Obama to Tap Berkeley Prof to Chair Council of Economic Advisers

Interesting. Seems there will, in fact, be no change with the Pres-Elect. Why? Look at his appointments so far. All the usual suspects from all the usual places. Personally, I would bar anyone from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Georgetown, Univ of Chicago, MIT, Wharton and Berkeley from serving in any govt post for at least two generations. Virtually everyone connected with the economic woes of America trained at one of these institutions. Certainly, no one who has taught at these institutions should be considered. These institutions are the common tread in all this. Why do we keep going back to the same places for personnel. Isn’t this the definition of insanity?

For Jake Tapper: You do further damage to journalism by not reporting the glaring truth about the Romer’s heinous attacks on American soldiers and veterans.

this is such a sweet change from when bush picked his cabinet, and the people he picked for top positions.
when bush started picking cabinet members and top positions. he picked up the phone and called old friends and buddies, people he had known of over the years. and said “hey, long time no see, you know i am the president now,
what are you doning?, still judging horses? well, how would you like a high paying position in my administration? Naw, it don’t matter if you have done anything like it before, you are a good man,
and ‘Brownie, i think you will do a good job”
now get me paulie,rummie.
obama is actually picking people who are working and doing well, making a difference to the good, for the positions he is asking them to do.
refreshing.

How does he find these people. I am genuinely curious. To think that he was just a state senator just a four years ago. Tells you how many intelligent people languish away in somewhat dull positions. If nothing else, you have to appreciate his scope. Maybe I’m making too much out of nothing tho.
Chase Straus, is Dartmouth ok? Becareful how you answer that question?

Please stop your complaining, this country is going down the tubes, wherever the help comes from, to stop the bleeding should be appreciated. Mr. Obama may not do every single thing right, but someone has do do something. Continue to think of the mess we are all going through right now as a country, what does it matter if it is old or new faces doing the job as long as the job gets done.

Seeing Greenspan’s name gives me pause, after all his pursuit of low inflation kept money cheap and contributed to the housing bubble and sussequent crash, which we currently enjoying.

Are these the hate filled anti military agenda driven people who degraded the men in uniform. I also recall that they may be the same who advocate taking away your 401K and sending the money to the social security (Lock Box). Pure theift.

what i know for sure is bush and crew
and anything the reps have to give us,
should be rejected.
give the new people a chance, at least we are not having to rely on bush and co. to get us out of this mess.

Hasn’t the current administration already taken those initial steps into socialism by taking over AIG?
I don’t see where one gets the idea of Obama being a socialist, even McCain dismissed that concept during the campaign, and his people started the whole hoopla. He doesn’t even want universal health care like Hillary did, and that’s a big step into socialism.

The Romers are not wild-eyed leftists. In fact, Christie made her reputation early on with research suggesting that Keynesian stabilization policies as actually applied may not have stabilized the economy compared to the “bad old days” of the 19th century gold standard.
That said, I think she does believe that Keynesian policy correctly applied will smooth out business cycles–a point of which I am much less sure. Still, you could do way, way worse–Romer is a data-driven type who will help keep policy from swinging out into crazy land.

Maybe I should contact the Government for a 2000.00 dollar bailout..see how fast they laugh my poor ass off the property! LOL

Socialism I am worried about is not government taking over companies. That will have an end date. But new government programs like heathcare are socialistic and if done recklessly could snowball into huge expense. Our budget is 25% social security, 20% Medicare/Medicaid, 10% unemployment, that is 55% and increasing fast. In fact less that 30% of US budget is discretionary, that means a huge part of our mandatory budget has to be paid by taxes.
Though wars and company take overs are certainly bad, they can be reversed. Once committed, social programs are hard to reverse and too generous social programs will either snowball national debt or result in huge taxes. That will only drive away capital from the market. We will be like Europe, without much capital for innovation.
We should not punish the recent economic mistakes and failures with a European solution. That precisely is the danger of current situation.

Just because they are in Berkeley doesn’t mean they are leftists. I am a conservative and I got my degree in Economics from UCLA. I am hoping that these people will bring a little common sense to an incoming administration that has NO concept of how economics really work. Yes, Bush made socialist mistakes toward the end of his term. But the new President-elect has consistently said that he is going to institute several policies that are very socialist in nature. I am hoping that by tapping some people who understand economics, he may avoid making the mistakes he most naturally would if he merely followed his heart. In all actuality, we would all be better off in the long run if government would pull out completely from all business.

This Berkeley professor is respectable. At least Obama is not tapping the extremist, idealogue that the Bush administration tapped to get the Dept. of Justice thinking that suspending one of our most fundamental Constitutional rights, i.e Habeas Corpus was a good idea. That Professor is John Yoo of Berkeley’s Boalt Law School. He, Jay Bybee (9th Circuit Court now)and Alberto Gonzales made it so that torture became a policy of the United States. If Obama recognizes these guys in any way other than prosecuting them, then you will know that nothing has changed

Christina Romer’s appointment means that we will have at the Council of Economic Advisers an economist with a background in highly relevant economic history and with moderate Keynesian sympathies – just what we need. It is to be hoped that she underatands that one of the key lessons of Keynes is the importance of constructive US leadership in international economic cooperation – including in the international coordination of key economic policies, in building up effective international economic institutions, and in safeguarding free trade. She will be familiar with literature like Donald Moggridge’s biography of Keynes and Donald Markwell’s “John Maynard Keynes and International Relations”, which I think are very helpful in thinking and working our way – nationally and globally – through the present muddle.

Can she type?

I found an E-mail Addrress to Dr. Romer at UC Berkley and since it was only one found so far I sent a message along these lines.
Economic Package- a cheap guaranteed fix
Pull back all the money the Busch regieme has gifted out. Hey What if! everyone below a certain tax bracket was given 1 Million dollars to: Pay off mortgage, buy a car, get Heath insurance or start a retirement savings plan would that not be the end all economic stimulus?

Marx is turning out to have been right. Capitalism–a mode of commodity production whose purpose is to generate profit through the extraction of surplus value to accumulate capital–does not work. Capitalism maintains all human beings in a state of material insecurity. It’s “free market” variant is susceptible to with periodic crises that reult in much human misery and creeping government intervention (mistakenly called socialism). Government’s tinkering with stock, financial, housing, and credit markets will not save this system. Corporations are responsible their shareholders, not the government or society. Obama’s economists will simply recommend more government oversight and regulation of corporate activities, and infrastructural investments. People will not get their homes back. Unemployment will continue to rise. Financial markets will remain volatile, reaching an equilibrium only when buyers and sellers discsard their mutual anxieties. This is a thoroughly unpredictable state of minds. Poor Obama. This is no time to assume the presidency.

Get over it,Obama provided his birth certificate to factcheck.org. Its legit,he was born in the US. Obama will be president. The voters have spoken,resoundingly.
As for suggesting that there is a problem with Romer teaching at Berkley,its one of the top rated universities IN THE WORLD. Yes,the town and the students and the professors tend to be liberals. They also tend to value free speech. That means that many radical viewpoints are tolerated because that’s how the market place of ideas works. Make no mistake about it though,if you are a professor at UC Berkley,your at the top of your field. Just count up the Nobel prizes of their faculty and you will get a good idea.
Is Obama going to appoint economic advisers with a more liberal viewpoint than others might? Of course. Those are the people that agree more with his and his parties economic philosophy. Those are the people that will run things the way Obama wants it run. Sorry,we have a Democratic president. Republicans lost (and lost bad) and they don’t get a lot of say in things anymore. Thats often what happens when you take responsibility (which is what running for office is,taking responsibility for leading the country) and screw things up really bad. They don’t hire you again,and they try not to make the same mistake twice. Thats what the American people did.
It does certainly bother me that there are people who would crush free speech and civil rights in general,because they “love America” You dont love America. You love money,and your SUV and your excessive lifestyle that may well have you in excessive debt.
Its as if I were to say,”of course I love my girlfriend,she gave me a really nice Logitech remote control for Christmas. Yea I love her,shes really hot and great in bed too. Guess what,that’s not love. If you love your girlfriend you love who she is,not what she gives you and what she does for you. If you love America,you love what she stands for. You love the freedom we have here. That includes the freedom to disagree with the direction the country is taking. That even includes the freedom to not like her if you so choose. You dont have to agree. In fact,go ahead and argue. Tell those people why America is great,but if you love America,dont try to shut them up,but rather try to prove them wrong.
I remember someone said to me a few years ago when I suggested that the Iraq war was a mess and we had to change course somehow or it would get even worse,”you have to support your president” (fortunately I was wrong and Bush’s advisers were right and the surge worked. I didn’t think it would and I have to give Bush credit for it. it really did help.I can still complain that it was years to late and small consolation to the families that lost their sons and daughters looking for non existent WMDs without proper body armor) I responded to them,no,this is America,in Cuba,you have to support your president,in Iraq,under Sadam,you HAD to support your president or risk having your genitals shocked with a car battery. Her in America,you choose to support your president. Or,if hes screwing up,you can choose not to support him.
For those of you who were saying those things under Bush,you should be thankful you were wrong. You now get to disagree with the president. Furthermore,us bleeding heart,”American hating” liberals,while cheering for OUR president,the one WE elected,who we beleive will do great things,will defend your right to trash Obamas policies,and even call him a commie if you so choose.

Republicans…Bless your hearts!
I’ve lived in the South (N. Texas) for long enough to know that these are the most out-of-touch, lazy, uneducated, self-righteous, and prideful people in our country.
Southern Republicans mistakenly made a “right” turn 8 yrs ago and would rather suffer America into making 3 more right turns (more yrs of national disgrace) to get us back onto course than to stop where they are, admit they made a bad turn early on, swallow their pride, reverse their course and steer us back to prosperity.
Just like their local and faithful Dallas Cowboys fans, they’d rather live life through their rear-view mirrors/ laurels than to contend with the crisis’ of today.
Ironically, it may be years before they understand that “Dub-ya” set the table for Obama.

Re: Odinga’s comment:
“Ron, Obama is a Kenyan.”
Barack Obama is an American, born in Hawaii. Are you confusing Hawaii with Africa?
Or are you referring to Barack Obama’s father? Yes, he was from Kenya, and returned there — leaving Barack in Hawaii, which is where Barack was born.

though as a politician that Obama is, i advice him to be analitical in any his of potential programes. At the moment what is prevalant is global economic crisis and the world is seeking for a genus to bail us out. Like Richard Nixon, let him pick the economic brain box in his domain and make do with them to achieve a credible result thereafter. May God see him through.

Kevin Price at the Price of Business Show talked about the economic realities Obama is facing and how that is going into his decesion making on his choices. It is easy to be a critic, it is another thing to govern.