Obama economic aide: 'One month is not a trend'

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By Jose Luis Magana, AP

top economic advisers hit the airwaves today to calm concern over recent depressing news about the economy.

"One month is not a trend," said Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, on CNN's State of the Union.

Goolsbee spoke just two days after the Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate grew up 9.1% in May, a month in which the economy created much-less-than-expected 54,000 jobs. The disappointing jobs report followed similar bad reports on the housing and manufacturing sectors.

Goolsbee pointed out that the economy has created more than 2 million jobs over the past 15 months, and that other economic sign are favorable.

He added, however, that "the president is the first to say it's not enough," and is taking steps to help grow the economy. They range from tax breaks on investment to a new review seeking to change government regulations that are "outmoded" or "costly," Goolsbee said.

"We're coming out of the worst downturn since 1929," Goolsbee said. "There's no question that we are facing fragile recovery and we've got to keep pressing to get the private sector stood up."

Republicans on the Sunday shows said the higher unemployment rate and other bad news show that businesses people lack confidence in Obama economic policies.

"Their plan for bigger government, more federal control over our private sector, more regulations and burdensome mandates on the people and our businesses -- it's not working and we do need to shift gears and change course," said former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, speaking on Fox News Sunday.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, economic adviser to Republican candidate John McCain in the 2008 election, said on CNN that Obama needs to take stronger steps to reduce the $14 trillion-plus federal debt. He cited tax reform and new free trade agreements as examples.

"We are aiming straight toward a Greece-style fiscal crisis unless we change direction," Holtz-Eakin said.

See photos of: Barack Obama, Sarah Palin