Obama Meets With New Econ Team - How Populist, How Corporate?
| Fri Nov. 7, 2008 7:09 AM PST
According to Obama's press operation, his new "Transition Economic Advisory Board" includes the following:
- David Bonior (Member House of Representatives 1977-2003)
- Warren Buffett (Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
- Roel Campos (former SEC Commissioner)
- William Daley (Chairman of the Midwest, JP Morgan Chase; Former Secretary, U.S. Dept of Commerce, 1997-2000)
- William Donaldson (Former Chairman of the SEC 2003-2005)
- Roger Ferguson (President and CEO, TIAA-CREF and former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve)
- Jennifer Granholm (Governor, State of Michigan)
- Anne Mulcahy (Chairman and CEO, Xerox)
- Richard Parsons (Chairman of the Board, Time Warner)
- Penny Pritzker (CEO, Classic Residence by Hyatt)
- Robert Reich (University of Cal, Berkeley; Former Secretary, U.S. Dept of Labor, 1993-1997)
- Robert Rubin (Chairman and Director of the Executive Committee, Citigroup; Former Secretary, U.S. Dept of Treasury, 1995-1999)
- Eric Schmidt (Chairman and CEO, Google)
- Lawrence Summers (Harvard University; Managing Director, D.E. Shaw; Former Secretary, U.S. Dept of Treasury, 1999-2001)
- Laura Tyson (Former Chairman, National Economic Council, 1995-1996; Former Chairman, President's Council of Economic Advisors, 1993-1995)
- Antonio Villaraigosa (Mayor, City of Los Angeles)
- Paul Volcker (Former Chairman, U.S. Federal Reserve 1979-1987)
Some observations. The list includes a number of corporate types and Clinton-era holdovers. While these folks are undoubtedly smart as can be, they don't really represent the sort of bold and populist economic thinking that some progressives would like to see emerge in this time of financial crisis. It also includes a couple folks (Rubin, Summers) who oversaw the late-Clinton deregulation that got us into this mess.
Economist Dean Baker writes to Mother Jones, "The only remotely populist people on this list are Bonior and Reich. I give Buffet credit for being a smart and mostly honest guy, but populist is probably a bit of a stretch.... This group is pretty heavily Wall Street in my view, which is worse than being just corporate. That's not a surprise, but it is a disappointment."
The list includes four people mentioned in the press as possibilities for Treasury Secretary — Buffet, Summers, Tyson, and Volcker.
Obama will hold his first post-election press conference today at 2:30 pm EST after meeting with his new economic team. He also attends parent-teacher conferences at his daughters' school in Chicago today.
Update: Just realized — no one from the labor community on the list.
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Comments
Sometimes I feel like I'm in an alternative universe. You people have got some coming down to do. The person just elected was Obama, not Nader. Obama's a fully-paid-up corporate guy. You're going to be bitterly disappointed in Obama's right-of-center policies.
JG, your messiah, Nader, did not get it yet again. Get over it.
I'm not knocking Nader, but I think there is a point at which people become so convinced that no good can come from any member of a conventional party that their view is constantly tainted.
"JG, your messiah, Nader, did not get it yet again. Get over it."
I'm not a Nader-lover, twitbag. I merely ventured to point out that while Nader ran on a liberal platform, Obama ran on a solid-right corporate-funded GOP-standard line. I'm not sure there is anything progressive in Obama's platform.
Nobody from labor? Maybe not anyone that is the head of a union, but David Bonier has deep ties to the labor "community" in Michigan. Also, he founded this: http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/
That's a worthy update for this post. I was struck by the lone presence of one Dept. of Labor employee but nobody that's emblematic of worker's rights.
I'm way out of my league discussing economics but I'd also note that there is no person on that list with a vested interest in addressing the presence of illegal labor and the black market in our economy.
Actually, Villaraigosa had a long career as a labor organizer.
"Good thing too. Someone who heads up a "company" of under educated, overpaid, lazy, bottom feeders isn't needed in this group.
Unions are only in it for themselves."
Sounding just a *bit* elitist here kirkbrew. And most definitely over-generalizing. And I suppose you believe that those overpaid executives are "in it" for the good of the nation?
Submitted by James M. Martin (not verified) on Tue Nov. 11, 2008 7:46 PM PST.
How ironic you use the phrase "Mayberry Machiavellis" in your introductory lead from the email to the site. I watched Frontline's documentary on Lee Atwater tonight, and it showed Karl Rove at one of those insider roasts they do in D.C. Rove, an Atwater protegee, tells the audience that [straw man] "People say Lee is Machiavellian. Well...he is. In the good sense of the word."
Q.: What is good about Machiavelli?
