry has been a consistent bright spot in the American economy over the last several months, as automakers have added jobs to meet growing demand. And news from the industry is only getting better, as new estimates expect automakers to sell 14.3 million cars in the United States in 2012 — 1.5 million more than they sold last year.

Factories for both foreign and domestic automakers are now working “at maximum capacity” and the industry is adding shifts and jobs to keep up with that rising demand, the USA Today reports:

Some plants are adding third work shifts. Others are piling on worker overtime and six-day weeks. And Ford Motor and Chrysler Group are cutting out or reducing the annual two-week July shutdown at several plants this summer to add thousands of vehicles to their output.

“We have many plants working at maximum capacity now,” says Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans. “We’re building as many (cars) as we can.”

Chrysler and General Motors, the major beneficiaries of the auto rescue, have both reported their best profits in more than a decade, and both were already planning to add jobs this year. With factories now struggling to meet demand, both foreign and domestic auto companies are planning to add even more jobs — and, as the Center for American Progress’ Adam Hersh and Jane Farrell noted in April, the industry has added more than 139,000 jobs in the last three years.

The strength of the auto industry is yet another sign that letting it fail would have been a major mistake. Not only would it have cost more than a million jobs at a time when the economy was struggling, it would have prevented the current growth that is helping both the industry and the American economy recover.

POMPANO BEACH, Florida — Perhaps the most beloved member of the freshman Republican class, Rep. Allen West (R-FL) made a startling announcement on Tuesday: he’s willing to discuss raising taxes in order to address the nation’s budget shortfall.

The Tea Party congressman’s concession came at a small town hall meeting in Pompano Beach. West stipulated that before he would consider increasing taxes, he would have to be satisfied that Congress had first “eliminated a lot of that waste, fraud, and abuse.” Once that threshold was met, West said it’d be time “to talk about raising taxes as a means to make sure we keep our debt and our deficit at a manageable level”:

QUESTIONER: How can we balance the budget without raising taxes?

WEST: [...] There are many things we can do in Washington DC. Last year, as a wet-behind-the-ears freshman, by April I found three wasteful programs in the Department of Defense. It saved the American taxpayer $357 million over 10 years. But, the question is this. If every single member in the House of Representatives, every single member in the Senate, went in on the committee of jurisdiction and oversight and they did the same thing, find $350 million in wasteful programs over the next 10 years, get it and eliminate it, think what happens for our budget. We get ourselves on the road to being able to balance this thing . Now, once we get to a point where we have waxed out the federal government, we have eliminated a lot of that waste, fraud, and abuse, then it certainly comes to the American people to talk about raising taxes as a means to make sure we keep our debt and our deficit at a manageable level.

Watch it:

The fact that West’s announcement is so surprising speaks to just how intransigent congressional Republicans have become when addressing tax and budget issues.

One of the primary reasons for their obstinance is because of a single anti-tax crusader in Washington DC, Grover Norquist. Nearly every Republican in Congress has signed Norquist’s pledge to “oppose and vote against tax increases.” Just seven House GOPers and seven in the Senate have refused.

Still, cracks are beginning to appear. Other House Republicans have shown similar angst about Norquist’s pledge recently, despite being signatories. They include Reps. Steve King (R-IA), Timothy Johnson (R-IL), Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), Charles Boustany (R-LA), Mike Simpson (R-ID), and Frank Wolf (R-VA).

President Obama’s campaign and the Democratically-aligned SuperPAC Priorities USA have begun airing separate ads featuring former employees who were laid off thanks to Bain Capital, the private equity firm once helmed by Mitt Romney. But rather than pushing back against the campaign, the Romney camp is instead going after the employees featured in the ad.

Senior Romney aide Stuart Stevens dismissed the latest ad as “performance art gibberish” in an interview with the Associated Press. The ad features former GST Steelworkers laid off after Bain Capital closed their plant.

Deflections of reporters’ questions about to Mitt Romney’s tenure at the head of Bain Capital have become something of a speciality for the campaign, but Stevens’ remarks explicitly go after workers who have lost their jobs thanks to Bain:

“Shouting louder and getting more angry is not very persuasive,” Stevens said in response to the line of attack. “The idea that people are walking around with less of a paycheck or higher gas prices because of something Bain Capital did 20 years ago is absurd.”

As the AP notes, the Romney campaign has thus far failed to settle into a single unified response to criticisms stemming from relationship with Bain. This despite the fact that it has been a proven liability for years, since Romney’s unsuccessful 1994 Senate run.