WH Economic Chair on the Economy

President Obamas new Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Austan Goolsbee, joined Fox News Sunday to discuss their new proposal to shore up the struggling economy. On the unemployment rate, Goolsbee was asked whether he expects jobless numbers to get worse, before they get better. He said, I think it's clear that the labor market is significantly weakened, has been for some time I don't expect it to go down appreciably. That's what our forecast, and most of the private forecasts say the same thing. Goolsbee also defended the administrations economic record by pointing, to what he sees,, as a period of job growth. If you look at private sector job growth, we've had eight straight months of private sector job growth. Now, it's not enough. We want it to be more. Whether to extend the Bush tax cuts has become one of the most heated debates during this current midterm election season. Republicans have argued that raising rates, on those making more than $250,000 per year, will be devastating to the small business community. Goolsbee stood his ground by saying, In this circumstance, I do not believe that having the personal income tax go up on people, the majority of which -- the majority of that income has nothing to do with small business. I do not believe that having those rates go back to what they were in the 1990s is devastating to small business. This week President Obama proposed a new plan to help move the economy forward. The plan included tax incentives for business as well as another round of government spending on infrastructure projects. Throughout the interview Goolsbee continually stated that passing the proposed plan would be the best way to help stimulate the economy. He explained, If you want to help small business, pass the president's bipartisan small business bill. It would give credit to small business, would cut taxes eight different times for them. Eliminating capital gains for millions of business owners.