If one studies Marx, Lenin, Black Liberation Theology, and Rules for Radicals, the evidence is clear. Look at the data and you will know what they are doing. The goal is to eviscerate not resuscitate
What does Obama have in common with Marx and Lenin, All were worthless “community activists” that just agitated. Marx did not even feed his family, having kids by 2 died of starvation and illness. Pathetic.

Lenin, the populist agitator, that became a bloodthirsty murderer of his own people. Study the history of these community organizers understand the methods, forecast the result.

J

“I don’t think that we anticipated how steep the decline would be, particularly in employment. I mean if you look at just, you know, hundreds of thousands, now millions of jobs being shed over the course of two months– or three months, that slope is a lot steeper than anything that we’ve said– we’ve seen before.”

It is pretty clear that Dr. Romer was aware that there were predictions unemployment could reach much higher levels, she went to the trouble of footnoting it. Paul Krugman was predicting 10% unemployment in addition to stating that the economy was in “steep steep decline” back in December. Looking back on the language used in his Washington Post op-ed, it seems pretty clear the President had a grasp on the urgent need for jobs:

By now, it’s clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression. Millions of jobs that Americans relied on just a year ago are gone; millions more of the nest eggs families worked so hard to build have vanished. People everywhere are worried about what tomorrow will bring.

In his Jan 8 speech on the economy President-elect Obama discusses unprecedented job loss and notes the crisis had only deepened over the last few weeks. In that same speech Obama predicted unemployment reaching double digits without action. Perhaps he misread the gravity of the economic situation but his rhetoric in laying out the need for urgent action on a stimulus clearly doesn’t reflect that notion. In fact, he lays out a case for immediate action to prevent the economy from falling into an abyss from which we may not return. Still, we know the stimulus was designed to have the bulk of the spending take place over a year later. Even if they misread the situation and were overselling the need for stimulus, why weren’t they more concerned about the millions they knew to be out of work?

I read an analysis recently, that I cannot seem to find or I would link it, that suggested the President believed the actions of the Fed and treasury were going to be sufficient to handle the economy. Given the quote provided by Jeffrey Hanson above on What Ends Recessions by Romer et al., it seems likely the stimulus was never intended to create or save jobs in the near term but create an artificial bump just in time for midterms. Whether the President will lose sufficient credibility with the public in the mean time depends entirely on the ability of the opposition to make the case to the American people. Heaven knows we can’t count on the adoring media to do a little homework to show the public what a sham the stimulus is or how the President misled the public while making the case for its urgent passage.

Enjoy these conservative articles and blog posts from around the web: Keith Hennessey evaluates President…

“Our main fmding is that monetary policy has been the source of most postwar recoveries. While limited fiscal actions have occurred around most troughs, these actions have almost always been too small to contribute much to economic recovery. In contrast, monetary policy has typically moved toward expansion shortly after the start of most recessions and appears to have contributed, on average, almost two percentage points to real GDP growth in the four quarters following the trough.” p.2

…”Interestingly, we find that many of the largest discretionary fiscal actions taken in the postwar era, such as the 1964 tax cut and the Nixon “New Economic Policy,” were not antirecessionary measures, but expansionary actions taken when policy-makers were dissatisfied with the pace of growth.” p.2-3

Jeffrey B., I agree with your sentiment, I understand that forecasting is imperfect, but if a politician was looking for a strategy to to crank up the economy to coincide with election time, they sure would love what the above research concludes. Having a media on your side to weather the current storm also helps.

Jeffrey H.

You say:

“The stimulus law was pooly designed so that the bulk of the economic effect does not occur until 2010.”

Could this ramp up of government spending in 2010, which happens to coincide with mid term congressional elections, reflect a deliberate political strategy by an overwhelmingly democrat controlled congress?

You cover the macro economic effects of the stimulus package thoroughly but neglect the political effects.

This is an important issue because the President has emphasized the need to be held accountable, and that includes accountable for his 3.5 million jobs figure. This is not “gotcha” economics. The President must be held accountable even if the MSM won’t do it.

I believe, however, that you’re being too lenient on the President when you begin the count from January or in February. To your credit, you are trying to be fair in this by not charging against the President’s account job losses prior to the start of his term. In most instances, that is the correct approach. But as I point out in an analysis done every month during this Administration (the most recent attached here: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Economy/upload/wm_2520-2.pdf), the President established his target for employment during his campaign, and the manner in which he did so firmly establishes a target for total employment at the end of 2010 of 138.6 million, leaving him with a jobs deficit of 6.9 million jobs.

As the Vice-President admits, the Administration misjudged the economy. They also misjudged the efficacy of a debt-based fiscal stimulus policy. We will pay the price for these errors for many years to come. But keep the faith. The nation has survived worse mistakes.