On the Economy, Democrats are “Absolutely” Out of Touch

July 27, 2011

Defying Flood of Troubling Economic News, Democrats Claim Economy is “Absolutely” Stronger

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner made the absurd claim Sunday that the bad economy has “absolutely” improved over the past three months.
Geithner’s claim flies directly in the face of recent economic and jobs data that further confirms that while Obama inherited a bad economy, he made it worse.
Amidst this gloomy economic news, all Democrats can offer is excuses and more of the same job-destroying policies.

BACKGROUND:

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner made the absurd claim Sunday that the bad economy has “absolutely” improved over the past three months, following up on comments from White House press secretary Jay Carney and President Obama to the same effect:

GEITHNER: ECONOMY IS “ABSOLUTELY” IN A “STRONGER POSITION” TODAY THAN THREE MONTHS AGO: WALLACE: “Let me finish. In a stronger position in the economy today than you were three or four months ago when you were growing hundreds of thousands of jobs?” GEITHNER: “Absolutely, because with time, more American are getting back to work. The economy is growing. American businesses are investing again. Exports are getting stronger. That’s all going well.” (Remarks from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Fox News’ “Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace”, 7/24/2011)

WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY JAY CARNEY: “UNCONTESTABLY TRUE” THAT “ECONOMY IS VASTLY IMPROVED” SINCE OBAMA TOOK OFFICE: “Well, two things remain uncontestably true. The economy is vastly improved from what it was when Barack Obama was sworn into office as president.” (“Carney: Economy Has ‘Vastly Improved’ Since Obama Was Sworn In,” Real Clear Politics, 7/21/2011)

OBAMA CLAIMS HE WAS “LARGELY SUCCESSFUL” IN STABILIZING ECONOMY, DESPITE THE FACT THAT “STUBBORN” UNEMPLOYMENT IS FAR ABOVE HIS 8 PERCENT MARKER: “Now, we took very aggressive steps when I first came into office to yank the economy out of a potential Great Depression and stabilize it. And we were largely successful in stabilizing it. But we stabilized it at a level where unemployment is still too high and the economy is not growing fast enough to make up for all the jobs that were lost before I took office and the few months after I took office. So this unemployment rate has been really stubborn.” (“Press Conference by the President,” The White House, 7/11/2011)

Geithner and Obama’s claims fly directly in the face of recent economic and jobs data that further confirms that while Obama inherited a bad economy, he made it worse:

SAN FRANCISCO FEDERAL RESERVE ANALYST DOWNGRADES GDP GROWTH BY 1%: ” ‘The slow growth of private-sector hiring is especially worrisome given expectations of additional cuts in government employment,’ Daly said.”(Kerri Panchuk, “San Francisco Fed Analyst Sees GDP Growth of 2.6% this Year,” Housing Wire, 7/19/2011)

MACROECONOMIC ADVISERS DOWNGRADES FORECAST BY 1.6%. (Catherine Rampell, “The Great Growth Disappointment,” The New York Times, 7/15/2011)

JP MORGAN: DOWNGRADES BY 0.5%. (Kathleen Madigan, “Weak Growth Is Not Only in Rear-View Mirror,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/18/2011)

GOLDMAN SACHS: DOWNGRADES GROWTH BY 0.75%. (Kathleen Madigan, “Weak Growth Is Not Only in Rear-View Mirror,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/18/2011)

MORE GOLDMAN SACHS: UNEMPLOYMENT TO BOTTOM OUT AT 8.75%?(Kurt Brouwer, “Goldman Sachs Slashes Economic Forecast,” Market Watch, 7/18/2011)

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE INCREASES in 28 STATES, STAYS THE SAME IN 14.(“Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, 7/22/2011)

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BUSINESS ECONOMISTS: “SLUGGISH GROWTH” TO “LINGER THROUGH THE REST OF 2011,” ONLY 11% OF ECONOMISTS THINK GROWTH WILL EXCEED 3%: (Jeffrey Bartash, “Business Economists See Softer U.S. Growth,” Market Watch, 7/18/2011)

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS ASSOCIATION: ECONOMY IS “WEAKENING AND THE RECOVERY IS SOFTENING”: (Jeffrey Bartash, “Business Economists See Softer U.S. Growth,” Market Watch, 7/18/2011)

THE BOTTOM LINE: “Even so, 2.5% isn’t great. The U.S. economy cannot rack up impressive growth numbers when its important household sector is beset by worries over deleveraging, falling wealth, and weak jobs prospects.” (Kathleen Madigan, “Weak Growth Is Not Only in Rear-View Mirror,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/18/2011)

Layoffs are surging, more than a third of jobless Americans have been out of work for at least a year and the public’s economic confidence is at its lowest level in almost 15 years:

CNN: GEITHNER FAILS THE SMELL TEST, AS ECONOMIC CONFIDENCE AT LOWEST LEVEL IN 15 YEARS: “Americans are more pessimistic about where the economy will be a year from now than they have been at any time in almost the last 15 years, a new poll Monday showed.

“In all, 59 percent of those surveyed for a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll said they expect economic conditions in the United States to be poor a year from now, while 40 percent expect conditions to be good. That’s the highest percentage since CNN began asking the poll question in October, 1997.” (Jennifer Epstein, “Poll: Pessimism Hits 15-Year High,” Politico, 7/25/2011)

“COMPANIES ARE LAYING OFF EMPLOYEES AT A LEVEL NOT SEEN IN NEARLY A YEAR.” (Conor Dougherty, “Layoffs Deepen Gloom,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/21/2011)

“MORE THAN ONE IN THREE” JOBLESS AMERICANS OUT OF WORK FOR MORE THAN A YEAR IN SOME STATES. (Sara Murray, “Long-Term Unemployment, By State,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/21/2011)

GALLUP: AMERICANS’ ECONOMIC CONFIDENCE AT LOWEST LEVEL SINCE MARCH 2009. (Dennis Jacobe, “U.S. Economic Confidence Sinks to Lowest Level Since March ’09,” Gallup, 7/21/2011)

Amidst this gloomy economic news, all Democrats can offer is excuses and more of the same job-destroying policies:

NY TIMES: WHITE HOUSE HOPING “MAYBE IT’S NOT THE ECONOMY, STUPID”: “Maybe it’s not the economy, stupid. White House officials have begun to entertain the idea that they can run for re-election without being able to point to a strengthening economy. For one thing, they may not have a choice.” (David Leonhardt, “Negotiating Election Headwinds,” The New York Times, 7/19/2011)

TREASURY SEC. TIM GEITHNER SAYS “RIDICULOUS” TO COMPARE DEBT AND UNEMPLOYMENT INCREASES UNDER OBAMA. (NBC’s “Meet the Press”, 7/10/2011)

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF BILL DALEY SAYS THE “POLITICAL SYSTEM” IS TO BLAME FOR WEAK ECONOMY. (Imtiyaz Delawala, “Bill Daley: President Obama Still Wants a ‘Big Deal’ on Deficit Reduction,” ABC’s “This Week”, 7/10/2011)

OBAMA ADVISOR DAVID PLOUFFE PRE-EMPTS GLOOMY JOBS REPORT, CLAIMS “VISION” MORE IMPORTANT THAN JOBS. (Julie Mason, “Plouffe: It’s About Vision, Not Jobs,” Politico, 7/8/2011)

OBAMA CLAIMED “WE’VE ALWAYS KNOWN THAT WE’D HAVE UPS AND DOWNS.” (“Remarks by the President on the Monthly Jobs Report,” The White House, 7/8/2011)

AFTER HE SAID HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT IS NOT A PROBLEM BECAUSE THERE ARE ALWAYS “BUMPS ON THE ROAD.” (“Remarks by the President to Chrysler Workers in Toledo, Ohio,” The White House, 6/3/2011)

A PHRASE ECHOED BY OBAMA’S TOP ECONOMIC ADVISOR: ” ‘There are always bumps on the road to recovery, but the overall trajectory of the economy has improved dramatically over the past two years,’ Goolsbee said in a statement posted Friday to the White House blog.” (Alexander Bolton, “Obama’s Economic Chief Says Job Numbers Are A Bump in the Road,” The Hill, 6/3/2011