The strongest case against the Obama administration's economic policy goes something like this:
Early on, the Obama administration misunderstood the unusual nature of the crisis. You can see it in its forecasts, which predicted a rapid, "V"-shaped recovery even if Congress didn't pass a stimulus bill. And you can see it in the administration's policies, which focused on supporting the financial system while it kick-started growth by putting people back to work, handing out tax cuts and stopping state and local governments from laying people off.
The precise nature of the administration's misunderstanding was that the key problem was household debt, and until that problem was solved the economy couldn't recover. But while it had a clear strategy for attacking bad debt in the banking system, and a clear strategy for attacking the fall in consumer spending, it never had a clear strategy for reducing housing debt.
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