Last week, I did a blog entry saying that the appalling jobless figures in the United States were telling us one thing: that 19 months into this bad recession and the economic indicators are getting worse.

So it's not surprising then to read Vice President Joe Biden telling George Stephanopoulos that the Obama administration had misread the economy. They actually thought it was better than it really was. The Obama administration had been way too optimistic.

"We misread how bad the economy was, but we are now only about 120 days into the recovery package," Biden said. "The truth of the matter was, no one anticipated, no one expected that that recovery package would in fact be in a position at this point of having to distribute the bulk of money."

Biden seems to be stating the bleeding obvious. Significantly, economists like Nouriel Roubini , Paul Krugman and Warren Buffett have made it clear that the US needs a second stimulus. If there isn't, they say the US will be absolutely screwed.

Biden has hosed down the calls for another stimulus package but then, he hasn't ruled it out either. And that tells us the administration might well be paving the way for another package. Besides the economy, there is another reason and it's political. A recovery that's hard to read and goes nowhere will erode Obama's high approval rating which is really the bedrock of his political power.

Watch this space.