Obama Economic Adviser: The Great Moderation is Over, if it Ever Existed

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Photo Credit: AP / Carolyn Kaster

Photo Credit: AP / Carolyn Kaster

The so-called “Great Moderation” of low economic volatility between the mid-1980s and the financial crisis of 2008 was not as great as it seemed, and the future likely won’t be as pleasant, according to President Obama’s top economic adviser.

Jason Furman, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, said in a speech in Washington on Thursday that “the Great Recession certainly does reveal serious limitations of the concept of a great moderation,” and that the U.S. economy shouldn’t be expected to return to a pattern of relatively smooth growth now that the banking crisis is in the past.

The “Great Moderation” was a term coined by economists James Stock, another current member of the CEA, and Mark Watson in a 2003 paper. It was meant to describe the decline in volatility in macroeconomic indicators such as gross domestic product growth and inflation since Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker brought the high inflation rates of the 1960s and ’70s to an end.

In 2004, Ben Bernanke, then a Fed governor under Chairman Alan Greenspan, popularized the term in a speech that attributed the smoothing out of the business cycle to better monetary policy by the Fed — although Bernanke also acknowledged that luck may also have played a significant role, and that luck might run out in the future.

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GM’s Barra Got Email in 2011 About Steering Problems

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Photo Credit: CNBC

Photo Credit: CNBC

The Congressional committee investigating the long-delayed the recall of millions of vehicles equipped with a faulty ignition switch, released a flurry of internal General Motors documents Friday showing what it described as “failures within the system” that allowed critical safety issues to go unaddressed.

Exactly why the ignition switch problem went unresolved for as much as a decade has spurred a series of investigations by the Department of Justice, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and both houses of Congress. During two Capitol Hill hearings last week, GM CEO Mary Barra was repeatedly criticized for failing to offer clear answers about the ignition switch problem.

One of the documents released Friday showed that while in her previous job as GM’s global product development chief, Barra was kept clearly in the loop about a separate recall issue involving steering problems on the Saturn Ion and other GM products.

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Sebelius Botches Farewell Speech (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

Though no stranger to the occasional glitch, outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius flubbed part of her farewell speech when she realized one of her pages was missing.

She gave her speech in the Rose Garden at the White House Friday alongside President Obama and his nominee to replace her, Sylvia Matthews Burwell. Sebelius announced her resignation on Thursday, just days after the ObamaCare enrollment period drew to a close.

Sebelius was praised by Obama for her five years of service, and was speaking about the families benefiting from the new health law. She turned one of the pages and lost her place. She spent a moment rummaging through her notes and told the audience, “Unfortunately, a page is missing.”

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SHE’S OUT! Kathleen Sebelius Resigns as Secretary of HHS After ObamaCare Fiasco

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Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

After holding tight to her position as Health and Human Services Secretary for five years, Kathleen Sebelius resigned earlier this evening.

Sebelius became a household name in the fall for her role supervising the troubled rollout of the Healthcare.gov website and the general failure of President Obama’s signature healthcare law thus far.

The White House announced that tomorrow Obama will nominate Syliva Mathews Burwell, the director of the Office of Management and Budget to succeed Sebelius – a name that few know today, but will certainly come to recognize once she takes over.

According to reports, Sebelius was not forced out and chose to resign on her own recognizance. That said, her decision to leave coincides with a major push by the Obama administration to move past the early failures of the healthcare law, especially in light of the upcoming midterm elections wherein the law will feature prominently.

One of her last acts as HHS Secretary was to testify before the powerful Senate Finance Committee wherein she touted that 7.5 million people had enrolled in private insurance plans – half a million more than the original CBO projections.

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Gohmert: Holder Chooses Which Americans He ‘Persecutes’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

In an interview this morning, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R., Tex.) said Attorney General Eric Holder “persecutes” some Americans.

Yesterday, Gohmert and Holder had a spirited exchange in a hearing when Gohmert pressed Holder for information regarding the documents the Justice Department has about an Islamic charity based in Texas, and the Fast and Furious scandal. At one point during the hearing Holder pointed his finger at Gohmert and said, “You don’t want to go there.”

Gohmert told Fox and Friends this morning that it’s “nothing personal.”

“He seems like a likable guy,” Gohmert said of Holder. But “he is the highest law enforcement officer in the country, and he is obviously choosing — making personal choices rather than objective choices on who he prosecutes and persecutes and who he doesn’t.”

This article originally appeared at Heritage.com and is re-published in full with the Heritage Foundation’s permission.

Sen. Sessions: ‘Deliberate Plan by President’ to Collapse U.S. Law Enforcement System (+video)

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Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said today that Americans need to stand up to “a deliberate plan by the president of the United States” to collapse the nation’s law enforcement system regarding illegal immigration.

In a Senate speech, Sessions said:

“Our law enforcement system is in a state of collapse, and it’s a deliberate plan by the president of the United States, and it’s wrong. And, people need to be aware of it and need to stand up to it and I believe the American people are beginning to do so.”

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Nancy Pelosi: I’d Rather Pass Amnesty Than Be Speaker (+video)

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Photo credit: Reuters

Photo credit: Reuters

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she would rather pass amnesty legislation than get her gavel back.

“It’s the biggest thing that we can do, and that’s why I’ve said to the speaker, to the press, to these groups, I would rather pass [a] comprehensive immigration reform bill than win the elections in November,” Pelosi told Politico. “There’s nothing we could accomplish in winning that would be as big as passing immigration reform.”

Politico noted that Pelosi has been traveling the country promoting immigration reform legislation and said she hoped a bill could pass by June or July…

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Gowdy: Lerner ‘Did a Lot of Talking for Someone Who Wants to Remain Silent’

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

By Melanie Hunter.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) – at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee business meeting on Thursday – said he counted “17 separate factual assertions” Lois Lerner made in her opening statement before invoking the Fifth Amendment when she was subpoenaed to testify last year on the congressional probe of the IRS scandal.

“Mr. Chairman, I counted 17 separate factual assertions by Ms. Lerner – not those three little sentences that my colleagues like to cite – 17 separate factual assertions. That is a lot of talking for somebody who wants to remain silent. That’s a lot of talking,” Gowdy said.

“If you honestly believe that you can make 17 separate factual assertions and still invoke your right to remain silent, then please tell me what waiver is. Please tell me what constitutes waiver if saying 17 separate factual things does not,” Gowdy added.

Thursday’s meeting was convened to consider a resolution to hold Lerner, former IRS director of exempt organizations, in contempt of Congress.

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Photo Credit: AP / Lauren Victoria Burke

Photo Credit: AP / Lauren Victoria Burke

Republicans Raise ‘Disturbing Concerns’ About Cummings’ Contacts With Lois Lerner’s Office

By Susan Jones.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee says the public “deserves a full and truthful explanation” for the actions of its ranking member, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), whose staff “surreptitiously contacted the IRS” about a conservative group that was seeking tax-exempt status — and was subjected to inappropriate scrutiny.

Cummings never told committee Republicans about his contacts with the IRS concerning the group True the Vote. In fact, he has denied any such contact.

In a letter to Cummings on Wednesday, Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and other committee Republicans said Cummings’ inquiries about True the Vote may have prompted additional IRS scrutiny of the group.

The letter also notes that Cummings’ email communications with the IRS “raise disturbing concerns about your possible motivations for opposing this investigation and your unwillingness to lend your support to efforts to obtain the testimony of former IRS Exempt Organizations Director Lois G. Lerner.”

Committee Republicans also question whether the IRS had “improperly shared protected taxpayer information” with Cummings’ staff.

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Rush Limbaugh: CBS ‘Declared War On The Heartland Of America’ (+audio)

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Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh is not happy with CBS’ hiring of comedian Stephen Colbert to replace David Letterman as host of “The Late Show.”

“CBS has just declared war on the heartland of America,” Limbaugh said on his radio show Thursday. “No longer is comedy going to be a covert assault on traditional American values [and] conservatives. Now, it’s just wide out in the open. What this hire means is a redefinition of what is funny and a redefinition of what is comedy.”

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Suddenly ‘Outraged’ Boehner Unloads on WH Over IRS, Benghazi, Fast & Furious: “They Owe the American People the Truth” (+video)

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john_boehner_034At his weekly press briefing today, Speaker Boehner unloaded on the White House for refusing to tell the American people the truth about the IRS, Benghazi, and Fast and Furious:

“The frustration is, is that the American people have not been told the truth about what happened at the IRS.

“The American people have not been told the truth about what happened in Fast and Furious.

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