White House cuts bad news from report

[diamond geezer]

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The National Security Council (NSC) had an entire chapter on Iraq’s economy deleted from the “Economic Report of the President” simply because it would interfere with the positive tone of the rest of the report. The report is produced annually by the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), a supposedly independent advisory entity. The unprecedented move is yet another example of the Bush administration’s willingness to manipulate expert and scientific information for political reasons.

The CEA consists of economic and budget experts recruited from the top ranks of academia and business. The “Economic Report of the President” is the CEA’s primary vehicle for providing economic observations, advice and input. Economists from both political parties considered the decision to delete an entire completed chapter as extraordinary and a sign of the CEA’s loss of influence. Outgoing CEA Chairman N. Gregory Mankiw has declined to comment.

The missing chapter addresses the development of the Iraqi banking system, financial markets and other economic institutions. Apparently, the chapter portrayed Iraq’s economic emergence positively and it was believed that this would clash with current military difficulties in Iraq, and therefore would undermine the administration’s credibility. The White House has downplayed the deleted chapter, explaining that it did not belong in a report on the American economy. Given that the CEA produces the “Economic Report of the President” every year, one would expect that the CEA understands best the appropriate material to cover.

Congress and the public are entitled to a full and unbiased accounting from the CEA experts, but once again are given an incomplete and misleading picture. The CEA’s report will be used to make and justify important decisions, including how the U.S. spends billions in Iraq. When the Bush administration filters information from independent experts and scientists — the information no longer belongs to those experts, it becomes the administration’s opinion.

Administration officials said the chapter may still be published in some form in the future.

I would have thought it would have been considered good news. Anything positive would be jumped on and run.

[skunk]

Maybe they want to keep the lid on the good news so they can continue their arm-twisting for more money.

[Thomas Veil]

How are we going to work with people whose positions seem to be divorced from reality?