Obama Rolls Out Economic Transition Advisers, Include Warren Buffett, Robert Rubin, Robert Reich

[babylonsister]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/obama_rolls_out_economic_trans.php

Obama Rolls Out Economic Transition Advisers, Include Warren Buffett, Robert Rubin, Robert Reich
By Greg Sargent - November 6, 2008, 3:13PM


President-Elect Barack Obama is signaling quick movement on the economy, with his advisers moments ago rolling out a list of economic bigs who will serve on his Transition Economic Advisory Board.

Obama and Joe Biden will meet with the group tomorrow and hold a press conference afterwards, Camp Obama announces.

The group includes a bunch of expected names. There's Warren Buffett (who endorsed Obama) and Governor Jennifer Granholm, as well as some heavy-hitters from the Clinton universe, like Robert Rubin and Robert Reich.

Also serving: Harvard's Lawrence Summers and former Federal Reserve chair Paul Volcker.

Obama's press conference -- which will take place tomorrow at 1:30 P.M. -- is likely to be a media zoo, both because it will offer clues to Obama's first moves on the economy and because it's his first presser as President-Elect.

David Bonior (Member House of Representatives 1977-2003)

· Warren Buffett (Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)-will participate via speakerphone

· 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 California, 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 (Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley; 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)

[Hope And Change]

1. K & R!

[finecraft]

2. Where's Paul Krugman's name?

I mean really, the guy just won the Nobel Prize in economics, and he has been basically dead on with his predictions about the economy for the past 8 years. Would it be asking asking too much to have him included?

[LTR]

3. Now THAT'S an economic dream team

That was one of the strongest elements of his campaign. While McCain surrounded himself with yes-men, supporters and conservative think tank types, Obama rounded up some top-notch talent.

[Skwmom]

4. Robert Rubin, Mr. What Financial Meltdown? I can't believe he's part of the group.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/31/news/economy/rubin_benner.fortune/

Rubin has been a director and chair of Citigroup's (C, Fortune 500) executive committee since 1999, overseeing a period during which the bank took on huge risks that it is paying dearly for now.

How bad off he really left Citigroup has yet to be revealed.

Does anyone have an answer for why someone who helped create this financial meltdown, who was outed from Citibank, is part of the economic group? Yeah, that should make foreign countries feel confident that we know what the heck we are doing.

That pick is mindboggling.

From the article: The elephant in the room, of course, was the fact that risky bets at leading financial institutions like Citi, Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500), and Bear Stearns have damaged Wall Street's reputation as the world's leading financial hub.

If we can't convince the rest of the world to trust the U.S. as a financial leader we are screwed. Anyone involved in this mess should NOT be included in the new administration. They should be limited to testifying before Congress on how they destroyed the U.S. financial system so for once, we might actually learn from history and not repeat our mistakes.