March 12th 2009
Obama’s Economists Get An F
Harry Truman, who certainly had his own economic troubles, once vented his frustration with economists and their forecasts by saying, “What I need is a one-armed economist. Then I wouldn’t get any more of this ‘On the one hand … but on the other hand.’”
Two truths: Harry wasn’t immediately assaulted by the One Armed Humans Defense Council as he would be today, and two, economists today are much more single-minded (if not single-handed): Pres. Obama’s economic team sucks. The WSJ probed the question in its routine survey of 49 leading economists and found:
The economists’ assessment stands in stark contrast with Mr. Obama’s popularity with the public, with a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll giving him a 60% approval rating. A majority of the 49 economists polled said they were dissatisfied with the administration’s economic policies.
On average, they gave the president a grade of 59 out of 100, and although there was a broad range of marks, 42% of respondents rated Mr. Obama below 60. Mr. Geithner received an average grade of 51. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke scored better, with an average 71.
So many of these leading economists gave Obama an F. Geithner clearly got a low F. And Bernanke is holding up the credentials of the admin with a C-.
The economists pushed the meager start of a recovery out another two months, agreed that the stimuli have failed thus far, and split on the wisdom of pouring more stimulus money out of the taxpayer’s pockets and into the economy, with a minority holding the re-stimulate view. Most of their criticism was focused on the ineptness of Geithner and the White House economic team.
However, economists’ main criticism of the Obama team centered on delays in enacting key parts of plans to rescue banks. “They overpromised and underdelivered,” said Stephen Stanley of RBS Greenwich Capital. “Secretary Geithner scheduled a big speech and came out with just a vague blueprint. The uncertainty is hanging over everyone’s head.”
Even with its recent bounce, the Dow remains down over 20% since Geithner’s press conference. Never before has a treasury secretary depleted the treasuries of so many by saying so little.
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