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Biden: "Truth Is, We And Everyone Else Misread The Economy"
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 6, 2009
Modified Jul 6, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 6, 2009
Modified Jul 6, 2009
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Yesterday, This Week With George Stephanopoulos aired an interview with Vice President Joe Biden. Pointing out that unemployment is now 9.5%, Stephanopoulos said, "When the president and you all were selling the stimulus package, you predicted at the beginning that, to get this package in place, unemployment will peak at about 8 percent. So, either you misread the economy, or the stimulus package is too slow and to small." To which Biden replied, "The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy. The figures we worked off of in January were the consensus figures and most of the blue chip indexes out there. so the truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited...It's now our responsibility. So the second question becomes, did the economic package we put in place, including the Recovery Act, is it the right package given the circumstances we're in? And we believe it is the right package given the circumstances we're in.... We are now only about 120 days into the recovery package. The truth of the matter was, no one anticipated, no one expected that that recovery package would in fact be in a position at this point of having to distribute the bulk of money." Full transcript here—and in other news, stock futures are down on concerns about the economy.
Tagged
biden
economy
misreading the economy
recession
Unemployment
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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