Krugman: The White House is "owned by the wheeler-dealers."

[leftchick]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/20/krugman-on-administration_n_177329.html


Paul Krugman is back from Europe, and he comes out swinging in a blog post Friday. Of the bill that passed the House yesterday that would tax bonuses given to executives of bailed-out companies, Krugman said, "It's not the way you should make policy -- it's clumsy, and it will punish some innocent parties while letting the most guilty off scot-free."

But, Krugman adds, "But -- there wasn't much alternative at this point. And for that I blame the Obama people." He goes on to call the Obama administration's handling of the American International Group scandal "bad analysis, bad policy, and terrible politics" that makes it seem as if the White House is "owned by the wheeler-dealers."

The New York Times reported Friday that many in government knew about the bonuses weeks ago. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner admitted Thursday that he pushed for the loophole in the stimulus bill that allowed bailed-out executives to receive bonuses.

Republicans in the Senate, meanwhile, have vowed to slow the anti-bonus bill.

"If legislation is going to be proposed, who all should it apply to? Can it be written in a broad enough fashion to not violate the Constitution?" asked Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. "Until we have hearings and understand all of this, we're not going to know what kind of fix to implement."

[aquart]

1. Go for it, Kyl. Force a cap on all executive bonuses.

They've been ridiculous for years.

[eleny]

2. The "wheeler-dealers" just left the White House and now eveyrone expects... what...

Do they expect Obama to pull a magic wand out of his ass?

When Krugman takes on the Bush administration for all its unconstitutional acts, I'll listen.

[JDPriestly]

21. Obama's problem is that he has hired a new crew of wheeler-dealers

They come from the same wheeler-dealer factories. They just have new names.

[zeemike]

42. i wonder whether there could be some logic behind that.

It has been said that the financial system is so complex that only a few actuarially know what is going on.
Perhaps he thought who better to run his cabinet position that one who understood what was going on. And may want to redeem himself by making it work again.
Just thinking out loud.

[Baikonour]

26. Krugman is an economist, not a constitutional lawyer.

And I for one am in full agreement with Krugman on this.

[bvar22]

29. Wow.

I've never seen anyone so proud of shoving their head in the sand.

[northernlights]

33. not staff his economic advisers and policy makers

with the worst of the wheeler-dealers. That's what we expected and voted for. Change. Not the same hucksters that made this mess.

[sandyd921]

44. Also would have helped if he hadn't gotten his funding for his campaign

from the wheeler-dealers (e.g., Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citigroup).

[QC]

34. Krugman was stripping the bark off Bush back when hardly anyone else would do it.

Have you been vacationing in Borneo this past decade or something?

[Mithreal]

39. If one were to apply your logic to the President who was a

constitutional law professor and is in a position to actually DO something about ALL of the previous administration's unconstitutional acts, then one might believe that the President is to be ignored as well. It's a silly argument to apply to Krugman or Obama, just saying.

Krugman is an economist and not a constitutional lawyer as our fellow DU'er says.

[KittyWampus]

45. This doesn't require a "magic wand". It requires bringing in people who didn't create this mess

and who aren't devoted to keeping the status quo.

[LSparkle]

3. This really disturbs me ... I respect Krugman but he's not being helpful

I'm sure he was tough on the Bush Cabal but ... he
seems to really have it in for Obama. ??

[tbyg52]

5. I don't think he has it in for Obama,

I think he is concerned that virtually all of his economic team has such close ties to the people they are trying to control/bail out/rescue.

Plus the fact that they didn't seem to recognize what a firestorm those bonuses had the potential of provoking. The bonuses are the least of my worries, but they look bad and give the impression of an elitist mindset, whether justified or not.

[ihavenobias]

13. Amen.

It's Obama's economic team that has so many brilliant progressives (ranging from but not limited to Krugman, Hartmann and Joseph Stiglitz) deeply concerned and disappointed.

[Gabi Hayes]

23. power begets power begets corruption begets more power begets more corruption.

always has been, always will be

those who try to stop the cycle get crushed under the wheels

and it's only getting more difficult to change

I'm just 'glad' I don't have kids. I worry about my nieces and nephew, and the kids in my school, who are being taught (as has been the plan ever since the days of Horace Mann, etal) to be good little automatons, never questioning, having most of their spontaneity/creativity squeezed out, in the name of keeping the classroom peace (hold lord, there's no easy answer to that conundrum, especially in the kind of school in which I work)

but hey, what difference does it make, cosmologically speaking

whether you know it or not, the universe is laughing behind your back

[leftchick]

28. Hi ya Gabi!

I have not seen you in a long time. :hi:

You are absolutely right on. And sadly I have days where I question the decision to have my children. We appear to be pretty well fucked.

[JDPriestly]

24. Let's keep in mind that Cheney went directly from Halliburton to the vice presidency

The corruption is just disgusting. And everything about the AIG deal smacks of corruption.

[geek tragedy]

12. The OP mischaracterized Krugman.

What Krugman actually said:

"This administration, elected on the promise of change, has already managed, in an astonishingly short time, to create the impression that it’s owned by the wheeler-dealers. "

That was too nuanced for the OP.

[Telly Savalas]

17. Is the purposeful distortion of what Krugman said

an attempt at smearing Obama, Krugman, or both?

This mendacious shit is cheap, sleazy, and desperate and doesn't belong at DU.

[FVZA_Colonel]

25. It seems like Krugman.

I don't believe that Krugman believes the White House really is owned in that way, I think he was trying to describe a potential "political reality."

[redqueen]

35. Agreed. It doesn't belong here.

Counterproductive spin like that is much better suited for other outlets.

[KittyWampus]

46. I like your avatar Redqueen

[JDPriestly]

22. Obama needs to listen up. He followed very bad advice when he

chose to place Geithner and Summers on his economic team -- very bad advice. They do not have the distance from the cesspool of AIG, Wall Street and the banks that is necessary in order to reform what has been going on.

[adamuu]

32. disagree. Obama is not immune from criticism. n/t

[robinlynne]

38. NO he has it in for the cabal Obama left in place. Remember Paulson created

the TARP mess, under Bush, and his helper was....Geithner. And the more you look at the numbers, the more crooked it looks. Geithner's chief of staff is a Goldman Sachs lobbyist. This in the new government where lobbyists are not allowed to work.

[TacticalPeek]

4. From last June: NY Fed’s Timothy Geithner has high-powered mentoring group

NY Fed’s Timothy Geithner has high-powered mentoring group

By A. James Memmott
June 1, 2008 at 8:50am

If there were ever a career civil servant’s Hall of Fame, Timothy F. Geithner would no doubt be an inductee.

...

Geithner served as the point man in the talks that led to the Federal Reserve’s loan of $29 billion to assist J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in its buyout of the assets of Bear Sterns.

Whether or not the Fed did the right thing is reflected in the title of Weiss’ profile of Geithner, “The Man Who Saved (or Got Suckered by) Wall Street.”

That profile and profiles in other publications depict Geithner as extraordinary well-connected.

His informal group of advisers includes E. Gerald Corrigan, a managing director of Goldman Sachs and a former New York Fed president; Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr.; John Thain, the CEO of Merrill Lynch; Paul A. Volcker, the former Fed chairman; and Peter G. Peterson, the former U.S. secretary of commerce.

James “Jamie” L. Dimon, the CEO and chairman of J.P. Morgan Chase, is a Geithner ally and a member of the board of the New York Fed.

http://news.muckety.com/2008/06/01/ny-feds-timothy-geithner-has-high-powered-group-of-mentors/3112

Follow the money.

[chill_wind]

7. Yep. n/t

[uberblonde]

40. Oh yeah, Peter Peterson.

The guy who's spending a billion dollars to promote Social Security "reform."

[truedelphi]

6. Some Republicans, even a freshman House member, were calling for an end to

Passing bills before anyone reads them.

Shame it has taken so long for anyone out there to understand you have to read the Bill, or have your staff read the Bill, before voting on it. Annd yes itis hypocritcal of the long time Repug leadership to call for this, but I am willing to support the Devil if he would call for this. (on this one issue, not any others)

1999 Bank reform Act - bad bill - no one read it.

The "Patriot" Act - bad bill - no one but Cheney read it
Iraq War Resolution - bad bill - no one read it.

BailOut Bills - bad legislation - no one read any of it

[RufusTFirefly]

8. That does it. Paul Krugman is obviously a Freeper and a turncoat.

Why else would he be saying something bad about President Obama?

:sarcasm:

[nichomachus]

9. I agree. Pay no attention to him

despite the fact that he's been right on all economic things for a long time.

[4lbs]

14. There's an Austrian School that would disagree with that.

n/t

[blindpig]

27. The 'Austrian School' is a hot steaming pile of libertarian bullshit.

n/t

[adamuu]

31. lol. you had me for a second, there. n/t

[chill_wind]

10. With Goldman Sachs pretty much owning everybody

in Washington, is there really any other name for it?

Geithner thread. Yet more insight.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5295098

[leftchick]

11. we are in shit

deep shit. :(

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

15. I heard on NPR today an interview with a reporter named Hirsch(?) - Michael, not Seymour

who writes for Newsweek and was doing an article about the credit default swaps.

He said that a woman named Brooksley Borne attempted to implement some kind of regulation over the swaps in 2000 which she predicted would implode they system and that she was overidden by:

Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers!

Obama is allied and listening to the wrong people. I would be a LOT happier if he paid more attention to Robert Reich and Paul Krugman. I am getting disallusioned and disappointed.

[leftchick]

16. I heard that as well

how the fuck Obama has the nerve to believe we are that stupid is beyond me. It is infuriating and frustrating that we have no leadership out of this mess.

:(

[DireStrike]

18. I seriously wonder how he expects to keep progressive support

if he keeps on maintaining this sort of pro-elite economic policy....

[leftchick]

19. apparently he does not give a shit

it is all of the sudden like we have become the freepers having faith in corporate repukes like little lambs. Myself excluded.

[coalition_unwilling]

20. Off topic, but if you are "getting disallusioned,"

does that mean you are going to stop making so many allusions from now on? Or maybe that we are going to stop alluding to you?

Sorry, couldn't resist :)

[Mithreal]

41. Kick for this post. nt

[L. Coyote]

30. Kyl, R-Ariz. "Until we have hearings and understand all of this...." Good admission that.

The Republicans just said they don't understand what is going on. Glad they figured that out! That's a start.

[leftchick]

36. I have a clue for Kyle....

"FRIEDMAN'S THEORY OF CAPITALISM IS AN ABJECT FAILURE" unless you are rich. super rich. what a fuckwad.

[wildbilln864]

37. k&r! nt

[sandyd921]

43. Maybe the problem starts with Obama funding his campaign

through large contributions from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JP Morgan. I am an Obama supporter and have been thrilled with lots of other stuff he's done since taking office. However this gave me pause during the primaries (when I was a John Edwards supporter) and the general (when I worked to get Obama elected). I hoped against hope that his ties to Wall Street would not come home to roost, but it's obvious that economic policy is being made by the same group of scoundrels whose advocacy of laissez-faire policy and a return to the days of the robber barons has gotten us where we are today (after 30 years of this shit). I still have hope that Obama can reverse direction and move away from this crowd and the Reaganomics that Geithner and others are still so enthralled with, but it's rapidly being depleted by events.

The root of the problems we're seeing here (besides Reaganomics) is how we fund campaigns.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638