This week, Austan Goolsbee, chief economist for the President, announced he would be leaving the post this summer, becoming the fourth economic counselor to depart the White House. While it’s hardly surprising head economists have been unwilling to stick around to defend failed policies, taxpayers are getting sick of being saddled with poor policy decisions that outlive their proponents. Goolsbee’s departure marks a trend in economic advisors jumping ship after the policies they’ve been forced to preach have been proven indefensible:

• Peter Orszag, Director of Office of Budget and Management:
  • February 2009: On the President’s budget: “We're reducing those [inherited] deficits significantly.  The spending under this budget is lower than if we did nothing at all.”
  • When President Obama came into office, the deficit was $459 billion. “stimulus” spending, bailouts and excessive regulation have caused government overspending to skyrocket, to $1.5 trillion this year.
  • Orszag departs July 30, 2010
• Larry Summers, Director, National Economic Council:
  • February 2009: With regards to the “stimulus,” Summers claims “You’ll see the effects begin almost immediately.”
  • August 2009: “the stimulus bill is a bill that's largely going to play out in the next couple of years.”
  • Summers leaves the White House December 15, 2010
• Christina Romer, Chairwoman, Council of Economic Advisors
  • January 2009: Authors the famous chart that shows unemployment peaking at 7.9 percent of GDP with the enactment of the “stimulus” plan
  • October 2009: With unemployment hovering just under 10 percent, Romer claims “[the] stimulus has already had its biggest impact on economic growth and will likely not contribute to significant expansion next year.”
  • Romer resigns September 2, 2010
• Austan Goolsbee, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisors
  • May 2011: Unemployment ticks back up to 9.1 percent, with almost 14 million people looking for work. For the two and half years since the passage of the Obama Administration’s hallmark economic “stimulus” plan, unemployment has averaged 9.5 percent.  Part of the President’s economic policy team for four years, Goolsbee can no longer reconcile the policies he has helped promote with the stalled economic recovery.

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Posted by Mattie Duppler on Tuesday, June 7, 2011 12:37 PM EDT

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