Wednesday, May 13, 2009

The Great Deception continues . . .

Last week the Department of Labor released an employment report showing that U.S. employers shed 611,000 private sector jobs in the first three months of this year bringing the nation’s unemployment rate to 8.9%. This was bad news for Americans but even worse news for the Obama administration. In January of this year, the White House released a document lobbying Congress to pass President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package. The document, which had Council of Economic Advisers chair Christina Romer’s and Chief Economic Policy Adviser to Vice President Jared Bernstein’s names on it, included the following chart:


The big problem for the White House is that the actual data are not matching their computer simulations. Here is a chart (courtesy Econ International Blog) matching real world data with Obama administration fantasy:


As you can see, the Obama administration’s projections were way off. This was also true of the Obama administration’s deficit projections, which just three months into his administration are already $89 billion wrong. And let’s not forget how EPA administrator Lisa Jackson cooked the EPA’s books to cheat the United States economy out of $1.22 trillion.

Addressing the glaring gap between reality and their numbers, Romer told CSPAN this weekend: “Accuracy has always been the main thing, not the political back-and-forth.” Americans aren’t stupid. They know when politicians fudge numbers for political gain. As IHS Global Insight chief U.S. financial economist Brian Bethune told McClatchy: “If they keep playing this game, they’re going to have real credibility problems.”
Author: Conn Carroll Interact: Sphere Share This

3 comments:

vwatt said...

I don't know what they could be thinking in the White House. The next thing you know they will label my Visa account as a form of derivative and begin telling me when and what I can charge! It is just getting way out of hand-I don't care whether this is the type(derivatives, credit swap,etc.) of financial shenannigans that almost pushed our country into a depression and bankruptcy-it's all about me and spreadin' freedom:


By STEPHEN LABATON and JACKIE CALMES
Published: May 13, 2009

WASHINGTON — In its first detailed effort to overhaul financial regulations, the Obama administration on Wednesday sought new authority over the complex financial instruments, known as derivatives, that were a major cause of the financial crisis and have gone largely unregulated for decades.

The administration asked Congress to move quickly on legislation that would allow federal oversight of many kinds of exotic instruments, including credit-default swaps, the insurance contracts that caused the near-collapse of the American International Group.

The Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, said the measure should require swaps and other types of derivatives to be traded on exchanges or clearinghouses and backed by capital reserves, much like the capital cushions that banks must set aside in case a borrower defaults on a loan. Taken together, the rules would probably make it more expensive for issuers, dealers and buyers alike to participate in the derivatives markets.

Mike West said...

After the last election I'm not so sure I can agree with this comment.

"Americans aren’t stupid."

Brodad Unkabuddy said...

What "almost pushed our country into a depression and bankruptcy" was the Democrat based, supported and defended notion of selling homes to people who can't afford them. All the financial bells and whistles were a result of the governmental pressure (Frank, Dodd, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac) to make that money available and sellable.