Strategists Bank on Budget-Neutral Policies (politico.com

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0407/3407.html

Strategists Bank on Budget-Neutral Policies

By: Ben Smith
April 2, 2007 06:51 PM EST

In a suite of offices three doors down Massachusetts Avenue from the Brookings Institution headquarters, Hillary Clinton's closest Wall Street allies are drawing up economic policy for the next Democratic administration.

The offices belong to the Hamilton Project, a small think tank created by Robert E. Rubin, Bill Clinton's Treasury secretary and key economic adviser, and former Treasury deputy secretary Roger C. Altman, who would be a front-runner for the same job in a new Clinton administration.

The project's research, so far, would be familiar to students of the first Clinton administration: creative, wonky proposals for softening the impact of globalization without interfering with international trade, most of them crafted with an eye to fiscal austerity and a balanced budget.

The key advisory role played by Rubin and Altman, two pre-eminent Democratic Party economic centrists, has drawn criticism from more left-leaning economic voices, who also tweak the presumptive nature of the project, given that not a single vote has yet been cast in the 2008 campaign. "One wag told me that their effort looks a lot like drafting the 2009 budget," said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank aligned with the more populist, labor-friendly segment of the Democratic Party.



Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, right, and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin participate in the Treasury Conference on U.S. Capital Markets Competitiveness. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)


"Everybody's very clear that they're thinking ahead to a big change in administration," said Lori G. Kletzer, who, writing for the Hamilton Project, proposed a vast expansion of federal unemployment insurance.

In a Democratic presidential field where candidates are beginning to define their platforms, economy and trade are among the most closely watched issues.

Former North Carolina senator John Edwards has cast himself as the "populist" in the race, siding with organized labor and its skepticism of unfettered free trade.

FULL story at link.

[Skink]

1. Sounds good.

Sounds like people that represent America.