Now Goolsbee is leaving, wTF is going on?

[BernieSandersIsGod]

He was the only one that was able to display a bit of confidence when discussing economic policies.

[Imajika]

1. Maybe he's become less confident?

Dunno, more than likely he really just wanted to get back to family and a little bit of normalcy.

[SkyDaddy7]

13. He was on leave from the University of Chicago...

And needed to get back to prevent losing his tenure.

"Goolsbee has been on leave for four years from the university’s Booth School of Business and could have lost his tenured position at Chicago, where he was a professor for 14 years before joining the administration, if he did not return, an official said."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56373.html#ixzz1OaKvsA3M

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. Get it right: lefties HATE Goolsbee

[Raine1967]

4. Did I miss that memo? eom

[sad sally]

3. He didn't sound exactly confident on Sunday morning (6/5/11) - 5 million-plus vacant homes.

Where are all these families living today?

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1106/05/sotu.01.html?du

CROWLEY: Let me move you to the housing market. As you know, some people say a recovery never starred. other people say it is it in a double-dip. What we do know is home value is down 4.2 percent in the first quarter of this year. Now they're down to 2002 levels, I think? Home values? So sort of a decade of equity is gone for Americans owning a home.

Do you think it is time maybe to reinstate your first-time home buyers program? Is there anything you need to do, because the economy can't really recover, can it, in the strength that you need it to recover if the housing market is so bad?

GOOLSBEE: Well, you know, I'd say there are really two different questions embodied in that question. Housing is important. It's clear we got into a housing bubble and we got substantial numbers of people into houses that they could not afford. And so in addition to the recession, we're dealing with an excess 5 million-plus vacant homes in the country.

So it's been a tough struggle and slog in the housing market. And it is likely to remain so because you have these vacant homes.

Now...

CROWLEY: Can the economy improve?

GOOLSBEE: So, number one -- so on the -- can the economy improve, I think it can. I think the mistake -- it would be a mistake to try to roll back the clock and go back to the expansion of the 2000s which was driven almost exclusively by excessive consumer spending and residential housing construction. Those can be important, but they should not be the sole drivers the way they were in the 2000s.

[rosesaylavee]

7. So. Construction, in his mind, will not be a driving factor

in restoring the economy. I think it usually has been in the past.

Alrighty then.

[Bake]

15. Construction won't be because it CAN'T be

Not with the huge glut of foreclosures driving prices down. Too much supply to have any demand for new construction.

Bake

[rosesaylavee]

16. Right.

You would think tho that there would some plan for removing the glut so things could start moving again.

[Marblehead]

5. gettin out while the gettin's good..

[PurityOfEssence]

9. Oooh...sad, but maybe true

Any objective spectator must be having problems with this: there is no buying power to sustain the economy, and that's what our economy is about.

[ljm2002]

6. The employment numbers are dismal...

...and most signs point to another downturn. He's getting out while he can, IMO.

Obama better brace himself. If the economy does what it looks like it's going to do, he'll get the blame. He can't call it the Bush economy any longer. Too bad he let the Republicans dictate the shape of the stimulus package, back when we had majorities in both houses of Congress and Obama had a mandate for change. But no, he had to be Mr. Appeasement and let half the stimulus be pissed away on tax breaks, the most ineffective form of stimulus.

How's that bipartisanship thing working out for you, Mr. President? You know those Republicans, those people you continually bent over backwards to please? They're still busy laying land mines, because the LAST THING they want is a recovery. They want it to be so dismal that people will vote for them out of spite.

And you're still trying to set a different tone.

What a waste.

[oviedodem]

8. well, the next prez will benefit from the money in corporate america being

freed up AFTER he is out.

[ljm2002]

11. Yes indeed...

...that is one of the land mines I referred to: the right wing corporate honchos sitting on piles of money and not investing and not creating jobs, because they want to make Obama look as bad as possible. The worse the economy does, the fewer jobs there are, the worse he looks. If the rest of us have to suffer, oh well ain't that a shame. They don't give a rat's ass about that.

[Hestia]

17. Then they'll throw us crumbs and tell us to be happy. Oh look, DWTS is on...

[ChrisBorg]

10. The numbers are bad enough, do they have to put "unexpectedly" in front of them?

They use that term as if everyone is clueless and expecting rainbows and unicorns. They only people that end up looking naive is the Admin. Prepare the people for hard times and bad news but don't look deer in the headlights surprised when it hits the fan. Half of the jobs created in the recent report were by McD and everyone knew it 2 weeks ago.

[vaberella]

12. It's because he'd lose his tenure at the university if he didn't go back.

After the WH---he still needs or wants his job. And starting over is a problem. Anyway I don't see the big deal. However, I can see people making this a referendum on the Obama admin.

[Jennicut]

18. By this time in many administrations, there are people that leave.

Some want to go back to their normal lives. Its not unusual in the least.

[DCBob]

14. Goolsbee is no doubt a brilliant guy but he has made some less than impressive public appearances..

in the past. Not sure, but maybe something he said on the recent Sunday talk show.

[DebJ]

19. Isn't there usually turnover in most top jobs to the Presidency

after 3 years or so? I don't find it that odd. The stress factors are enormous.