Economic Report of the President, Transmitted to the Congress February 2010 Together With the Annual Report of the Council of Economic Advisors [Paperback]

Council of Economic Advisers (U.S.) (Compiler)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 18, 2010

The Economic Report of the President for 2010 is written by the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. An important vehicle for presenting the Administration's domestic and international economic policies, it provides an overview of the nation's economic progress with text and extensive data appendices. For more than sixty years, the Economic Report has provided a nearly contemporaneous record of how Administrations have interpreted economic developments, the motivation for policy actions, and the results of those interventions. This year's volume has attempted to stay true to this proud legacy. It provides a detailed economic history of the first year of the Obama Administration. It examines the economic challenges that we face as a Nation, the many policy actions that have already been taken to address these challenges, and the President's proposals for further action. The economic challenges facing the Nation when President Obama took office were among the greatest in our history. Last January, the American economy was truly in freefall. Real GDP was falling at an annual rate of more than 6 percent and the U.S. economy was losing jobs at the devastating rate of almost 800,000 per month. Our financial markets, having narrowly avoided collapse in the financial panic of the early fall of 2008, were paralyzed with fear, and borrowers of all sorts, from households to small businesses to large corporations, were having trouble accessing the credit necessary for normal economic activity. The threat of a second Great Depression was both genuine and terrifying.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 462 pages
• Publisher: Council of Economic Advisers; New Edition, Annual edition (February 18, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0160848245
• ISBN-13: 978-0160848247
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #597,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading, February 12, 2010

By 

Mattman (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Economic Report of the President (Kindle Edition)

Simply put, the annual Economic Report of the President (ERP) should be required reading for every U.S. citizen, every year. The ERP provides a wealth of information and data about the nation's economic activity. This type of information is perhaps no more critical than in times of economic downturn. Want to know more about employment trends? Housing construction? Trends in investment? Perspectives on the stimulus and what it actually did? It's all in here. Don't trust it? Well, fact-check it against analyses from the CBO or GAO, or other impartial sources - but don't just discard it.

But, of course, the ERP is more than just pure economic information. It's also a political document, and often contains the clearest statement of priorities for whichever administration is issuing it outside the State of the Union - and this is important too, regardless of whether or not you agree with the White House's current occupant. Oppose Obama? Read this, grapple with it, and better define for yourself which parts of Obama's agenda you really don't like - or which parts can serve as common ground. Support Obama? Read this and make sure you know what it is you like about his policy preferences - and which parts of his agenda might not jive with your expectations.

I realize it's a long report, and I also realize a lot of this stuff might be difficult reading. I'd just encourage folks to do their best with it.

One of the advantages of living in a liberal market democracy is the availability of information; I think it's important not to under-appreciate this fact. And if you don't make use of the information available to you as a citizen to make informed choices about who to support, you're just not doing your job.

21 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An informed citizenry is vital to a successful democracy, February 12, 2010

By 

Peter Carpenter (Atherton, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Economic Report of the President (Kindle Edition)

Thank you Amazon for making the Economic Report and the U.S. Budget available free to Kindle users.
These two documents are essential resources for any citizen who wants the facts, not opinions or spins, about our economy and our Federal government.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is great, February 12, 2010

By 

James (ROANOKE, VA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Economic Report of the President (Kindle Edition)

What a great service. I love having access to a document like this that I likely would never have sought on my own.