Jeb Hensarling was the most direct. He began by dryly recalling that 2008 wasn’t just yesterday, already four years in the past by then. Where was the recovery that had been promised?
“MR. HENSARLING. I think it is an inescapable conclusion that we have seen the greatest monetary and fiscal stimulus thrown at an economy in our history, and what do we see but 41 months of 8 percent-plus unemployment, 14.9 percent real unemployment, if we look at those who have left the labor force and those who are seeking full-time employment. We have anemic GDP growth, probably half of what it should be by historic standards. And my interpretation of your testimony is you are predicting much of the same. Why shouldn't the American people come to the inescapable conclusion that we have either had a profound failure of monetary policy or a profound failure of fiscal policy, and which is it?”
