WASHINGTON, The guy with the groovy charts, who always did a good job of handling himself on the Sunday talk-a-thons is stepping down.
June 6 (Reuters) - Top White House economist Austan Goolsbee said on Monday he was stepping down, marking the exit of one of President Barack Obama's closest aides at a time when new signs of weakness have emerged in the U.S. economy.
Less than a year after he was named chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Goolsbee plans to return to his teaching job at the University of Chicago, the Obama administration said in a statement.
Goolsbee's departure leaves Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as the sole remaining senior member of the original economic team.
Goolsbee and Obama got to know each other at the University of Chicago, where the president had been a lecturer in constitutional law. Goolsbee advised Obama's campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2004 and his 2008 presidential campaign.
http://www.reuters.com/...
Like the other folks who were pistol-whipped by the current economic forecasts, he's going back to teaching. He'll still be a part of the re-election campaign:
Larry Summers, former director of the White House National Economic Council, stepped down at the end of last year to return to his teaching job at Harvard University.
Christina Romer, his predecessor as CEA chair, left last August, also to return to academia, and Peter Orszag resigned as White House budget director last July.
From Chicago, where he will teach at the Graduate School of Business, Goolsbee will also serve as an outside adviser to Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, according to an administration official.
(Reporting by Alister Bull, Editing by Eric Walsh)
http://www.reuters.com/...
The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is a group of three economists who advise the President of the United States on economic policy. It is a part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, and provides much of the economic policy of the White House. The council prepares the annual Economic Report of the President....
The council's three members are nominated by the president and approved by the United States Senate. The staff of the council includes about 20 academic economists, plus three permanent economic statisticians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
The news raises a lot of compelling questions: Who will replace him? Will they be as good with creating bikini charts as Goolsbee? Does he have a Twitter account?
UPDATE: Like many of you I wondered why Austan? Austan, why now?
Well it turns out it's all about tenure.
The White House announced Monday that Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee will be leaving to return to teaching economics at the University of Chicago. Goolsbee, one of President Obama’s longest-serving advisers, has been on leave for four years from the Booth School of Business and could have lost his tenure position had he extended further, an official said.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/...
As Liberal Librarian, a commenter over at blackwaterdog.wordpress.com put it, "tenure is like a rent controlled apartment in Manhattan: you just do not let go of it."
Here are the official statements from the President and Goolsbee:
“Since I first ran for the U.S. Senate, Austan has been a close friend and one of my most trusted advisers,” President Obama said. “Over the past several years, he has helped steer our country out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and although there is still much work ahead, his insights and counsel have helped lead us toward an economy that is growing and creating millions of jobs. He is one of America’s great economic thinkers.”
Chairman Goolsbee said, “Working each day on behalf of the American people has been a rare privilege, particularly at such a historic time. While I am looking forward to returning home to Chicago, I will always be proud of the years I have spent working for this President. I believe that his judgment, his courage in confronting the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, and his commitment to the American people have made a tremendous difference for the nation.”
http://www.politico.com/...