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mamboni
6th September 2010, 09:42 AM
Economist Christina Romer serves up dismal news at her farewell luncheon



By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 1, 2010; 10:40 PM

Lunch at the National Press Club on Wednesday caused some serious indigestion.

Chief economist calls on Congress to 'finish the job of economic recovery'



It wasn't the food; it was the entertainment. Christina Romer, chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, was giving what was billed as her "valedictory" before she returns to teach at Berkeley, and she used the swan song to establish four points, each more unnerving than the last:

She had no idea how bad the economic collapse would be. She still doesn't understand exactly why it was so bad. The response to the collapse was inadequate. And she doesn't have much of an idea about how to fix things.

What she did have was a binder full of scary descriptions and warnings, offered with a perma-smile and singsong delivery: "Terrible recession. . . . Incredibly searing. . . . Dramatically below trend. . . . Suffering terribly. . . . Risk of making high unemployment permanent. . . . Economic nightmare."

Anybody want dessert?

At week's end, Romer will leave the council chairmanship after what surely has been the most dismal tenure anybody in that post has had: a loss of nearly 4 million jobs in a year and a half. That's not Romer's fault; the financial collapse occurred before she, and Obama, took office. But she was the president's top economist during a time when the administration consistently underestimated the depth of the economy's troubles - miscalculations that have caused Americans to lose faith in the president and the Democrats.


Romer had predicted that Obama's stimulus package would keep the unemployment rate at 8 percent or less; it is now 9.5 percent. One of her bosses, Vice President Biden, told Democrats in January that "you're going to see, come the spring, net increase in jobs every month." The economy lost 350,000 jobs in June and July.

This is why nearly two-thirds of Americans think the country is on the wrong track - and why Obama's efforts to highlight the end of U.S. combat in Iraq and the resumption of Middle East peace talks have little chance of piercing the gloom as voters consider handing control of Congress back to the Republicans.

Romer's farewell luncheon had been scheduled for the club's ballroom, but attendance was light and the event was moved to a smaller room. Romer, wearing a green suit, read brightly from her text - a delivery at odds with the dark material she was presenting. When she and her colleagues began work, she acknowledged, they did not realize "how quickly and strongly the financial crisis would affect the economy." They "failed to anticipate just how violent the recession would be."

Even now, Romer said, mystery persists. "To this day, economists don't fully understand why firms cut production as much as they did or why they cut labor so much more than they normally would." Her defense was that "almost all analysts were surprised by the violent reaction."

That miscalculation, in turn, led to her miscalculation that the stimulus package would be enough to keep the unemployment rate from exceeding 8 percent. Without the policy, she had predicted, unemployment would soar to 9.5 percent. The plan passed, and unemployment went to 10 percent.

No wonder most Americans think the effort failed. But Romer argued, a bit too defensively, against the majority perception. "As the Council of Economic Advisers has documented in a series of reports to Congress, there is widespread agreement that the act is broadly on track," she declared. Further, she argued, "I will never regret trying to put analysis and quantitative estimates behind our policy recommendations."

more at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/01/AR2010090106148.html

Twisted Titan
6th September 2010, 10:23 AM
Even now, Romer said, mystery persists. "To this day, economists don't fully understand why firms cut production as much as they did or why they cut labor so much more than they normally would." Her defense was that "almost all analysts were surprised by the violent reaction."

Taxes, Regulations and the heavy hand of Gubbermint.

Mystery solved

Ponce
6th September 2010, 11:36 AM
Remember that "they" are all around Obama by holding many of the highest posts in the government so that 'they" are able to brainwash him into doing what "they" want hm to do........I feel sorry for him.

Unless something very drastic changes very soon I don't see any hope left for the American people.

General of Darkness
6th September 2010, 11:46 AM
Even now, Romer said, mystery persists. "To this day, economists don't fully understand why firms cut production as much as they did or why they cut labor so much more than they normally would." Her defense was that "almost all analysts were surprised by the violent reaction."

Taxes, Regulations and the heavy hand of Gubbermint.

Mystery solved


Actually the removal of Glass-Stegall, and then you add on the Community Reinvestment Act, ACORN, Barney Fag, 9/11 etc. From the late 90's through 2007 the U.S. economy has survived on giving people with little education and low IQ's money hand over fist to keep the Titanic afloat via wasteful spending and crap people don't need.

keehah
12th January 2011, 11:05 PM
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/gene-sperling-obamas-new-renaissance-man/article1861798/

In his return engagement as head of the president's National Economic Council, Mr. [Gene] Sperling will oversee the administration's direction of economic policy.

Yahoo Answers: How do you feel that the new top economist has no economics education, and he caused the 2008 meltdown? (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110107160523AAHJeEd)

"As director of the NEC. Sperling was a principal negotiator with then-Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers of the Financial Modernization Act of 1999, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Gramm-Leach-Bliley repealed large portions of the depression-era Glass-Stegall Act allowing banks, securities firms and insurance companies to merge. President Barack Obama believes that the repeal of Glass-Steagall helped cause the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Sperling

He is also on the staff of the Council on Foreign Relations, where he serves as Senior Fellow for Economic Policy and Director of the Center on Universal Education.

Twisted Titan
13th January 2011, 06:19 AM
Even now, Romer said, mystery persists. "To this day, economists don't fully understand why firms cut production as much as they did or why they cut labor so much more than they normally would." Her defense was that "almost all analysts were surprised by the violent reaction."

Taxes, Regulations and the heavy hand of Gubbermint.

Mystery solved


Actually the removal of Glass-Stegall, and then you add on the Community Reinvestment Act, ACORN, Barney Fag, 9/11 etc. From the late 90's through 2007 the U.S. economy has survived on giving people with little education and low IQ's money hand over fist to keep the Titanic afloat via wasteful spending and crap people don't need.



Whatever ever they give to The Proloteriat pales into comparison to what High Officials steal with both hands in broad daylight.

Ex AIG demands bailout money then pay themselves bonuses for making bad bets......only to go back AGAIN for more money