This is not exactly news to anyone with a pulse, but it’s notable I think for such a prominent former member of President Obama’s economic team to be so blunt about the current state of the economy. This is Christina Romer, former Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, speaking at Washington University in St. Louis on April 12, 2011:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU_9pUljKEk[/youtube]Romer, if you recall, was the author of that infamous report on what the anticipated effects of the Recovery Act would be on employment. You know, the one which included this chart:
Yeah, Romer ended up being just a wee bit off the mark with that forecast. But it’s nice to see a measure of honest analysis from her now that she is out of the Administration. However, I think she misses the mark in referring to the state of the economy as a “growth-less” recovery. Calling it a “recovery-less” recovery would be more accurate, especially for the many millions of Americans who are still looking for work or are otherwise dealing with the effects of the downturn. (And is there any better example of how disconnected from reality people like Romer are than how cheerfully she delivers her lines in this clip?)
It probably won’t surprise you to hear that Romer’s prescription for addressing the continued weakness in the economy is, you guessed it, even more stimulus.
And when that doesn’t work, even more stimulus.
Right?
Repeating the same behavior over and over in hopes of a different outcome. Some might call that insanity. This characterizes Obama’s economic advisers better than anything else:
@DrJohn:
Common sense tends to tell someone that if they attempt to do something a certain way, and it fails, that one doesn’t attempt that same thing again, expecting different results. Of course, common sense isn’t so common anymore.
Trying to fix the economic downturn by more stimulus is like trying to eat an omelet made from theoretical eggs.
You cannot do it.
Make-work jobs are a waste of taxpayer money.
We cannot consume ourselves to prosperity.
We have to produce ourselves to prosperity.
Make-work jobs don’t MAKE anything!
Not only are we not investing in American business, we are actively investing in other country’s businesses.
Countries where the most modern production and innovation are encouraged.
Foreigners are also quitting their investing in American business.
Obama’s union buddies tried extorting American businesses only to see those businesses move to friendlier places like South Carolina, Texas, China and India.
So now Obama’s union buddies are trying to force those businesses to stay and be extorted.
But unproductive workers are a waste of the businessman’s money.
Raising taxes on business profits will not help our nation out of its downturn either.
Making business less profitable is not the answer to more start-ups and more hires.
How blind can she be?