Obama Names More Economic Advisers. (Krugman not among them.)

[thesquanderer]

Source: Washington Post

President Obama yesterday unveiled a new team of economic advisers, a group drawn from corporate, labor and academic circles and tasked with providing the administration counsel from beyond his inner circle of aides.

In announcing the White House Economic Recovery Advisory Board, Obama said he was seeking "to ensure that no stone is unturned as we work to put people back to work and to get our economy moving." The group is particularly heavy on executives of companies known for innovation and success in the international marketplace.

The board will be chaired by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker. Its members include Jeffrey R. Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, and James Owens, chief executive of Caterpillar. Both companies have strong sales around the world, though both are encountering hard times amid the slowing global economy; Caterpillar said last month it would cut 20,000 jobs.

The board also includes representatives of labor organizations: Anna Burger, who chairs the labor group Change to Win, and Richard L. Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO. There are also two prominent conservatives: William H. Donaldson, who served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during the Bush administration, and Reagan administration economic adviser Martin Feldstein, who has supported the idea of a massive economic stimulus package but was sharply critical of the legislation passed by the House of Representatives.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/06/AR2009020600739.html

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I guess a Nobel prize isn't good enough?

[nightrain]

1. that group doesn't bode well either. Obama, ya gotta pick some better ones than CEOs!

[stillcool]

2. I guess you didn't read the article..

Paul Krugman wrote. He has no desire to work in the government. Shocking isn't it?

[babylonsister]

5. Thank you. And Krugman is one voice, read by many. He's not

always right or wrong, but he is also not the oracle who knows all. This Krugman mania baffles me.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

8. It's because he's the biggest name non-monetary policy/SS economist in the public eye.

Thus he seems to have become an icon for a frustrated liberal base to look to and project their own hopes on.

[thesquanderer]

11. Yes, just one voice...

...and certainly not an infallible one. But often a perspective that seems worthy of serious consideration and inclusion into the conversation.

[babylonsister]

15. Fine. Consider him, but he's not the arbiter of who is right or wrong.

Just saying, it seems to me too many people give him too much credit. He's consulted with Obama's team, has been asked for his input, but he seems to rather enjoy being out there bashing any and all things that are going on. Hey, kind of reminds me of Krugman during the primaries.

[thesquanderer]

13. not the same

re: "He has no desire to work in the government"

I'm not sure being on an advisory board is the same as "working in government." I'm sure those other people aren't leaving their day jobs either.

[stillcool]

21. I'm just going by what he said...

However...you may know better about his feelings about a position on an advisory board.

Krugman Touts His Influence as a NYT Columnist on Obama Policy Decisions

http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20081208165205.aspx

In a Dec. 6 interview in Stockholm, Sweden, the Nobel Prize-winning New York Times columnist told the ironically named Adam Smith, editor-in-chief of Nobelprize.org, that he found himself more effective in his role at the Times lately He said he was more influential in shaping policy as a journalist than he would be in a high-ranking position on the Obama economic team.
-----------------------------------------

I like to think I’m a good analyst,” Krugman said. “But, I don’t think I’m a good bureaucrat of any kind. I might think differently if I wasn’t at the Times, but as it is I have a mouthpiece, people are listening. I probably can have as much influence, as say on the shape of this upcoming economic stimulus package from where I am as I could if I were, you know, the third-ranking member of the Obama economics team – something like that, so I think it’s probably as good of position as any.”
http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20081208165205.aspx

[thesquanderer]

30. thanks for the details and links (n/t)

[jwirr]

24. He is one of those people who work better outside the loop. And

being outside the loop allows you more freedom to voice your opinions. I notice that Robert Reich is not in there either. President Obama had better be reading them or he is missing some good advice.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

3. We might be better served by having Krugman remain an outside observer and columnist.

It's not like he doesn't have a vehicle top get his opinions out there. And I'm sure he won't always agree with the Adminstration. I have been quite happy with his latest essays that the Stimulus being not BIG ENOUGH while others are happy to whittle it away.

[MadHound]

4. Oh great, a Volker re-run

What, we're rewarding the guy who helped get us in this mess.

More of the two party/same corporate master system of government at work

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

22. Volker recommended AGAINST many of the worst policies and was overruled

I have the greatest respect for him, because he predicted extremely accurately what the ultimate outcome of those policies would be. I will google for an article or you can do it yourself.

[Cha]

36. Oh good you have something more

to bitch about.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

6. No, but blind adherence to monetary policy is. nt

[ClarkUSA]

7. Krugman's Nobel Prize is in international economic policy, not domestic economic policy.

Besides, President Obama made a public appeal to Krugman to offer up a plan of his own instead of complaining.
So far, nothing from Krugman but more whining. Krugman needs to move on from the primaries and stop acting
like a friggin' PUMA.

[thesquanderer]

9. reference?

re: "President Obama made a public appeal to Krugman to offer up a plan of his own instead of complaining"

Interesting, I missed that! Any chance you have a link?

[babylonsister]

12. Here...

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/obama-asks-paul-krugmans-advice
Obama asks for Paul Krugman's advice: Show me the Money!

snip//


OBAMA: If Paul Krugman has a good idea, in terms of how to spend money efficiently and effectively to jump-start the economy, then we’re going to do it. If somebody has an idea for a tax cut that is better than a tax cut we’ve proposed, we will embrace it. So, you know, one of the things that I think I’m trying to communicate in this process is for everybody to get past the habit that sometimes occurs in Washington of whose idea is it, what ideological corner does it come from. Just show me. If you can show me that something is going to work, I will welcome it.

[thesquanderer]

17. thanks for the link (n/t)

[Better Believe It]

34. He should have invited (and still can) Krugman for a one on one at the White House

After all, he won the Nobel for his contributions to understanding world economy.

[ClarkUSA]

14. It was at a press conference a couple of weeks ago.

A reporter brought up yet another one of Krugman's ad nauseum anti-Obama complaint columns and Barack
responded the way I described (but in a far more gracious way, of course) and additionally called for any
politician, any economist, any American, who thinks they have a good idea to let him know and he'd listen
if it was a "good idea". Basically he told Krugman to put up or shut up in the classiest of ways. Unfortunately,
Krugman hasn't put up or shut up.

Guess he's made his NYT Op-Ed living sniping at Obama from his ivory tower at Princeton U. since the primaries .
Why stop now? I doubt Krugman knows more than Lawrence Sommers, widely acknowledged to be the top expert
in domestic economic policy in the country as it pertains to stimulus macro/microeconomics, who said that the
revised stimulus plan and the one originally put out by Team O "overlap by 90%". Only a fool who has no clue
what it is like to try to get controversial legislation passed through Congress would think that was not enough.
Fortunately, Team O consults with Paul Volker and Lawrence Sommers, both of whom do know what is like to
craft legislation for passage. Krugman is simply a chronic malcontent.

Check the DU archives here. There was some discussion about it and there may even be a video at DU Videos.

[thesquanderer]

20. International problems

re: "Krugman's Nobel Prize is in international economic policy, not domestic economic policy."

The two seem especially tied, at the moment, as the downturn seems essentially global. The interdependence of the different economies is an element of what's going on. Our weak domestic sales are hurting the economies of Japan and China. Our outsourcing of jobs to India etc. is hurting our own employment. We are not operating in a vacuum.

Besides, someone with the prize in int'l economics probably knows more than your average bear about domestic economics too.

BTW, pardon my ignorance, but what is PUMA?

[AtomicKitten]

28. He supports outsourcing. 'Nuff said. n/t

[Lorien]

10. More foxes guarding the henhouse. nt

[jakeXT]

16. Isn't this like 3 days old? The guys from LTCM got a Nobel prize too----------

[thesquanderer]

18. it's from Saturday

but I checked the DU news listings and no one had posted it here, and I thought it was worthy of notice

[Baby Snooks]

19. Unbelievable....

"William H. Donaldson, who served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during the Bush administration..."

Unbelievable. Talk about the fox protecting the hen house. This is the same SEC that turned its head to Bernie Madoff. And others. And there were others. They were just able to cover their asses by cooking their books. No doubt with a little help from Congress and its "bailout" of these crooks. And they are crooks. Every last one of them. The "have-mores" that Bush represented were really just the "stole-mores."

I have given up on Barack Obama. Hopefully some sanity will prevail in the Congress. Maybe after the banks post enormous profits and Wall Street recovers and the government's own unemployment figures reach 15%.

[stillcool]

23. The guy was also the Chairman and CEO

of the New York Stock Exchange Between 1990 and 1995. Horrible.

[dpbrown]

25. Hey Obama - WHERE'S KRUGMAN???????

It's looking more like "change" is "more of the same" catering to the new oligarchs.

[Occam Bandage]

26. Krugman specifically said that he didn't want a government post. nt

[babylonsister]

27. WTF is it with people and Krugman? There are at least a brazillion

economists out there. Krugman isn't interested in anything except critiquing what's happening at the moment, and that's fine. We need people to do that, too.

[AtomicKitten]

29. kool-aid comes in all kinds of flavors

It's ironic that those belittling others who support Obama by calling them kool-aid drinkers have found their own messiah and brand of kool aid.

Tough to rationalize Krugman as the progressive messiah though when he supports cheap labor and outsourcing. Makes his rants against centrism ring hollow.

[firedupdem]

31. self delete n/t

[BeyondGeography]

32. They need a Krugman Doll

maybe put a beard and some clothes on this guy and be done with it.

[MarjorieG]

33. Krugman and Reich provide vocal, independent support

[PurityOfEssence]

35. Donaldson?! Why not just appoint Yogi Bear as Undersecretary of Pic-in-ic Baskets?

Why stop there? Why not bring out Harvey Pitt? Too bad Keaton's dead. Hey, I hear Milken's looking for some redemption; why not HIM?

On the other hand, Volcker's a good move. He's problematic, too, but he's not a total ideologue, he's smart, and he's not hidebound or bought-off.

News flash: the SEC under the Republicans was about as honorable as the Department of the Interior was, and in precisely the same way.

[Baikonour]

37. Krugman wouldn't take the job, for any amount of money.

Smart man. I wouldn't want that much responsibility/pressure right now either.