Hmmm...White House Economists Won't Testify about the Stimulus

Hmmm...White House Economists Won't Testify about the Stimulus Scotty Starnes | February 16, 2011 at 8:00 PM | Tags: Christine Romer, high unemployment, Obama's stimulus, stimulus, unemployment | Categories: Political Issues | URL: http://wp.me/pvnFC-4rC

Could it be because they were so wrong and can't explain their own numbers?

From the Wall Street Journal:

The Obama White House won't be sending a witness to defend the economic-stimulus package before a House Oversight Committee panel Wednesday.

The committee is holding a hearing on the impact of the stimulus package, which President Barack Obama signed almost two years ago. Testimony will come from a lineup of conservative economists, plus Josh Bivens of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, who was picked by committee Democrats.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), who is running the hearing, had asked Jared Bernstein and Christina Romer, who played major roles in preparing the package to testify or suggest another witness to represent the White House. Both declined.

Failure is hard to explain I guess.

Officials volunteered to send witnesses from the Transportation and Commerce departments but the offers were turned down.

Ms. Romer, formerly the head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, returned to her teaching job at the University of California, Berkeley, last year. Mr. Bernstein remains the chief economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden.

Republicans say that they plan to use the hearing to examine the effects of the stimulus plan on the economy "and how its results compare to projections made by administration officials." GOP staff said that they didn't think that witnesses from individual federal departments would be able to answer these questions.

The plan, which has a current estimated price tag of $814 billion, is considered by Democrats to be one of their signature achievements during Barack Obama's first two years in office. Mr. Bernstein and Ms. Romer have credited it with preserving up to 3.7 million jobs, compared with what would have happened otherwise.

Romer also said that unemployment would not top 8% if the stimulus was passed. I must also point out that we have lost 3.3 million jobs since February of 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If the stimulus 'preserved' 3.7 million jobs, how did the unemployment rate increase? Sounds like Obama's economists used fuzzy math.

But Republicans have questioned how the White House reached those figures, and have argued that the stubbornly high unemployment rate shows that the plan was a costly failure.

Twenty-two straight months of 9% plus unemployment since the stimulus was passed.

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