First of all, it's easy to criticize Joe Biden. His mouth is always running so fast, and he says so many dumb things, that it's easy to forget that the dumb things that he says fall into very different categories, as in things he says that are dumb because they're wrong (Such as? Well, here's one from just today: Telling Israel that we'll look the other way if they bomb. bomb, bomb Iran.) and things he says that are dumb because they're right but they're phrased so clumsily. The other thing that Biden said today seems to fall into that second category:
Big admission from Vice President Joe Biden today.
"The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy," Biden told me during our exclusive "This Week" interview in Iraq.
Biden acknowledged administration officials were too optimistic earlier this year when they predicted the unemployment rate would peak at 8 percent as part of their effort to sell the stimulus package. The national unemployment rate has ballooned to 9.5 percent in June -- the worst in 26 years.
A look of conservatives eager to see any kind of stumble from Team Obama pounced on Biden's remark. But why? Because clearly what Biden is say is that we didn't listen to the liberals. That means the people like Paul Krugman and Nouriel Roubini who were telling the incoming administration that its stimulus and bank bailout -- the thing that thousands of conservatives were out there protesting this weekend -- were not nearly big enough, that even more dollars should be spent and banks should be nationalized.
What's the rationale for that?
We now have fewer jobs than in May 2000 when the recovery began, though the economy now has 12.5 million more workers. And there is less than one job opening for every five people seeking jobs. Hidden unemployment is also setting records - people with part time work who want full time work, as well as people whose hours have been involuntarily cut.
Until strong economic growth returns, companies will not resume hiring. And as long as layoffs continue, that means fewer customers and the downward spiral continues.
As EPI observes, President Obama's economic stimulus simply wasn't designed for a recession this deep. And I would add that stimulus funds are getting out too slowly.
Kuttner argues that the feds should be doing more to bail out burned-out state governments, tackle mortgage foreclosure more aggressively, and get serious about the zombie banks that are still in business but aren't making lonas. He's probably right in the broader sense, but politically I don't think the stomach for that approach is there, and I also think we have to acknowledge that Bush's remarkably foolish policies -- cutting taxes for the rich even as he wasted hundreds of billions on his unjustified war in Iraq -- have limited the ability of Obama to use traditional tools to try break the recession. Interestingly, George H.W. Bush had a similar dilemma because of the unprecedented debts racked up by Ronald Reagan, and that situation -- which caused him to break his "no new taxes" pledge -- cost him his presidency.
Will Obama meet the same fate? Maybe, but not necessarily. Unemployment rose steadily for another 14 months after Reagan's landmark 1981 tax cut that he claimed would fix everything, but when the economy finally whipsawed back (for reasons, as I argue in "Tear Down This Myth," largely unconnected to the tax cut) it was just in time for the 1984 campaign, fueling his overwhelming re-election. I do think the stimulus plan will help but it takes time; ironically, if the program had moved faster, then the people now screaming about the stimulus not working would instead be screaming about corruption and poorly chosen projects.
Meanwhile, it's small consulation but it's funny watching conservatives chide the Obama administration -- for apparently not being liberal enough.
Or, they misread the economy and were wrong and the bailouts should never have been done. And the automakers should never have been used as political payback to the unions, causing even more uncertainty in the markets by riding roughshod over established bankruptcy law.— rudytbone
Keep dreamin' there Will. No way, no how are any of your Con "fans" going to say Obama wasn't Liberal enough...— yobill626- It doesn't matter how fast or slow the stimulus is going. It was wrong from the inception. Government can't fix the economy. But maybe the economy can fix government - by forcing governments at all levels, to stop superfluous spending. That way, individuals will have the money and the impetus to take control of their own lives.— Mark Glaeser
Comment removed.- Incognito -- please back up your statement that "(I)t cant get any worse than (the Great Depression)." Why couldnt it? Why is it such a reach that Obama misjudged how bad Bush left this country? There are things coming thru now that really should help jumpstart this country again ($3500-$4500 government backed rebates for trading in a gas guzzler for a more fuel effecient car, just to name one).— Master Dreamz
- Hey Master, it was Frank, Dodd and liberal Democrat policy that destroyed the economy. Get your facts straight. And when the rebates you describe don't do a thing except sink us deeper into a hole I hope you remember to discredit yourself.— JerryCurlan
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Joe Biden is the epitome of mediocrity. He's a liability everywhere he goes. He's the Terrell Owens of the Obama Administration. Krugman? He would love nothing more than for America to turn into a welfare state- It never ceases to amaze me how delusional liberals become when it is proven that their ideas are wrong and their policies do not work. Instead of admitting that it was wrong, they say it just wasn't enough. I would love for one person to tell me logically how adding more money to the stimulus would have done ANYTHING to help at this point. The stimulus money hasn't even helped yet,and it doesn't look like its really going to have any positive effects whatsoever until September at the very earliest (and that is assuming that govt projects go as planned which is unlikely). So how does having a bigger pot of money to pull from change this in any way? Please, tell me using logic and reason instead of delusional liberal spin.— pete317
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"How do you get much worse than characterizing it as the Great Depression?" . . . . . . Your quote says "....since the Great Depression". Maybe that second grader could teach you how to comprehend what you read batty.- Comment removed.
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Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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