Ex-Obama Adviser Austan Goolsbee: Economy Can’t Handle Two Rate Hikes This Year

The economy isn't ready for the two rate hikes the Federal Reserve is planning to make this year, according to President Obama's former economic adviser Austan Goolsbee. 'I don't think that it was the right thing to start raising rates when they did,' Goolsbee said, referring to the Fed's historic rate hike back in December, which marked the end of interest rates at crisis-era levels. 'If you look at the growth rate of the economy, it's modest - there are a lot of international risks and there is no sign of inflation.' Goolsbee, now a professor at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, said we are back on the old Fed pattern of the last six years, which centers around forecasting additional rate hikes, but failing to pull the trigger and kicking the can down the road. TheStreet's Scott Gamm reports from Wall Street.