by Caroline Baum,Bloomberg
Heresy,thy name is Christina Romer.
Last week,the chairman of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers —a position that carried the title “chief economist” until Larry Summers took up residence in the White House —testified to the Joint Economic Committee on the economic crisis and the efficacy of the policy response.
Here’s the executive summary in case you missed it:
The crisis:“Inherited.”
The economy:“In terrible shape” (the inherited one).
The shocks to the system:“Larger than those that precipitated the Great Depression.”
The policy response:“Strong and timely.”
The efficacy of the policy response:a 2 to 3 percentage point addition to second-quarter growth;3 to 4 percentage points in the third;and 160,000 to 1.5 million “jobs saved or created,” a made-up metric if there ever was one.