President Obama was getting his daily economic briefing one recent morning when a fly distracted him. The president swatted and missed, just as the pest buzzed near the shoes of Lawrence H. Summers, the chief White House economic adviser. “Couldn’t you aim a little higher?” deadpanned Christina D. Romer, the chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Mrs. Romer was joking, she said in an interview, adding, “There are only a few times that I felt like smacking Larry.” Yet few laughed in the president’s presence.
If the Oval Office incident was meant as a lighthearted moment, it also exposed the underlying tensions that have gripped Mr. Obama’s economic advisers as they have struggled with the gravest financial crisis since the Depression, according to several dozen interviews with administration officials and others familiar with the internal debates.
No wonder tensions are high…things aren’t going quite as [url=http://michaelscomments.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/stimulus-vs-unemployment-may2.gif]predicted[/url] by our best and brightest planners.
Interesting (and depressing) graph, Jeffersonian. And his advisors predictions about the level of budget deficits are being revise upwards again and again. See [url=http://blog.heritage.org/2009/03/24/bush-deficit-vs-obama-deficit-in-pictures/ ]here[/url]. (Someone had objected that these numbers don’t reflect the Iraq and Afghan war during the Bush Administration. The linked article specifically rebuts this point: “Many Obama defenders in the comments are claiming that the numbers above do not include spending on Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush years. They most certainly do. While Bush did fund the wars through emergency supplementals (not the regular budget process), that spending did not simply vanish. It is included in the numbers above.”)
There is simply no question that Obama’s actions are making things far worse. Even their own predictions show this. How long before people stand up to this power- and money-grab and say “enough?”
I live for the day, and pray that we are indeed in God’s hands, the day that all those people who voted for Obama realize what they have done. Maybe then we can get back on track.
But with each passing day, more and more things get “fundamentally changed” that will never be able to be changed back.
Jefferson – I’m not sure what that graph is supposed to prove, except that Obama inherited a much worse situation than he had even dreamed.
How much stimulus money has been spent, Jefferson?
Look, if you are going to blame him for unemployment, why not credit him with the improved dow?
I’m always impressed with that talk radio caller who complains about Obama and says “if only he did… x, y and z we’d all be better off,” as if those economic advisers were really dull.
Heh, we can always count on JW to parrot the day’s talking points.
John, every penny of the porkulus that Obama wanted spent has been spent. It’s his plan, so if it’s failing as badly as it is obvious it is, then we surely know who’s to blame, right? For May, we were menaced with the specter of what appears to be 8.7% unemployment if we didn’t pass the bill, yet here we are in May and unemployment is at 9.4%, about 1.5% worse than projected and 0.7% worse than Obama’s projection if we hadn’t passed Porkulus.
The graph that I linked was drawn from data put out by the Obama administration itself. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the graph tell us that we’d be better off not having spent the $800 billion? Or is it that we can’t trust the numbers put out by the Administration?
Jefferson, correlation is different than causation. It it takes time for money to get from one place to another.
Recently I went to a city council meeting where they were discussing a building project that would be built once the money was received. They were looking at 12 months down the road.
“every penny of the porkulus that Obama wanted spent has been spent.” What does this mean? So, has hes spent any? That’s a pretty clever evasion of the question. As usual, you offer concepts, but you don’t follow the numbers.
We’re just seeing a continuation of the business cycle that began a long time ago. In two years, we’ll see.
I’m not sure if we’re reading the same graph, jefferson. But I will say I’m surprised the council of economic advisers isn’t calling you. You seem to have all the answers.