"Fiscal summit" = a seminar on fire prevention given by arsonists

[eridani]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-kuttner/fiscal-folly_b_524760.html

The Peter G. Peterson Foundation is sponsoring a "fiscal summit" on April 28 to reinforce what has become the standard narrative about the perils of the deficit and the debt. In this storyline, the most dire peril facing the economy is the increasing public debt. Of course, the more immediate problem is the high unemployment rate, the risk of a largely jobless recovery, and a lost generation of prosperity.

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For starters, note the prominent role of Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan. If any two Americans are responsible for the economic, financial and fiscal mess we're in, they are Rubin and Greenspan. Much of the rising deficit, after all, is the result of the financial collapse. The main reason for the big deficits is that tax revenues are down in a severe recession. The financial collapse also required the government to step in with increased public spending.

If the orgy of financial deregulation that led to the crash had two prime sponsors, the Democratic one was Rubin and the Republican one was Greenspan. Inviting these characters to a fiscal summit to devise a way out of the crisis is like inviting arsonists to design a seminar on fire prevention.

Peterson himself, who underwrites the work of the foundation with a billion dollar gift, made his money as one of America's private-equity moguls. Private equity companies have been among main offenders in the world of shadow banking that helped cause the collapse, and are now lobbing against tough financial reform and regulation.

Note also the courtesy title, "President Clinton." The last time I checked, Clinton ceased being president in January 2001 and Barack Obama is America's only current president. Clinton signed several of the deregulation laws promoted by Rubin and Greenspan that led to the collapse, which in turn produced much of today's fiscal hole. I wonder if Clinton is doing this pro malo, I mean pro bono, or if Peterson is paying him one of his Clinton's usual six-figure speaking fees.

[eridani]

1. Kick for the morning crowd n/t