referred to, is what would things have been like the we hadn t done it. the question isn t, do the fiscal stimulus rescue us because clearly it didn t. the question isn t, was the fiscal stimulus as successful as the obama administration predicted, which it hasn t been. the right question to ask is how much more unemployment would we have had without the fiscal stimulus? and the estimates that are out there say significantly more unemployment. it s brought it down to a painfully high level. and we ought to have more of it and we should be particularly careful not to do anything out of concern for the long run debt problem, which is not an imminent problem that hurts the short-run position of the economy. peter diamond, nobel prize winning economist, professor at m.i.t. and for over a year, president obama s nominee to serve on the board of governors. i have looked forward to talking to you for a long time, sir. thank you for joining us tonight.
candidacy, calling him unqualified. astonishingly. he joins us now for the interview. professor diamond, thank you for being here. i ve looked forward to talking to you for a long time. thank you for having me. you wrote an op-ed in the new york times after your is confirmation was blocked. you said the confirmation process has become distorted. what did you mean by that? well, it s been used by the republicans in part for just general harassment of the administration. and an example of that was when i got bumped in august of last year. i was just one of a dozen or so who got bumped for no apparent reason. there s a senate rule that says when the senate goes into a long recess it takes unanimous consent for a nomination to remain in place after the recess. and a dozen or so, including me,
does not blow up again. they cannot because, you guessed it, republicans in the senate say so. same goes for the fish and wildlife service. it doesn t get anyone to run it because, well, first senator vitter was blocking a vote on president obama s nominee because he wanted 15 permits for deep water oil drilling. then senator mike lee of utah wanted documents released. and now apparently senator baraso wants status of wolves. bottom line, no one is officially running our nation s fish and wildlife service. forget about putting someone in charge of the consumer financial protection bureau. republicans promised to block pretty much anyone president obama nominates to lead that new agency because they don t think that agency should exist in the first place. even the federal reserve board. there s supposed to be seven members of the federal reserve board. right now there are five. there are two vacancies on that rather important board. that s in part because senate republicans rejected pre
unqualified. he s a nobel prize winner in economics. his field of study is unemployment and the labor market. senator richard shelby of alabama led the opposition to this unqualified nobel laureate by saying, quote, it is clear to many of us that he does not possess the appropriate background, experience, or policy preferences to serve. he won the nobel prize in economics and his field is labor markets. that nominee, nobel laureate peter diamond will join us for the interview next., you kn hard it can be to breathe and what that feels like. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms. by keeping my airways open a full 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. and it s steroid-free. spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma,
candidacy, calling him unqualifi unqualified. astonishingly. he joins us now for the ber view. professor diamond, thank you for being here. i ve looked forward to talking to you for a long time. thank you for having me. you wrote an op-ed in the new york times after your affirmation was blocked. you said the confirmation process has become distorted. what did you mean by that? well, it s been used by the republicans in part for just general harassment of the administration. and an example of that was when i got bumped in august of last year. i was just one of a dozen or so who got bumped for no apparent reason. there s a senate rule that says when the senate goes into a long recess it takes unanimous consent for a nomination to remain in place after the recess. and a dozen or so, including me, didn t get unanimous consent for the nomination to stay in place,