Economist Christina Romer serves up dismal news at her farewell luncheon
2nd September 2010
Dana Milbank, ordinarily a dependable Voice of the Crust, wanders off the reservation.
Lunch at the National Press Club on Wednesday caused some serious indigestion.
It wasn’t the food; it was the entertainment. Christina Romer, chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, was giving what was billed as her “valedictory” before she returns to teach at Berkeley, and she used the swan song to establish four points, each more unnerving than the last:
She had no idea how bad the economic collapse would be. She still doesn’t understand exactly why it was so bad. The response to the collapse was inadequate. And she doesn’t have much of an idea about how to fix things.
What she did have was a binder full of scary descriptions and warnings, offered with a perma-smile and singsong delivery: “Terrible recession. . . . Incredibly searing. . . . Dramatically below trend. . . . Suffering terribly. . . . Risk of making high unemployment permanent. . . . Economic nightmare.”
This person was Chairman of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors. After confessing to being totally clueless, she’s off to teach economics at Berkeley. I think it’s time to be afraid.
September 3rd, 2010 at 09:35
Nice to see one of Obama’s advisors telling the truth for once. She does not, in fact, understand exactly why it was so bad, and she doesn’t have much of an idea about how to fix things.