United Liberty
Larry Summers
Economics: A Science for Schizophrenics
Wed, 04/01/2009 - 6:59am | posted by Katy Delay
An editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal brings home a fact that I’ve known for a long time: Economists tend to be schizophrenic.
The article mentions Larry Summers’s double talk. Summers commented on Obama’s latest budget by saying, “There are no, no tax increases….” The article points out that there are tax increases, namely the death tax that will be returning to its 2009 parameters, instead of disappearing as it was scheduled to do in 2011. That wouldn’t be more than a fib, but the story gets worse.
In 1980, Summers co-authored a study at the National Bureau of Economic Research supporting the elimination of the estate tax.
Go figure. Schizophrenia, anyone?
Obama’s economic advisers predict high unemployment for years
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 11:34am | posted by Jason Pye
Two of President Barack Obama’s economic advisers are now predicting high unemployment for years to come.
Larry Summers said it on Saturday:
The president’s chief economic adviser warned Friday that the nation’s unemployment rate could stay “unacceptably high” for years to come — a situation that would seriously complicate Barack Obama’s ability to convince Americans that he’s beating back the recession.
“The level of unemployment is unacceptably high,” National Economic Council Director Larry Summers said Friday. “And will, by all forecasts, remain unacceptably high for a number of years.”
Christina Romer repeated it again yesterday:
White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairwoman Christina Romer said that, in 2010, the economy will likely grow but the jobless rate will peak at 10 percent and won’t start falling at a rapid clip.
The administration and independent economists expect next year “steady but not-over-the top GDP growth” of between 2 to 3 percent, Romer told The Hill.
“That will bring unemployment down slowly but not by big movements, unemployment on the right trajectory but not coming down for what we or American people would need or like,” Romer said.
I thought unemployment wasn’t supposed to get past 8% with the so-called economic “stimulus” bill. It’s hard to claim that jobs are being “created” or “saved” when unemployment is high. Bad news for Democrats looking at tough races next year.
