The Obama administration is having a difficult time explaining the unemployment rate, which has been above 9 percent for 27 consecutive months and is today 1.3 percentage points higher than it was when Obama took office. The October numbers, due to be released on Friday, are unlikely to look any better. So, his administration goes to great lengths to spin its own unique set of facts.
Just look at Austan Goolsbee’s Friday interview on Sean Hannity’s radio show. Despite having stepped down as Obama’s chief economic adviser in August, Goolsbee continues to do media shows supporting Obama’s economic policies. Goolsbee declared: “I deal only in facts, Sean.” Here is a simple fact check of Mr. Goolsbee’s claims.
Hannity: We heard that unemployment wasn’t going to go above 8 percent.
Goolsbee: When they made that 8 percent prediction, that was the same prediction being made by everyone. But you forget the other half of the thing, which is if you did nothing, the rate would go to 8.9 percent, and it was already above that before the first part of the stimulus even went out.
Advertisement
Mr. Goolsbee is just plain wrong. When the Obama administration got into office, they made optimistic promises about their stimulus program, claiming that during 2009, unemployment would stop rising and then fall. The unemployment rate in January was 7.8 percent. In late February, the administration claimed that it would average just 8.1 percent for the year if the Stimulus was enacted.
The White House’s predictions were consistently much more optimistic than most economic forecasters surveyed by the Wall Street Journal. On Jan. 10, 2009, Obama’s team predicted unemployment would drop to 7.8 percent in December 2009. The Wall Street Journal’s survey of economic forecasters at that same time had December’s unemployment rate at 8.6 percent. At the very end of February 2009, after the stimulus was passed, the Obama released a new forecast saying that unemployment would average 8.1 percent for all of 2009. The next forecast by private forecasters for the Journal, about a week later, predicted unemployment in June at 8.7 percent and for December at 9.3 percent.
But Mr. Goolsbee’s second claim, that unemployment had already been above 8.9 percent “before the first part of the stimulus even went out,” is even more outrageous. Obviously, he is trying to make it look like President Obama simply inherited a worsening economic mess, a mess that threw off his experts’ predictions before the stimulus even had a chance to work. Again, that is just plain wrong. For February, unemployment stood at 8.2 percent; in March it was at 8.6 percent. And in March, President Obama was already claiming that the stimulus had a noticeable impact:
We’re beginning to see signs of progress. . . . This [stimulus] plan’s already saved the jobs of teachers and police officers. It’s creating construction jobs to rebuild roads and bridges. And yesterday, I met with a man whose company is reopening a factory outside of Pittsburgh that’s rehiring workers to build some of the most energy-efficient windows in the world. . . . We’ve already seen a jump in refinancing of some mortgages, as homeowners take advantage of lower rates.
Oh, you're just being harsh. You see, if we can starve a good percentage of the population, particularly those who don't have jobs, it will bend the cost curve of nationalized health care.
I'm sure Peter Orszag can explain this better than I can.
We have high unemployment because of Obama and his polices. Wait until January when big corporations begin their next fiscal year. Unemployment will go way up. Most employees are currently budgeted for through the end of the year. Next year is another story. What do you think is going to happen to all of the defense contractors once all of the military cuts are announced? These industries represent many share holders and pension plans. They will need to make BIG cuts as a result of Obama's agenda.
Yesterday it was announced that Peanut Butter is going up by 40 percent!!! A result of some drought but a bigger result of more farmers producing corn for ethanol. It would be an interesting story to take everyone of Obamas policies throughout his departments and show a resultant chart with the quantitative effects he has had on not just jobs but on total industries.
Food, Trucking, Manufacturing, International Trade, just look what has happened to our existing healthcare costs as a result of his not yet implemented policy!
And don't forget Biden's highly touted "Recovery Summer". He was pushing that one in May 2010, expecting that the summer of 2010 would show the beginnings of a real economic recovery.
Goolsbee has never hesitated to make outrageous and ridiculous claims. Cato's debunking of Goolsbee's false tax claims are great: External Link.
It upsets me to hear someone so capable of doing good instead using his skills to obfuscate and confuse voters. We are clearly in a "Great Recession," and everyone with a conscience should be sounding the alarm, not hiding the issue until 2013. We need structural change. Bloated government, stifling regulation and failing education are crippling our economy.
The Fed cited improved economic growth in Q3 in today's report. They're more optimistic than I am. If we can maintain that 2.5% growth rate, we'll be back at full employment by the early part of next decade. Whew! Let's see Austan embrace that Charlie Foxtrot. External Link
This is why liberals are so reluctant to try to make arguments based on logic or facts; they can't do it without distorting the truth out of all recognition, or simply lying outright, and when they try to do it, they get exposed.
That's why they're so much more comfortable with ad hominem attacks. You know - Reagan was doddering and senile, Bush was a moron, Palin is simply stupid, Bachmann is bat**** crazy, and now Cain may have made a gesture that someone might have been uncomfortable with fifteen years ago.
Plus the Republicans want to poison the air and water, and kill your grandma and autistic kids.
AS the whole world is facing difficulties in employment. Even the US is also experiencing the same issue. It is not easy for any country to solve this issue by their own. What we can do is, we can solve this issue unitedly. If we ignore it, it will destroy our future.
on the net on-line casinos - There are many wagering web pages for aussie players but when you choose the right online pokies you should stop by this particular internet casino which often is filled with critiques and pokie online games downloads.
Goolsbee's faculty colleagues must tear him to shreds in the spirited econ debates the U. of Chicago is known for. Or maybe he has pulled an Obama and ducked every discussion with colleagues.
--From one of the many U.of C MBAs who is disgusted to see Goolsbee teaching there.
