by Calculated Risk on 7/03/2008 10:25:00 PM

Note: this video is from the WaPo - this is the first time I've tried to embed one of their videos, and I hope it works OK.

Here is Dana Milbank's article: The Economy? Words Fail Me.

Think you're worried about the economy? Phillip Swagel is a wreck.

Here is the video. I think Swagel did fine given what he had to sell (a bad jobs report) ... more Milbank:

For a brief, joyous moment for the economist, it appeared he had exhausted all the questions, but as soon as Swagel got out "I hope everyone has a good holiday," another hand went up.

The reporter asked if he saw any hope for economic revival in the new employment report. Swagel exhaled loudly. "No," he said, then sniffed and exhaled again. "You know, the data today, right, we had, wage gains were decent, but of course we know that overall inflation, uh, is going to fully offset and more those, uh, you know, those wage gains," he said. The unemployment rate remained at 5.5 percent, but "I don't . . . take any comfort from that."