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Home Front: Politix
Biden: we misread economy
2009-07-06
Gawd, what a doofus.
by George "Too Tall" Stephanopoulos

Big admission from Vice President Joe Biden today.

"The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy," Biden told me during an exclusive "This Week" interview in Iraq.
Not everyone, Joe, just you, your boss and your pals in Congress ...
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.

"The truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited," said Biden, who is leading the administration's effort to implement it's $787 billion economic stimulus plan. "Now, that doesn't -- I'm not -- it's now our responsibility. So the second question becomes, did the economic package we put in place, including the Recovery Act, is it the right package given the circumstances we're in? And we believe it is the right package given the circumstances we're in," he told me.

The vice president argued more time is needed for the stimulus to work. "We misread how bad the economy was, but we are now only about 120 days into the recovery package," he said. "The truth of the matter was, no one anticipated, no one expected that that recovery package would in fact be in a position at this point of having to distribute the bulk of money."

Biden didn't rule out a second government stimulus package, but downplayed calls from Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman this week that a second stimulus will be needed.
Krugman knows international economics but knows nothing else, to the point where he's become a caricature. If he's wanting a second stimulus, that's reason enough for me to oppose it.
I pressed the vice president, who is also leading the administration's middle-class task force, on whether he'd rule out a second stimulus package.

"So, no second stimulus?" I asked.

"No, I didn't say that," Biden said, "I think it's premature to make that judgment. This was set up to spend out over 18 months. There are going to be major programs that are going to take effect in September, $7.5 billion for broadband, new money for high-speed rail, the implementation of the grid -- the new electric grid. And so this is just starting, the pace of the ball is now going to increase."
Poor dear Vice President Biden will keep saying things. He just promised the U.S. will not stand in Israel's way if Israel believes military action is needed to eliminate Iran's nuclear threat. He added that the U.S. "cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do." He got the right thought, but aimed it at the wrong object.
Posted by:Steve White

#8  Any different from the upper echelons of the old Soviet Union who actually believe the reports of their minions who were lying through their teeth telling their bosses what they wanted to hear? It wasn't till it was too late that the boys at the top discovered [along with the CIA who also believed the reporting] that they'd based their decisions on fiction. Then again, when you insist on running a corrupt political machine, what more can you expect.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2009-07-06 20:55  

#7  "Biden: we misread economy"

No, Joe - you're just f*cking IDIOTS.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2009-07-06 17:59  

#6  This statement is self-serving. Rather than take credit for all their efforts to further damage the economy, they take blame merely for not immediately understanding how bad Bush left it for them. Gawd how I hate these people. Only thing worse is the idiots who listen to them.
Posted by: Iblis   2009-07-06 12:32  

#5  I seem to remember the stimulus being necessary because we were in "the worst economy since the Great Depression". Now Biden says he underestimated how bad it was? The Party needs to do a whole lot of airbrushing.
Posted by: DoDo   2009-07-06 11:37  

#4  AH they don't WANT to fix it. At least not as you or I would define "fix".

What they want are excuses and crises that can be used to grab more and more power over the economy (see also Oogo) and continue to implement their fascist / communist / socialist ideals.

Look up "corporatism" just for chuckles.
Posted by: AlanC   2009-07-06 10:49  

#3  So, what makes you think you have gotten it right this time?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon   2009-07-06 07:57  

#2  Not everyone, Joe, just you, your boss and your pals in Congress ...

Not to mention those who actively participated in obstructing real oversight and regulatory action. "Misread" is not a defense when the evidence clearly shows gross negligence and dereliction of duty by your beltway buddies up to the time the 'crisis' finally unfolded. Put this up there with "I didn't know the gun was loaded" even when you were repeatedly warned.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2009-07-06 07:22  

#1  This is a crock: "The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy," Leave out me and many other people, some with actual qualifications, from Joe's "everyone else." Plenty of people read the economy correctly, and were either ridiculed or ignored until it was too late. Even now there is no fact-finding operation going on at the executive or legislative level to determine what went wrong and how it might be fixed. Instead they are trotting out the same discredited "experts" who had a hand in causing the crisis, to fix it. Joe, your people are still misreading the economy.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2009-07-06 00:18  

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