[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18484]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         SUMMERS RELYING ON GOOGLE SEARCHES TO GAUGE RECESSION

  (Mr. WESTMORELAND asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, when this administration took over on 
January 20, the unemployment was at about 7.2 percent, and they made a 
promise that this new stimulus of $787 billion would create or would 
save 600,000 jobs. Since that point, we've lost 2 million jobs. Where 
are the jobs?
  The President's top economic adviser pictured here, Mr. Larry 
Summers, has made us all feel better in this country by telling us:
  Of all the statistics pouring into the White House every day, top 
economic adviser Larry Summers highlighted one Friday to make his case 
that the economic free-fall has ended. The number of people searching 
for the term ``economic depression'' on Google is down to normal 
levels, Summers said. Searches for the term were up fourfold when the 
recession deepened in the earlier part of the year, and the recent 
shift goes to show consumer confidence is higher, Summers told Peterson 
Institute for International Economics.
  Mr. Speaker, where are the jobs? I'm telling you that somebody in 
this administration is asleep at the wheel.

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