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The Obama administration 'misread' the economy, says Joe Biden

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God bless good ole' Joe Biden. The vice president has opened his mouth and stated that the Obama administration "misread how bad the economy was." At the same time, the veep said that the administration stands by its stimulus package and believes that the plan will create more jobs. Biden made this statement on ABC television's This Week, claiming that the nation's 9.5% unemployment rate is "much too high."

Biden noted that the figures the group used in January were "the consensus figures and most of the blue chip indexes out there." Biden added, "We misread how bad the economy was, but we are now only about 120 days into the recovery package," he also claimed that more jobs will be created in coming months.

The vice president noted that it was too early to determine if the country would need a second stimulus package. He did say that many programs will take effect in September, including $7.5 billion for broadband internet service and new money for high-speed rail and the nation's electrical grid.

Basically, he wanted to remind us that September will bring about faster spam to all Americans, faster transportation to the unemployment office, and quicker response times when the electric company cuts off delinquent customers' power. Sorry, I try not to let my political views come into play on this financial blog, but I can't help myself. At times I wonder if Biden is the only person in the administration that we get straight talk from -- I mean I'm sure that the president's teleprompter wouldn't make the mistake of admitting a mistake. However, now that we know the original stimulus package was based on poor forecasts, what do we do?

Biden doesn't know if the country will or won't need another stimulus -- thanks to the poor data, this is not a fence-riding position. Basically, Biden is saying that the administration has no idea. However, I am a bit concerned by the fact that he points to September, then to 18 months out. The problem we face is right now; the economy is at a crucial crossroads and we could be slipping back to the lows we saw before this administration took over.

Again, though I am Republican, I don't care who gets this mess fixed, just get it fixed. Unemployment at multiyear highs, people with MBAs standing on the street corner with a sign begging for jobs, and economy that is clinging on to any shred of support -- this isn't the time to admit that you may have made a mistake. Just forget about the mistake and move to correct the situation.

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DJIA-14.2810,318.16
NASDAQ-10.782,146.04
S&P 500-3.521,091.38

Last updated: November 20, 2009: 07:35 PM

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