Gregory Mankiw: "My lack of clarity left the wrong impression"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=584&e=2&u=/nm/20040213/pl_nm/bush_jobs_dc

After characterizing the outsourcing American jobs as "something that we should realize is probably a plus for the economy in the long run," chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Gregory Mankiw, apparently decided that "a plus" is not the same as "praise"...read for yourself:

"My lack of clarity left the wrong impression that I praised the loss of U.S. jobs," Mankiw said in a letter to House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert. White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan claimed that the letter was Mankiw's idea and not the result of pressure from the White House.

"It is regrettable whenever anyone loses a job. A job loss is always an awful experience and can lead to hardship for a worker and his or her family ... I regret that I did not express my views on these issues of great concern more clearly," Mankiw said.

And look, everyone, it's President Bush to the rescue...

"There are people looking for work because jobs have gone overseas," Bush added. "We need to act to make sure there are more jobs at home" by retraining displaced workers and by making his tax cuts permanent."

[mhr]

1. How Is A Tax Cut Going To Pay My Bills When I Have No Job And No Income?

These people are intellectual masturbators of the highest order.

[wtf]

3. wow

They really do think we're just a bunch of bleeding idiots, don't they?

[Adams Wulff]

2. Whaaaa?

I thought he (Bush*) said job outsourcing was good for the economy, that jobs are just something else to trade!
Now, all of a sudden, he thinks it's bad? Just like the rest of us?

Sounds like somebody drew him a picture.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

4. Bush: "I don't worry about numbers, I worry about people."

Another quote from the article...I didn't include it in my original post because it sickened me beyond words, but what the hell:

"Without mentioning Mankiw by name, Bush said, "I don't worry about numbers, I worry about people."

So Mankiw becomes the sacrificial lamb, Bush plays the "compassionate conservative" with his "permanent tax cuts and retraining for EVERYONE" mantra, and November is coming. God help us all.

[maggrwaggr]

5. ah yes, worrying the tax cuts AREN'T permanent is KILLING this economy

I know if I found out tomorrow that the tax cuts were permanent, by God I'd start a business and hire twenty people just like THAT.

That suspense is killing me on those tax cuts, damnit.

[guitar man]

6. Lack of clarity?

I think he was perfectly clear. These bastards have been handing our lives and livelihoods over to the ultra-rich corporate owners in this country for years and using their spin-meister mouthpieces to deny it. Now we have confirmation and we should not let them get away with trying to retract what was said.

<snip>
"The movement of U.S. factory jobs and white-collar work to other countries is part of a positive transformation that will enrich the U.S. economy over time, even if it causes short-term pain and dislocation, the Bush administration said yesterday."
<snip>

Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04041/271362.stm

These spoiled brats have no idea what the "short-term pain and dislocation" they are referring to is like. That "short-term pain and dislocation" includes forclosures and reposessions,sacrificing children's college funds for survival,families booted into the street and all manner of hardship the wealthy have NEVER experienced. One of my friends even committed suicide because he could not live with the shame of not being able to provide for his family.

The uber-wealthy in this country have been given the privelege of reaching down and tightening the belts of the working class anytime THEY want more.

Fuck them.I say it is about time we teach them how to "eat cake".

[poppabear36]

7. No meaning in this clarification

It is regrettable whenever anyone loses a job. A job loss is always an awful experience and can lead to hardship for a worker and his or her family ... I regret that I did not express my views on these issues of great concern more clearly," Mankiw said.

The language in this quote sounds really strange to me - as though someone told him this is what one would say to appear empathetic. But he has no true understanding of what he's saying.

[2004Donkeys]

8. Mankiw wrote my textbook for Econ so I will refrain from comment

n/t