Obama WH Official Says Rising Unemployment Is A Sign Economy Improving…Then Lies About Automaker Crisis

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Andy McCarthy demolished White House Official Austin Goolsbee’s interview this morning:

I caught a panel on which Obama economic advisor Austin Goolsbee conceded that the administration had previously predicted unemployment would top out at around 8%, that it was now up to 9.4%, and that double-digit unemployment was a distinct possibility in the near future. Goolsbee didn’t resort to the administrations’s blather about “saving or creating jobs,” but he did repeat its fustian about how last month’s loss of 345,000 jobs (resulting in a half percentage point jump in the jobless rate) is somehow good news because it beat predictions (I don’t recall him saying whose) of even more dire loss numbers. It made me wonder why, if those predictions either existed or were serious, the Obama administration would have previously predicted that unemployment would top out at 8%?

Goolsbee then laughably intimated that the steep jump in the jobless rate could be attributable to hopeful signs that the economy is improving. Huh? See if you can follow this: he says flashes of hope that we are on the verge of a revival have purportedly caused previously uncounted jobless people to seek (but not find) work — that is, they waited out prosperous times, deciding to leap into the job hunt only when hundreds of thousands of heretofore gainfully employed people got pink-slipped and began competing for a declining pool of jobs.

Goolsbee wasn’t done with his idiocy. He does the typical Obama move….blame Bush:

We are only in this situation because somebody else kicked the can down the road, and that’s really an understatement. They shook up the can, they opened the can, and handed to us in our laps. Senator Shelby knows that to be true. When George Bush put money in to General Motors, almost explicitly with the purpose, how many dollars do they need to stay alive until January 20th, 2009? There was no commitment to restructuring, to making these viable enterprises of any kind.

The Senior White House economic advisor to President George W. Bush, Keith Hennessey, lays out the facts and shows that not only was Goolsbee’s accusations wrong but inflammatory. It’s a long and detailed post and I would recommend you go read it but here’s the summary:

1. The Obama team declined to respond to the Bush team’s offer to work together to create a joint process that would have resulted in a resolution by March 1st or April 1st, rather than by June 1st for Chrysler and maybe September 1st for GM.

2. We then worked with the Democratic majority to enact legislation that would have limited funds to be available only to firms that would become viable.

3. After Congress left town for the holidays without having addressed the issue, President Bush was faced with a choice between providing loans and allowing these firms to liquidate in early January, which would have further exacerbated the economic situation for the incoming President. President Bush chose to provide the loans.

4. We provided GM and Chrysler with sufficient funds to get to March 31st, not January 20th, and in those loans we gave the incoming Administration the ability to extend them for 30 more days.

5. The loans were conditioned on restructuring to become viable, with a precise definition of viability, specific restructuring goals, and quantitative targets.

6. The Obama Administration followed the restructuring process laid out in the Bush-era loans. They are now measuring that deal against the targets established in the Bush-era loans. The only changes the Obama team made were that they extended GM for 60 days rather than 30, and the Obama Administration directly inserted themselves into the negotiations as the pre-packager.

Dr. Goolsbee’s comments this morning were both inflammatory and incorrect.

Another nugget came out of this interview, while speaking about the running of operations within the companies he said the following: (h/t Gateway Pundit)

“It’s totally clear that the government will have input on operations.”

State controlled automakers…..I know there is a name for that isn’t there?

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The good news .. your bleeding has slowed.
The bad news .. you’re still bleeding.

Bush did everything that the incoming Obama Administration asked him to do in terms of bailouts. He never should have bothered. These Obamatons have such low class that no matter how hard Bush tried to smooth the way for them they still trash him.

This should be a lesson for Republicans in the future. All efforts at creating goodwill towards the opposition will be thrown back in your face.

Mike,

Exactly what Rush Limbaugh preaches. Don’t negotiate with them. You’ll end up getting screwed.

“*.. the steep jump in the jobless rate could be attributable to hopeful signs that the economy is improving.”

Improving for who ?
When the car plants and dealerships close and it creates a knock on effect and the jobless rate skyrockets will that be a sign the economy has improved ?
Democrat logic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.

Oh, and for what it’s worth it seems likely that the ‘improved’ May figures (which still show job losses) are at least a little bit rigged; see http://www.chrismartenson.com/blog/may-employment-report-not-believable/20102

Wow, thank goodness we are not still under the hell of near full employment that was George Bush’s economy! I clearly went to the wrong economics class when I was in school.

Oh wait, my economics classes were about capitalism – I didn’t take the Dem version.