'No More Rubinites'

[marmar]

from HuffPost:




Progressive economists have one piece of advice for President Barack Obama when it comes to replacing top economic adviser Larry Summers: No more Robert Rubin disciples.

Summers, who served as head of the White House's National Economic Council, a position created by former President Bill Clinton and first filled by Rubin, was a key architect of the administration's various economic policies to combat the biggest financial crisis and economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Those policies -- the bailout of Detroit automakers, an $814 billion stimulus package, subsequent programs under TARP, Cash for Clunkers and the administration's unlimited backstop of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- arguably saved an economy that many considered to be on the verge of collapse.

But while the recession officially ended last year, it hasn't for most American households. The unemployment rate has risen nearly two percentage points since Obama took office, Labor Department figures show. Private-sector job creation is anemic. Growth has stagnated. Incomes have barely risen. Unpaid debts are being written off. And household wealth is lower today than where it was last December, according to Federal Reserve data through June. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/23/summers-replacements-rubinites_n_735453.html

[nashville_brook]

1. this is a great piece. here's the list of progressive replacement suggestions -- >>

Dean Baker, co-director of the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research, said he's like to see economists like:

James K. Galbraith, a former executive director of the Joint Economic Committee and presently a professor at the University of Texas at Austin;

Robert Pollin, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute;

Eileen Appelbaum, an economist at Baker's CEPR and a former professor at Rutgers University, where she led the Center for Women and Work researched labor and employment issues;

Heidi Hartmann, president of the Washington-based Institute for Women's Policy Research and a professor at The George Washington University.

Baker acknowledges that his candidates "would never be considered," adding that "I don't want to think about who we will actually get."

Robert Johnson, director of financial reform at the New York-based Roosevelt Institute and a former managing director at Soros Fund Management, said he'd like to see:

Jon S. Corzine, chairman and CEO of MF Global Holdings and a former head of Goldman Sachs and governor of New Jersey;

J. Bradford DeLong, an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley and a former top Treasury official during the Clinton administration;

Leo Hindery, Jr., chairman of the Economic Growth/Smart Globalization Initiative at the New America Foundation and a HuffPost blogger;

Donald W. Riegle, Jr., a former U.S. senator and chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and current chairman of APCO Worldwide's government relations team.

Thomas M. Hoenig, the Fed chief, who serves on the Fed's policy-making body that sets interest rates, has advocated breaking up megabanks and forcing banks to shed their risky derivatives-dealing operations. The longtime regional Fed president has served in his current role for 19 years.

Like others, Johnson said, "No more Rubinites."

Simon Johnson, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund who presently serves as a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and as a contributing editor to The Huffington Post, said he'd like to see:

Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist at the World Bank and a former chairman of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers under Clinton;

Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and columnist for the New York Times;

Alan S. Blinder, a Princeton professor and former member of Clinton's CEA and a vice chairman of the Fed's Board of Governors.

Andrew Busch, global currency and public policy strategist at BMO Capital Markets in Chicago, said he'd like to see two veterans of the Clinton administration:

Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary,

Gene Sperling, who held Summers's job under Clinton and now works as a counselor to Geithner.

[eridani]

2. Krugman has selected himself out, as not sufficiently experienced as an admin. n/t

[chill_wind]

3. That still leaves a stellar list--

except-- Gene Sperling?? Wasn't he an important part of the Glass-Steagall Act Wrecking Crew?

[appal_jack]

5. kick for the morning crowd. n/t

[appal_jack]

4. I would add David Korten

Dear President Obama,

Please consider David Korten as a candidate to replace Larry Summers.

Plenty of administrative & development experience. Smart guy.

Most importantly, he predicted basically the form and impact of the 2008 financial crisis... in 1995.

Folks unfamiliar with him should check out:

http://www.davidkorten.org/


-app

ps - k&r