Groovy Baby - Yeah!

Cheers Baby...  Yeah!

I began writing this post early Monday morning prior to the whole 'Weiner Thing'.  Yes, all things considered, I thought that a post about our economy and the stellar accomplishments of the Obama Administration was preferable to yet another post about an idiot 'Member' of Congress.  (I thank you!)

But this what happens most days, I head off in one direction, life intervenes, and I get spun off in another direction.

We now re-join yesterday's post, already in progress...

This past weekend, Austan Goolsbee appeared on network television to try to explain away last week's dismal jobs report.  So, how'd he do?

This morning (a.k.a.:  Tuesday, June 7, 2011) President Obama's Chairman of Economic Advisers, Goolsbee, announced that he is resigning his post to return to teaching at the University of Chicago.

Oops.  

Hmm, I'm reminded of not one, but TWO jokes...

Inappropriate joke section begins!

"So Mrs. Lincoln, how was the REST of the play?", or,

"Mrs. Lincoln, would you like a table, or a Booth?" 

Inappropriate jokes ends!

So what did Austan Goolsbee say which did not amuse his boss? 

From the Huffington Post:  "Don't bank too much of any one month's jobs report," Goolsbee told Christian Amanpour on her Sunday program The Week. "You want to look at a little bit of a trend to get a more accurate barometer."

Government stimulus might have been essential to preventing the country from sinking into another Great Depression, Goolsbee says, but it's the private sector that must pull the country up. "Our effort now as a government should be to get the private sector, to help them stand up, lead the recovery," he said. "Government is not the central driver of recovery."

Hey, wha' the???  Did Austan Goolsbee 'dis' his boss' policies on ABC television?  Did he discover the 'Private Sector'? 

Yes, I believe he did. 

I located the transcript of the ABC's 'This Week' online.  Here's an interesting segment which hasn't gotten much / any coverage: 

AMANPOUR: Are you concerned that Moody's is saying that it may look at downgrading if certain benchmarks aren't met?

GOOLSBEE: Look, I think what Moody said is, you have to pay your bills, and if you don't pay your bills, there are going to be consequences. And I think everybody agrees with that.

Now, I'm relatively optimistic that -- because you've seen leaders on both sides of the aisle saying they don't want to push this all the way right up to the -- to the edge of the -- of Treasury's authority of what can be done. This is not an alarm clock. It would be extremely dangerous to get right up to the edge or -- you've seen some people even saying, well, it'd be OK if we defaulted for a short period.

That's not true; we shouldn't do that. We should resolve this over the next month.

AMANPOUR: Austan Goolsbee, thank you very much, indeed, for joining me.

The light on the LCD screen flickers, the sound fades, and Austan Goolsbee will be gone from the Obama Administration within a month so if there is a resolution - it's will not be his. 

He's off to the University of Chicago to teach more academics... 

To be just like him.  [SHUDDER]


I took a little trip to my favorite 'Happy Place'. 

McDonalds'?  No. 
Wally World?  No. 
WalMart?  No, not likely.  (Seriously, have you ever BEEN to WalMart?)

Okay, quit guessing!  I went to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics site to check out Unemployment Stats for the past couple of years.  Austan said the decrease in the number of jobs was merely a 'Bump in the road' to recovery, so I wanted to look for myself.  Boy, I hope they have a chart (which is a clickable link to the site itself!). 

Oh look, here it is now!!!

Unemployment between May of 2009 and May of 2011 averages between 9.5% for most of the two year period.  It begins to edge down in November 2010.  I went looking to see if I could come up with a reason that President Obama's Economic Policies began to 'Kick In' in November 2010, but all I could find in 'Chart 1' was the following... 

The Democrats in the House of Representatives had their political 'heads' handed to them in the mid-term elections.  Perhaps business owners believed for a brief period that 'Hope and Change' had actually arrived in Washington?  Yeah, that's my theory anyway.

But then, 'Stuff' happened:  The Debt Ceiling Stalemate(s), Boehner Caves, Gas prices begin their ascent, and Washington, DC goes back to doing what it does best - not doing much of anything useful.

Lacking leadership from the President on the budget and the inability of Republicans to pass veto-proof legislation and budgets through Congress - America begins to settle back to where we have been for the past two years... 

'Malaiseville, USA'. 

The ONE guy who did okay?

Austan Goolsbee

He leaves the Obama Adminstration with his head held high knowing that he'll get his old job back at the University. 

One more job 'created or saved' by the Obama Administration.  

Groovy Baby, yeah!  Oh behave, Austan!