Kerry: Nations Prosper When 'Citizens Have Faith in Their Governments'

    Speaking Tuesday at the 45th Annual Washington Conference of the Council of the Americas, Secretary of State John Kerry said that "countries are far more likely to advance economically and socially when citizens have faith in their governments and are able to rely on them for justice and equal treatment under the law." Kerry said that a "new kind of relationship" with Latin American countries, emphasizing democracy and human rights, will contribute to "our common agenda for the hemisphere." Here are Kerry's remarks in fuller context:

At the UN Human Rights Council last fall, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay joined the United States in sponsoring a resolution in support of LGBT rights. Our landmark Open Government Partnership, which the United States launched with Brazil five years ago, is now chaired by Mexico. And over the past three years, we have worked with partners, including Costa Rica, Mexico, Chile, and Jamaica, to help strengthen the independent bodies of the Inter-American Human Rights System. Many of the globe’s leading voices for human rights and the rule of law, obviously, share Spanish as their native tongue. 

Why does this matter? Well, it matters because countries are far more likely to advance economically and socially when citizens have faith in their governments and are able to rely on them for justice and equal treatment under the law. It matters because young people who have opportunities at home will stay and contribute to their societies instead of leaving in search of better luck elsewhere. It matters because freedom of thought and expression are the keys to innovation, which is how whole new industries begin. It matters because, in that most curious of ways, people who are given the liberty to be different are also the ones most likely to unite and band together in the face of shared threats.

    If faith in government is a necessary factor for a country's economic and social advancement, a recent Pew Research Center study, via the Washington Post, is not a good sign. The Post notes that the study found that only "23 percent [of Americans] trust the federal government to do the right thing 'at least most of the time.'"

Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

Obama Decries 'Winner-Take-All' Economy to Rich Folks 'Who Are Doing Very Well'

    President Obama attended a Democratic fund raising event in Weston, Massachusetts Wednesday night at the home of Alan and Susan Solomont.  Among the 60 attendees were a number of high-profile Democrats, according to the Boston Globe:

Among those expected to attend are House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi; Governor Deval Patrick; Ken Burns, the director of acclaimed documentaries; Representative Steve Israel, who is chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; Swanee Hunt, former US ambassador to Austria; and retired US Navy admiral James Stavridis. 

Also expected are several members of congress, including John Tierney, of Salem; Niki Tsongas, of Lowell; and David Cicilline, of Rhode Island. Former congressman Barney Frank is also planning to attend, according to a DCCC aide.

    In his speech, the president blasted Republicans for further lowering Washington's image among voters by continuing obstructionism despite the Newtown shootings and Boston Marathon bombing that should have produced a "new spirit in Congress of people pulling together."  He also made some interesting remarks about the economy the United States finds itself a part of in the world today [emphasis added]:

We know that we are entering into an extraordinarily promising but also challenging time in this country.  International competition is fierce.  We have an economy that's never been more productive or more innovative.  But what we've also seen is an economy that produces a winner-take-all situation and folks like those in this room who are doing very well, there are a whole bunch of folks out there who are struggling.  You’ve got a middle class that is anxious about whether their children will be able to replicate their success.  There are questions as to whether, if you work hard in this country, you can still make it. 

     The Globe also noted that the fund raiser "ticket prices ranged from $16,200 per person to $64,800 per couple. The DCCC would not say how much Obama expected to raise in total."


Note: A version of this article first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

Census: Households With Children with an Unemployed Parent Increased 33 Percent from 2005 to 2011

    A Census Bureau report released on Tuesday says that the number of households with children under 18 with at least one unemployed parent increased by 33 percent between 2005 and 2011 from 2.4 million to 3.2 million.  In addition, home ownership among households with children under 18 declined by 15 percent to 20.8 million during that same time period.
    The report is entitled America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2012 and touches on all aspects of the living arrangements of Americans.  Jamie Lewis a demographer for the Census Bureau and co-author of the report says that while the recession had an impact, the effects have not dissipated since the recession ended:

Home ownership among families declined, while food stamp receipt and parental unemployment increased. Even after the recession officially ended in 2009, these measures remained worse than before it began.

    Other parts of the report show some dramatic changes in American households in the last several decades.  For instance:

The share of households that consisted of married couples with children shrunk by half between 1970 and 2012, from 40 percent to 20 percent. At the same time, the percentage of households consisting of a person living alone climbed from 17 percent to 27 percent.

    Some other notable report findings:

• A higher percentage of young adults age 25 to 34 lived in their parents' home in 2012 than in the early 2000s. For men of this age, the share living in their parents' home increased from 13 percent in 2000 to 17 percent in 2012. The increase for women age 25 to 34 went from 8 percent in 2000 to 10 percent in 2012.
• According to the 2011 American Community Survey, there were 605,000 same-sex couple households, including both married and unmarried couples, of whom 284,000 were male and 321,000 were female couples.
• Most family groups with children (63 percent) were maintained by married couples.
• A higher percentage of black (55 percent) and Hispanic (31 percent) children lived with one parent than white non-Hispanic (21 percent) or Asian children (13 percent).
• Between 1970 and 2012, the average number of people per household declined from 3.1 to 2.6. 

Note: A version of this article first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

White House: Revised Numbers Show Economy Contracted in First Quarter 2011 [TWS]

    Wednesday, Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers, wrote on the White House blog about revisions to economic statistics by the Bureau of Economic Analysis going all the way back to 1929.  Krueger largely interpreted the news as good, noting that the revisions "showed that the recovery from the Great Recession has been slightly faster than previously reported." However, one revision is going to put a crimp in the White House's economic talking points: economic growth has not been uninterrupted since the end of the Great Recession [emphasis added]:

While the annual rate of real GDP growth over the 83 years since 1929 was revised up just 0.1 percentage point to 3.3%, a handful of recent quarters were subject to large revisions. For example, real GDP growth in 2011:Q1, which previously had been reported at 0.1% at an annual rate, was revised down to -1.3%. The earthquake and tsunami that occurred in Japan in March 2011 disrupted critical supply chains, likely subtracting from growth in that quarter. In contrast, real GDP growth in 2010:Q2 and 2012:Q1 were both revised up by 1.7 percentage points to annualized rates of 3.9% and 3.7%, respectively.

    Just three months ago when the first quarter 2013 economic results were released, Krueger led off his blog post with the following:

Today’s report indicates that the economy posted its fifteenth straight quarter of positive growth, as real GDP (the total amount of goods and services produced in the country) grew at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the first quarter of this year, according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

    Although today's report included a 1.7% increase in the economy in the second quarter of 2013, the revised first quarter 2011 decline means that the number of quarters of positive economic growth must be reset to nine.  Although Krueger has often used the straight quarter of positive economic growth phrase in the past, the line is missing from this quarter's report.


Note: A version of this article first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

Unemployed, Discouraged, Underemployed Rate Jumps to 14.3%, Highest Since February

    While the Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report released this morning showed unemployment unchanged at 7.6 precent, the broadest measure of unemployment, the U-6 rate (seasonally adjusted), jumped from 13.8% to 14.3%, its highest level since February 2013.

    The U-6 rate includes "all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons," including discouraged and underemployed workers, as well as the unemployed.  The rate is only a half-point lower than the 14.8% rate a year ago in June 2012.


Note: A version of this article appeared first at The Weekly Standard.

White House Repeats Jobs Mantra: ‘More Work Remains to Be Done’ Nine Months in a Row

    When the monthly employment report came out Friday morning, Alan Krueger, Chairman of President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, quickly commented on the White House blog.  He began with the observation that "more work remains to be done":

April 4, 2013 - "While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression. It is critical that we continue the policies that are helping to build an economy that creates jobs and works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007."

    If the words sounds familiar, there's a good reason.  After a brief respite in March, Mr. Krueger used the same two opening sentences in the April post that were used in the preceding seven Employment Situation blog posts (although to be fair, Megan Slack is credited with the November 2012 entry.)

March 8, 2013 - "While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides evidence that the recovery that began in mid-2009 is gaining traction." 

February 1, 2013 - "While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the Great Depression. It is critical that we pursue the policies needed to build an economy that works for the middle class as we continue to dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007." 

January 4, 2013 - "While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the Great Depression. It is critical that we continue the policies that are building an economy that works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007." 

December 7, 2012 - "While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the Great Depression. It is critical that we continue the policies that are building an economy that works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007." 

November 2, 2012 - "While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the Great Depression. It is critical that we continue the policies that are building an economy that works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007." 

October 5, 2012 - "While there is more work that remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the Great Depression. It is critical that we continue the policies that are building an economy that works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007." 

September 7, 2012 - "While there is more work that remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression. It is critical that we continue the policies that are building an economy that works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007." 

August 3, 2012 - "While there is more work that remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression.  It is critical that we continue the policies that build an economy that works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007."

    Further searches reveal that these popular sentence appeared before, as well.  For example, May 2012.

    While copy/pasting is quite a common blogging practice, Mr. Krueger has certainly opened himself up to charges that he is phoning in his monthly responses to the disappointing job situation in the country.  It is the same charge that has been leveled at his boss, President Obama, often in the last four years as his priorities have taken him in many other directions.  If there is "more work to be done," the American public could be forgiven for asking where those jobs are.


Note: A version of this article first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

Jeeps to be Manufactured in Italy for Export to U.S.

    Lost in all of the hubbub of the Romney/Obama/Chrysler/Jeep/China kerfuffle of the past few weeks was this story out of Italy reported by Autonews.com [emphasis added]:

TURIN - ...  In 2014, Fiat introduces the 500X, a replacement for the current Sedici small crossover likely to be built at its Melfi plant in Central Italy alongside a "baby" Jeep Wrangler small SUV for European and U.S. markets. Alfa will launch the 4C spider and possibly a large sedan, a possible substitute for the discontinued 164 sedan. Maserati will begin sales of the Levante luxury SUV, based on the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

    The story was also reported elsewhere, such as Autoblog:

In a bid to fill some of its empty Italian production capacity, Fiat plans to build a pair of small SUVs at its plant in Melfi starting in 2014, according to Automotive News Europe. With most Chrysler plants running at or near full capacity, the Melfi facility will probably build the new Fiat and Jeep SUVs for export to North America. The final decision could come as soon as this weekend. The new small Jeep is expected to replace the Patriot and/or Compass, which are both produced in Chrysler's Belvidere, Illinois plant...
In addition to these new Fiat and Jeep SUVs, the upcoming Chrysler 100 hatchback could also be built in Italy at Fiat's Cassino plant.

    While Italy is not China, Chrysler and the Obama administration pushed back hard against the idea that any Jeep production was being shifted overseas.  At the height of the controversy and a week before the election, Chrysler chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne wrote a blog post.  In part, he said:

Jeep is one of our truly global brands with uniquely American roots. This will never change. So much so that we committed that the iconic Wrangler nameplate, currently produced in our Toledo, Ohio plant, will never see full production outside the United States.
Jeep assembly lines will remain in operation in the United States and will constitute the backbone of the brand.
It is inaccurate to suggest anything different.

    Marchionne, though not a politician, seems to have chosen his words carefully and precisely.  For instance, "the iconic Wrangler nameplate, currently produced in our Toledo, Ohio plant, will never see full production outside the United States."  He went on to say, "Jeep assembly lines will remain in operation in the United States", and not "Jeep assembly lines will remain in operation only in the United States."  As I noted in my original post on this story (before national attention became focused on it,) Marchionne's comments in 2011 regarding Jeep and especially the Wrangler were a bit more sweeping:

“This [Toledo, Ohio] plant has been at the heart of what we’ve done. I’ve said publicly that I would never build the Wrangler outside the U.S. and outside of Toledo. These are things that are unthinkable — to assemble a Wrangler somewhere else,” Marchionne said in November, 2011.

 So what is this "'baby' Jeep Wrangler" planned for the Melfi plant in Italy for export to the U.S.?  Will Chrysler give it a different name to keep Marchionne's pledge technically intact?  Wasn't one of the ideas that made foreign production of Jeeps so unthinkable was the importing of those Jeeps with "uniquely American roots" into the United States?  But that sounds very much like Fiat's current plan.  And if that's not enough, there's the more ominous albeit less clear statement in the Autoblog story that says "The new small Jeep [built at the Melfi, Italy plant for export to North America] is expected to replace the Patriot and/or Compass, which are both produced in Chrysler's Belvidere, Illinois plant."  A foreign-built Jeep exported to the U.S. to "replace" an American made model?  How could that be spun as good news for U.S. jobs?

    There is no question that Jeep production in the U.S. is thriving and that it appears no current Jeep-related Chrysler jobs in the U.S. are in direct jeopardy.  However, the argument could be made that if Jeeps are being made in Italy for export to the U.S., those vehicles and the jobs created to build them could be American made cars and jobs.
     Perhaps in an effort to deflect criticism from the Romney campaign, Chrysler overshot the truth in its claims just as the Romney campaign did with their initial claim that "all Jeep production" was going to be shifted to China.  Unfortunately, the Romney campaign never fully retracted its candidate's original erroneous statement, choosing to simply switch the focus to more general assertions that the U.S. automaker was creating jobs overseas.  It remains to be seen if Chrysler will set the record straight about its plans for Jeep production, particularly the Wrangler brand, and how that squares with Marchionne's public statements.

The 100th Day of the Romney Administration

    This is not a parody, but I'll bet heads will roll over at the Onion for not coming up with this first.  Make sure you're not drinking anything when you watch it:

Update on the Jeep Story [Updated]

    Mitt Romney made some news today by citing the story about Chrysler considering restarting production of Jeeps in China.  CBS reports:

On Thursday, Romney told a rally in Defiance, Ohio, site of a General Motors plant, "I saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state Jeep -- now owned by the Italians -- is thinking of moving all production to China. I will fight for every good job in America. I'm going to fight to make sure trade is fair, and if it's fair America will win."

     The problem was in the phrase "thinking of moving all production to China."  The way the Bloomberg was written gave rise to the misinterpretation with the following sentence:

Fiat SpA (F), majority owner of Chrysler Group LLC, plans to return Jeep output to China and may eventually make all of its models in that country[.]

    Another sentence was also misleading and rather awkwardly written:

[Mike Manley, chief operating officer of Fiat and Chrysler in Asia said]“We’re reviewing the opportunities within existing capacity” as well as “should we be localizing the entire Jeep portfolio or some of the Jeep portfolio.”

    However, further into the story, the following statement appears:

 Manley referred to adding Jeep production sites rather than shifting output from North America to China. 

    My post on Wednesday (the first blog to note the story as far as I can tell*) included this quote which was unfortunately absent from some of the other sites which picked up the Jeep story later (one of which was linked to by the Drudge Report on Thursday.)  The Romney campaign apparently passed on the story to Mitt Romney without the clarification.  Left wing media and the Obama campaign jumped on the misstatement, and Chrysler even wrote a blog post to clarify the misinterpretations of the Bloomberg story.

    Besides the hit to Romney's credibility, the most unfortunate part of this episode is that it distracts from the point I was originally making by citing the story.  The Obama campaign has made much hay out of Romney being an "outsourcing pioneer." Then, in the same week the Obama campaign released its second term agenda which includes a photo (at right) of Obama speaking at a Jeep factory touting American jobs, a story comes out that Chrysler, one of the administration's success stories, in thinking about jobs in China.  Personally, I don't have a problem with that and neither do most conservatives.  But the Obama campaign hasn't touted creating jobs in China, and now that irony will be largely obscured.

---------------

*Update:  I found this reference to the Bloomberg story originally posted on 10/22 at a blog called FidoSysop's Blog and Forums.

Ohio, Obama, and Optics: Chrysler Considers Building Jeeps in China

UPDATE here.

    This week, the Obama campaign released a glossy 20-page booklet laying out the President's second term agenda.  On page 3, there is a section entitled "Reviving American Manufacturing":

Manufacturing and technology are the life-blood of middle-class families and key engines of the American economy, sparking innovation, generating higher-wage jobs, and strengthening entire communities. But we can’t create an economy built to last if America doesn’t make things the world buys.

The backdrop for the page is the following photo:

    The photo was taken on June 3, 2011 at a Chrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio, where the president gave a speech.  That's a Jeep Wrangler in the background.

    In a potentially embarrassing coincidence, the following story appeared at Bloomberg on Monday, the day before the booklet was released:

Fiat SpA (F), majority owner of Chrysler Group LLC, plans to return Jeep output to China and may eventually make all of its models in that country, according to the head of both automakers’ operations in the region.
Fiat is in “very detailed conversations” with its Chinese partner, Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. (2238), about making Jeeps in the world’s largest auto market, said Mike Manley, chief operating officer of Fiat and Chrysler in Asia. Chrysler hasn’t built Jeeps there since before Fiat took control in 2009.

    The story does go on to suggest this would not affect its plants in the United States:

Chrysler currently builds all Jeep SUV models at plants in Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. Manley referred to adding Jeep production sites rather than shifting output from North America to China.

    However, a related story at AutoGuide.com notes [emphasis added]:

Jeep is considering shipping its manufacturing to China in a cost-saving measure on the heels of weak European demand.
Weakness in the European auto market lead to slow sales for Chrysler but strong demand in China buoyed the brand. In fact, business in China is good enough that Chrysler might transplant its manufacturing operations. Should brand execs pull the trigger, it would mark the first time Chrysler built Jeeps in China since before 2009 when Fiat took a stake in the company.
That contradicts what Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said almost a year ago amid concerns that Wrangler production might move from its current plant in Toledo, Ohio.
“This plant has been at the heart of what we’ve done. I’ve said publicly that I would never build the Wrangler outside the U.S. and outside of Toledo. These are things that are unthinkable — to assemble a Wrangler somewhere else,” Marchionne said in November, 2011.
But what was unthinkable a year ago might not seem so foreign. Manufacturing Jeep products in China could help the company save money while feeding a growing market with reduced expenses.
Mike Manley, Fiat Chrysler’s COO in Asia, seems bullish of the possibility. “The volume opportunity for us is very significant,” he, said to Bloomberg. “We’re reviewing the opportunities within existing capacity.”
Jeep’s sales in China more than doubled this year to 33,463 units through September, which could encourage the move further.
Despite that, moving all of the brand’s production to China wouldn’t sit well with American consumers.

    Most agree this election will turn on the economy and jobs.  For a campaign concerned about "optics," the timing of this story could not be worse.   And with Ohio's position as the number one battleground state in the upcoming election, the location couldn't be worse, either.

How Long is a Short-Term Crisis?

    Based on my Twitter Feed and the comments from those watching the Republican convention, the Obama Truth Team has been playing the part of the smart aleck in the back of the classroom shooting spitballs from a straw while all the other students are trying to listen to a really good lecture.  But one of their "facts" may have the equivalent effect of one of the spitballs hitting the teacher.  Here's the errant tweet:

FACT: Economists say Romney's ideas wouldn't fix the short-term crisis and could make things worse. OFA.BO/f6Y5mC
— TruthTeam2012 (@truthteam2012) August 30, 2012

    Three and a half years into the Obama presidency and the country is still in a "short-term crisis"?  Just exactly how long is "short"?  If Obama is reelected, will candidate Joe Biden in 2016 be talking about the "mess we inherited back in 2008?"
    This administration has vainly sought to portray America on the road to recovery ever since the lost Summer of Recovery in 2010.  The Republicans should consider it a huge victory that the president has now explicitly acknowledged the crisis (ahem, short-term crisis) drags on.

Who Has the Keys to the Obama Campaign?

    The Obama campaign just tweeted out a link to a YouTube video that was published by the campaign last week on August 23, 2012.  Here's the full video:



    A partial transcript of the clip follows:

So basically here's what this election comes down to. They're betting that between now and November there going to come down with amnesia. They figure you're going to forget what there agenda did to this country. They think you'll just believe that they've changed. These are the folks whose policies help devastate our middle class they drove our economy into a ditch....

After we got it out of the ditch, and then they got the nerve to ask for the keys back. I don't want to give them the keys back. They don't know how to drive.

    This sounds like an appeal from the president to return him to the White House in November rather than turn "the keys" over to Mitt Romney.  But the curious thing is that this is an excerpt from a speech from September 6, 2010 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, about two months before one of the largest Republican landslides in history, not only returning control of the House to the GOP, but produced far-reaching gains on the state level as well.  NPR reported at the time:

Early Wednesday, Republicans were on track to hold more than 30 governorships — up from 24. Those GOP governors will be joined by new majorities in as many as a dozen legislative chambers. Republicans, in fact, appeared on course to win the most legislative seats they've held nationwide since World War II.

    President Obama's protestations notwithstanding, the voters indeed seemed to be grasping for those "keys" with both hands to put the Republicans back behind the wheel, and the effort seems to be paying off, as I have noted on more than one occasion.
    Is the 2012 Obama campaign so desperate for ideas that they're willing to replay losing appeals from 2010?  I say, bring it on!

An "Empty Bag"? Wait, There's a Cat in There!

    In a late night hit-and-run, the Obama Truth team tweeted the following, doubtless hoping to score some quick, cheap political points:

    The link is for a YouTube video of a 20 second clip taken from a 3:42 segment on Fox Business's After the Bell.  The entire segment is available on Fox's website.  Paul O'Neill, Treasury Secretary during George W. Bush's first term, indeed says that when he asked for the Romney economic plan, "what they offered was an empty bag."  But fast forward to 2:22 of the interview and O'Neill says:

It's not at all clear that what President Obama would have us do is clear either, so I go back to what you said, David, we have a paucity of facts.

    Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Obama's economic plan over Romney's, is it?  And, by the way, you might recall this from July 2008 during the last Presidential campaign (ABC News):

ABC News has learned that two former administration officials for President George W. Bush will appear with Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, at an economic meeting today, having signed up to be Obama economic advisers. 

Bush administration veterans former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and former Securities and Exchange Commissioner William Donaldson will join former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, and more traditionally Democratic economic advisers such as former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, billionaire liberal Warren Buffett, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, and SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger.

    So instead of labeling O'Neill "President Bush's former Treasury Secretary", the Truth Team could have just as well written "President Obama's former economic advisor."  And speaking of that, what was this former economic advisor of Obama's saying later in the 2008 campaign?  From the Washington Note:

I have not heard either candidate [Obama or McCain] talk about the $53 trillion worth of unfunded liabilities that we have as a nation, that we need to do something about, or we're going to have a problem that makes this current financial crisis look like child's plan not too far down the road.
I haven't heard anybody say in this campaign the 10,000-page tax code that we have is proof that we're not an intelligent people. And so what are the candidates talking about? They're talking about more credits, they're talking about more deductions, they're talking about more complication in the tax code.
Neither one of them are talking about, we need to fix this monster, which is also part of our problem.

    The Truth Team may want to think twice before encouraging supporters (and foes) to listen too closely to Paul O'Neill in the future.  Better to keep that cat in the bag where it belongs.

President Obama: Let's Spend Half of What We Don't Have

    Who said President Obama didn't have any bold ideas in his Thursday speech on the economy?

President Obama, June 14, 2012:

So my plan would take half the money we’re no longer spending on war -- let’s use it to do some nation-building here at home.  Let’s put some folks to work right here at home. 

President Obama, June 13, 2012:

By the time I got into office, we had a $1 trillion deficit because of tax cuts that weren’t paid for, two wars that weren’t paid for, a prescription drug plan that was not paid for,” he said. (ABC News)

Think Progress, June 13, 2012:

 President Obama has said the war, which he opposed and finally ended, costed $1 trillion. Those costs are likely to rise yet — by 2014, the post-9/11 combat veteran cohort will be bigger than the Vietnam veteran cohort, and a recent report said maintaining veterans benefits will soon cost more than maintaining active duty military forces.

The president's plan is to spend half of the money we never had in the first place that, according to his Think Progress allies, we will have to continue to spend on the military anyway.  If that isn't bold, then I don't know what bold is.

Clarifying "Clarify"

    In a press conference this morning, President Obama had the misfortune of having his remarks reported quickly and accurately.  According to Real Clear Politics and most news organizations on the planet, the president said:

The truth of the matter is that, as I said, we created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months, over 800,000 just this year alone.
The private sector is doing fine. Where we're seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government.

Within hours, the president was forced to "clarify"these remarks, or at least that's what those same news organizations are reporting that he did, in this case, ABCNews:

“It’s absolutely clear the economy is not doing fine,” the president said while sitting alongside Philippines President Benigno Aquino in the Oval Office. “That’s the reason I had a press conference. That’s why I spent yesterday, the day before yesterday, this past week, this past month and this past year talking about how we can make the economy stronger. The economy is not doing fine. There are too many people out of work. The housing market is still weak, too many homes underwater and that’s precisely why I asked Congress to start taking some steps that can make a difference.”

Personally I believe that rather than "clarify," the word reporters were searching for was "repudiate."  In the same day, we heard the president say, "The private sector is doing fine" and "It’s absolutely clear the economy is not doing fine."  The equivalent would be saying that Bernie Madoff "clarified" his original denial of the $50 billion fraud scheme by confessing.

    In Obama's "clarification," there are a few other points he might need to "clarify."  He said, "That’s why I spent yesterday, the day before yesterday, this past week, this past month and this past year talking about how we can make the economy stronger."  A look at the White House website of the president's "Speeches and Remarks," however, reveal a different priority:

Speeches and Remarks

June 07, 2012
Remarks by the President on College Affordability
June 07, 2012
Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event
June 07, 2012
Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event
June 07, 2012
Remarks by the First Lady at a Campaign Event
June 06, 2012
Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event
June 06, 2012
Remarks by the First Lady at a Campaign Event
June 06, 2012
Remarks by the First Lady at a Campaign Event
June 05, 2012
Remarks by the First Lady at Disney Press Conference
June 05, 2012
Remarks by President Obama and President Clinton at a Campaign Event
June 04, 2012
Remarks by President Obama and President Clinton at a Campaign Event
June 04, 2012
Remarks by President Obama and President Clinton at a Campaign Event
June 04, 2012
Remarks by Vice President Joe Biden at the Cypress Bay High School Graduation Ceremony
June 04, 2012
Remarks by the President on Equal Pay for Equal Work via Conference Call
June 01, 2012
Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event -- Private Residence, Chicago, IL
June 01, 2012
Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event -- Private Residence, Chicago, IL
June 01, 2012
Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event
June 01, 2012
Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event -- Bachelor Farmer Restaurant, Minneapolis, MN

Thirteen of the last seventeen "speeches and remarks" (through June 7th) were at campaign events.  Given that Obama promised to "focus like a laser beam" on the economy, it is reasonable to assume that he must think the economy is doing OK if he can afford to refocus the laser elsewhere.

    The day was not over for clarifying moments, however.  Late in the afternoon, the @BarackObama campaign Twitter account retweeted this from Ben LaBolt, the press secretary for Obama for America in Chicago:

Vice-President Joe Biden, apparently worried that someone else would get all the credit for a gaffe, decided he wanted in on the action, and he tweeted that Romney would "cut jobs for teachers and first responders." The problem, of course, as you might have guessed, was that Mitt Romney didn't say it.  Even the title of the Youtube video contradicts the claims, "Mitt Romney Criticizes President Obama For Wanting To Hire More Police, Firemen and Teachers." Romney mentions nothing about firing, only that the lesson of Wisconsin's recall-that-wasn't being government can't continue to spend money it doesn't have, even to hire more teachers, police and firemen.  Once again, the Obama campaign found itself walking back a misstatement, a practice becoming so routine as to wear a rut in the path to the podium.  Sure enough, an hour later, the campaign tweeted this:

"Fire", "not hire"... six of one, half-dozen of the other, right?  Perhaps this works in government where an increase in spending that is less than the planned increase is called a "cut," but that does not cut it in the humdrum world of the citizenry.

    So where does this leave the Obama campaign?  I think that one result that is sure to come from this difficult week of gaffes, misstatements and misrepresentations is that the Obama campaign will be much more careful, straightforward and honest for the remainder of the campaign.  Wait, let me clarify that.  No, I don't.