Where Did It Go?

I’ve been looking all over the White House web site for a transcript of the official White House press briefing that Greg Mankiw gave on February 9, 2004, in which he presented the 2004 Economic Report of the President. My efforts seem to be fruitless, however: I simply can not find it among White House news items.

If it does indeed exist on the White House website and I’ve just missed it, please let me know. Because otherwise I’m starting to think that they’ve purged it. Why might they have done that? Because of this politically damaging statement by CEA chair Greg Mankiw during the press conference: “Now, to get back to the question about outsourcing, I think outsourcing is a growing phenomenon, but it’s something that we should realize is probably a plus for the economy in the long run.”

Of course, simply deleting this transcript from their website would be a childish, guilty, bizarrely immature and naive thing for the White House to do, so I’m sure that there’s another explanation…

Luckily, I was eventually able to find the transcript somewhere else: on the US embassy in Australia’s website. But I find it curious (suspicious) that the transcript was so hard for me to find.

Kash