Life’s Little Ironies
Posted by Phoenix Woman on November 26, 2008
One of the themes I’ve noticed in the lefty part of the blogosphere lately is a tendency to rag on Obama’s economic team, especially Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner. This is being done most especially by those people who never liked Obama – or anyone to the right of Noam Chomsky – very much anyway.
Well, what will happen now that Nouriel Roubini, the favorite economist of the apocalyptic branch of the lefties, has spoken highly of Obama’s team? (So have Paul Krugman, Brad DeLong and Robert Reich, but those guys don’t count as highly with the apocalyptics as does Roubini.)
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13 Responses to “Life’s Little Ironies”
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Charles II said
I guess I’m an apocalyptic, though I liked Obama well enough to support him in his Senate run, long before anyone outside of Illinois knew who he was. Not to mention that I’m pretty far to the right of Noam Chomsky.
Keith Olbermann quoted Grover Norquist as saying that personnel equals policy. While that’s not strictly speaking true, personnel is what becomes policy if the Executive ever takes his eye off the ball.
Larry Summers has also in the last year confessed that neoliberalism is not perfect. That’s good. It means he may be opening his eyes a little bit to alternative world views.
What you may be missing is that most of these guys worked together. Summers was Geithner’s boss at Treasury. Roubini and Brad DeLong worked at Treasury, though how closely with Summers I don’t know. I would bet pretty closely. I think Summers worked with Krugman at Treasury in the 1980s, presumably as a student, though it’s not clear from the bigraphical materials. I think they’ve co-authored some articles.
So, they’re friends. They’re not going to talk out of school about one another, no matter what doubts they may have privately. They may well approve of one another privately as well: I just don’t know. But relying on the recommendation of one to sustain another is circular.
Charles II said
Robert Reich’s recommendation is important and independent (although they were on the Harvard faculty together). However, so far he’s said nothing about Summers that I can see. Ideologically, they’re on opposite sides of a great divide.
Spot said
Spot did know that the economy was really in trouble when Dr. Doom got a shot on the News Hour the first time.
Mark Gisleson said
The trouble with lefties is we’ve been out of power so long we’ve forgotten that there’s a difference between newspaper pundits and worker bees. I think Obama’s picks are just fine so long as Obama stays in charge. Yes he’ll tilt towards Wall Street, but which candidate this side of Mike Gravel wouldn’t have?
Have a happy turkey day.
Charles II said
That’s pretty much what I have been saying over the course of a conversation that extends beyond this thread, Mark: assuming Obama has progressive intentions, and assuming that he pays attention, he can use his economic team to produce progressive results. And if he ends up with non-progressive results, it will be nobody’s fault but his own.
And, yes, Spot, the economy is in serious trouble, and the wasting of resources by the Bush Administration is just one more poisoned gift as they slink out the back door.
shrimplate said
I’m not unhappy with Obama’s choices, and I consider myself to be left of Chomsky on the political spectrum. Let’s just wait and see.
Bush is over. That’s satisfying enough for the moment, despite all the hard work ahead.
MEC said
I have some confidence that Obama will stay in charge. What I’ve seen of him so far gives me the impression that he calls the shots and doesn’t tolerate loose cannons.
Charles II said
Yes, shrimplate, an absence of Bush will be a huge improvement. It’s too bad that we can’t give him his severance and tell him to leave now.
jo6pac said
Yep since they were there in the beginning they might know how to fix it. We’ll see. Here’s a little insight with links about how they all know one another. I read Dr. Doom but since he’s changed his tune on how to fix it, well he must be looking to go back to Govt.
http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2008/11/23/a-new-economic-team/
jo6pac
The race to the bottom continues.
Look for a devaluation up to 50% of the dollar in 6 months or less. It hurts to even say it.
Charles II said
Devaluation may take longer than one might think, Joe. A dollar crisis should have happened long ago. But the rest of the world is having trouble getting its act together. Japan and China don’t want strong currencies because of their export industries. Europe has trouble keeping its southern members in the Union as they spend beyond their means, while maintaining the tight monetary policy that makes the northern members so successful. There’s no simple solution beyond transfer payments, which are a hard sell politically. The recession makes all the players prefer a weak currency to shift pain elsewhere. Logically China should have gone to a strong currency. This would have allowed them to raise standards of living and build an internal economy. Same for India. But the Asian countries are all afraid of being undercut by one another.
So, what’s left for a world currency? The ruble? The real?
For the time being, the dollar seems to be the least bad alternative.
jo6pac said
I hope your right, it’s less painful.
CMike said
Here’s a long post by Michael Hudson. I take it he isn’t planning to “jump on the team and come on in for the big win.”
chuckles said
Everything is fine, the invisible hand is at work. Chuckle Chuckle