Osborne the “clown” gets confused on stimulus

George Osborne was today accused by Chief Secretary Liam Byrne of making “a complete clown of himself” as he asserted that the US would be out of recession even without the stimulus, a claim denied by the two of the most senior economic figures in President Obama’s administration.

Asked by Jon Sopel on BBC News about the US stimulus, Osborne said:

“Well first of all, as I think I have said already, the White House has confirmed that they would be out of recession in the US even without the stimulus.”

But a statement by President Obama’s Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Christina Romer, earlier today read:

“Analysis by both the Council of Economic Advisers and a wide range of private and public-sector forecasters indicates that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 contributed between 3 and 4 percentage points to real GDP growth in the third quarter. This suggests that in the absence of the [stimulus], real GDP would have risen little, if at all, this past quarter.

Meanwhile in an interview on Charlie Rose, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said:

“The stimulus and getting credit flowing again were tremendously important for getting things to turn around when the economy was in free-fall. The achievements you see today are the consequences of government policy. The private sector couldn’t have gotten it done by itself.

1. Will Straw says:

   October 29, 2009 at 5:44 pm

   Osborne the "clown" says US would be growing without stimulus. Treasury Sec & Obama's top econ adviser disagree http://bit.ly/3mksEa
2. labourmatters says:

   October 29, 2009 at 5:48 pm

   RT @wdjstraw "clown" Osborne says US would be growing w/out stimulus. Treasury Sec & Obama's top econ adviser disagree http://bit.ly/3mksEa
3. Bill Kristol-Balls says:

   October 29, 2009 at 6:25 pm

   Not sure about Osborne as Krusty (I like Krusty) but Douglas Carswell is the spit of Professor Frink –

   http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/professor_frink.jpg

   http://www.talkcarswell.com/
4. Billy the Kid says:

   October 29, 2009 at 6:44 pm

   I don’t care what *might* happen if blah blah.

   With 3 million unemployed and the economy in the worst position ever NOTHING can be as bad as this.

   Let’s see how Labour do next year.

   It’s over guys….
5. Politics Summary: Friday, October 30th | Left Foot Forward says:

   October 30, 2009 at 9:02 am

   [...] nation to celebrate a recovery. But George Osborne was described as a “clown” after telling the BBC, “the White House has confirmed that they would be out of recession in the US even without [...]
6. jaqi says:

   November 3, 2009 at 6:11 pm

   RT http://bit.ly/1r1wws CONFUSED CLOWNSBORNE
7. jaqi says:

   November 3, 2009 at 6:17 pm

   RT http://bit.ly/1r1wws CONFUSED CLOWN OSBORNE
8. Osborne’s claims to be in tune with Obama on FSA vs. BoE are just more #torylies « Alex Ross says:

   November 24, 2009 at 10:08 am

   [...] Firstly we all know Obama has backed an absolutely huge fiscal stimulus, so much so that even some Democrats are nervous about it. We also know that the US believes it would still be in a recession were it not for the stimulus, something Osborne has tried to deny. [...]