Remember the Bernstein-Romer jobs chart from 2009, detailing how the unStimulus would keep unemployment below 8% and put us on a glide path to full employment by Q1 2014?
Good times.
What I remember most was how embarrassed Christina Romer always looked on the Sunday shows, trotting out the Keynesian BS she didn’t believe in. At least she has enough moral character to be a bad liar — unlike the rest of the West Wing crew.
Memories aside, Jim Pethokoukis has his final markup of the jobs chart (above) and adds this:
Obama White House defenders might point out that (a) the recession was worse than what the real-time data suggested, (b) outside shocks like the Eurzozone crisis slowed growth, (c) fiscal austerity here at home was also a drag, (d) economies tend to recover particularly slowly after financial crises.
I would counter thusly: (a) Team Obama almost certainly didn’t expect the labor force collapse so the forecast was even more bullish than it appears, (b) the aftermath of the financial crisis should have been no surprise, (c) the economy even had the added boost from historic monetary stimulus.
Let’s call the unStimulus what it was: A massive wealth transfer to us from our grandkids.
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