The New York Times‘ Sheryl Gay Stolberg (9/22/10), writing about “brusque and brilliant economist” Lawrence Summers stepping down as President Obama’s chief economic adviser, cited House minority leader John Boehner’s charge that “Mr. Obama’s team lacked ‘real-world, hands on experience,’ a direct shot at Mr. Summers’ career as an academic.” She followed this by writing, “News of Mr. Summers’ departure set off speculation that Mr. Obama would replace him with a corporate executive to counter the impression that he is anti-business.”
The Washington Post‘s Lori Montgomery (9/22/10) reported similarly, “Sources said the White House is considering whether to choose a candidate who could blunt criticism that the administration has been anti-business, such as a corporate chieftain or prominent investor.”
This suggestion that Summers represents an “anti-business” strain of economic thinking is absurd. While it’s true that most of his career has been spent in academia and government, prior to joining the administration he was working as a managing director at DE Shaw, a gigantic hedge fund that paid him $5.2 million for his services in 2008. In the same year, he collected $2.7 million in consulting fees from other financial firms, including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. Clearly Wall Street was not turned off by his “anti-business” attitudes.
This background was rehearsed just yesterday in a New York Times blog post (DealBook, 9/21/10), which noted that “Mr. Summers has often been criticized for his close ties to the financial sector and dubbed a conduit for Wall Street to influence the White House.” Such criticism does not seem to have been noticed by Stolberg.
After citing Obama’s praise of Summers, Montgomery at least notes that “congressional Republicans—and some Democrats—have been more critical of Summers’ tenure.” But she goes on to say that Boehner accuses the White House “of pursuing misguided economic policies that ran up record deficits without creating jobs or significantly improving the economy”—a view, Montgomery says, that is rejected by “many prominent economists.” The complaints that “some Democrats” have about Summers are left unspecified, the idea that there is anything “anti-business” about Obama’s Wall Street-friendly economic adviser goes unrebutted.
Gee… $5.2 mill from DE Shaw for ‘managerial services’ & $2.7 mill from other financial services – – – that sounds like classic, run-of-the-mill excessive compensation that US business executives have grown accustomed to, so Summers should easily be able to claim a pro-business/insider’s perspective. If he had done something altruistic and unselfish, THEN there’d be cause for conern!
Please lay off Fox News Channel. Finding anybody who’s “anti-business” in the Obama Administration must be a totally time-consuming experience. Especially since the odds of finding one is about the same as winning the Powerball.
Remember — Fox’s efforts normally include the usual tedium of checking the shoes of WH West Wingers for explosives. As well as — checking their pockets for money still wet from the printing presses thanks to Obama’s current attempts to jump start the economy with quantitative easing measures.
The US dollar has dropped to 80 yen. That’s the new level for Japan’s central bank to intervene in Forex markets to buy up more yen to offset the shrinking dollar’s stimulus on US exports. But Fox is right. There’s nothing altruistic or selfish the Obama people can do for American business anymore. It’s now up to the central banks of our competitors and the currency markets.
Hope is not something to set one’s light along the path to a better world. It is a future trip over which we have no control. It is a waste of time. It is time to see if we can make enough noise to get through the corporate flappers surrounding Washington. Just because hope is not one’s anchor, it just means that one must be more active and determined to work toward a civil and progressive outcome.
Liz……….Very poetic.Right up until you said progressive.That was when someone ripped the stylus of the record.The progressives in our government are, and have been the worm rotting the apple.Read a bit about the progressive party and it’s history.Scary stuff.Glen Beck has a field day ripping them to pieces.Like him or hate him ..he aint wrong about this lot.
This just in from FOX NEWS’ new weekly program “The Gordon Gecko Moment”:
Michael Milken IS available to become Obama’s Chief Economic Adviser.
Yeah…I know Milken was sentenced in Federal Court to 10 years in prison and permanently barred from the securities industry by the SEC. But the Godfather of Toxic Assets only wound up serving two years of his sentence because he was such a model prisoner. That probably means Milken made no attempts to persuade his fellow prisoners to buy junk bonds so they could corner the cigarette and Vaseline futures markets.
All Milken would need for the job is a Presidential pardon from The Man Himself to lift the SEC ban.
By the way, do you know that in 1991 Michael set up a free market think tank — modestly known as “The Milken Institute?” It’s a free market loving, treat employees as any other raw material, while promoting privatization for everything from charter schools to health care to government agencies kind of brain trust. One of the Milken Institute’s top goals is to replace the Securities and Exchange Commission with an agency composed of the white-collar criminals that Milken served time with.
‘Course, the ultimate financial adviser for Obama would be Milton Friedman. Unquestioningly. And the fact that Friedman would have to rise from the dead for the job should silence any heretic who thinks that that damn “Invisible Hand” behind the free market somehow doesn’t exist.
Glenn Beck? A liar and a mountebank, so it’s no surprise that You Know Who actually thinks the little butterball makes sense. Beck’s lies and deep confusion about “The Progressives” have been noted and called out as the lies that they are on numerous occasions, but it doesn’t seem to matter. (“He’s a history buff,” declared Sarah Palin.) The real reason for Beck’s almost comical fear of the Progressive movement is his hatred of the progressive income tax. Beck pays millions of dollars in Federal income taxes every year–he made around thirty million dollars last year–and this drives him nuts. Of course, he can’t come out and say this, else the rubes who think the world of him might get the wrong idea. (“What? He’s complainin’ about his taxes? He still took home over twenty million anyway! Shit, I missed another car payment because I wanted to feed the kids this week. Don’t expect me to feel sorry for him.”)
It was no surprise to see Beck declare himself a Libertarian. Beck imbodies the profound naive ignorance and soaring selfishness that lies at the heart of that crackpot “philosophy.” He finally found a place to call home.
I agree Tim that Libertarianism in this time we live in is a hard sell.It hammers home the constitution.Our government tries to “slip around it”(Cass Sustein).It hammers home independent individual responsibility at a time when our government is creating a nanny state of dependency.It goes by the law at a time when our government creates the law as they go to fit political expediency.It demands an accounting of our tax money at a time when the FED is beyond such draconian ideas.It demands that our government adhere to the power of state rights at a time when our government moves to explode the size of the Fed and diminish those of the state.It demands Congress to vote for or against war.Ya know all those cornerstones of America.Crackpot ideas all to be sure……in these days.The old saying aplys to you.If you don’t understand these simple truths…. then you are part of the problem.
As for Glen Beck. You paint him as a money hungry libertarian who is only after the almighty buck.A liar. And of course a butterball. Never forget the ideology of personal attack. Wow talk about taking a wrong turn. You see I listen to Beck as well as K Obermannn, and Democracy now. You are so wrong on him it is criminal.But it is a free country.Call him a mass murderer for all i care.See Tim for a long time it was an easy game to just deride anyone who thought differently. Deride and personally insult.Shun and ask others to shun. But How is that working for you?I saw SNL insult Christine O’Donell this week.All well and good.I love a good laugh as well as anyone.But where in that show did they insult Pelosi? Dems get lampooned.Rs get insulted.It is so obvious the double standard.Im surprised they don’t have handicapped children lampooned as Becks and Palins kids(both have special needs kids)Im sure that would be a laugh riot for you.But make a farce of Obamas daughters leg imbalance, and funny gait- and hell release the hounds.You are a hypocrite not to put too fine a point on it.A hater is the term today.And You see it as open season on Conservative woman now.Palin etc.But those bitches keep yapping and growing -and you keep shrinking.Those dirty ho’s.When will you get it?The worm has turned.You did not hear the crowds that met Beck in Washington though I am sure you will be there in Spirit when Stewart and Colbert are there to make light of Americas plight.
I hated when the woman’s league of voters excluded Ron Paul(and no i am not libertarian)and left Obama and McCain to debate.He would of evisorated both of them.We need all hands at the table .At the arena of ideas.As usual you libs are screaming people down.Trying in every way you can to shut up any difference of opinion.Your 15 minutes of fame are over in November.THAT IS ALL
P.s sorry for the rant to those who are sane
m.e. The Women’s League of Voters no longer own the rights to the presidential debates. That was bought up by both major parties after the Ross Perot scare. As you recall, the parties threatened Ralph Nader with arrest if he even dared to enter the hall for one of the debates even though he was a legitimate candidate with the Independent Party. He was treated the same way the next time around as a Green Party candidate.
I worked for Nader. Astounding the way he was treated.Thanx for the info.Who will be running it I wonder in the coming debates?