Wednesday, November 14, 2012

John Carney — Three Cheers for Elizabeth Warren, Our First Blogger Senator

Hi all, I'm back from a great trip to Asheville to be with some old friends for a few days catching up. I was pretty occupied with that, so I missed a whole bunch, although I did read all the comments here.

I'll try to put up some of the most noteworthy things that I missed as I go through the feed. This is from John Carney last Thursday. John's expertise is in banking law, so this observation is especially significant. It also accords with what MMT economists have been saying. John is hardly a raging liberal or progressive, either, so his observation cannot be easily brushed off as merely partisan spin.

The last thing I put up here was John's post on apparent machinations to keep Elizabeth Warren off the Senate banking committee. Regardless of whether Warren makes it onto the committee, she is going to be a force in US politics and political economy for the foreseeable future. Coming from the liberal state of Massachusetts, her seat is safe and she is likely to be around for some time if she chooses to. This was probably the brightest spot in the entire election from the financial and economic point of view.

Given the degree of opposition to her nomination to head the Consumer Protection Agency and the funding of Scott Brown during her campaign to unseat him, I'm sure there's serious weeping and gnashing of teeth going on right now because her momentum could not be stopped. I'm also sure that plans being laid to blunt her effect as much as possible.

It occurs to me that if Elizabeth Warren were to understand the MMT approach to the issues over which she is most concerned, she would become the spearhead of the drive for a correct understanding of monetary economics in politics. Maybe the route to her ear lies through Bernie Sanders, who at least assembled an economic advisory committee that was composed of knowledgeable people, even though he doesn't seem to have drawn on that resource yet.

CNBC NetNet
Three Cheers for Elizabeth Warren, Our First Blogger Senator
John Carney | Senior Editor

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I hope she succeeds. I like her an awful lot.

Райчо Марков said...

Agree, the winning of Elizabeth Warren was the only positive thing in US elections. We have to do anything possible to bring her on the right paradigm board.

Tom Hickey said...

Right. This is the time that she will be picking her staff. Hopefully, some MMT economists will be able to get to her on what to look for wrt understanding political economy.

John Zelnicker said...

Tom -- Welcome back. Without your posts I had gotten completely caught up on my blog reading. :)

dave said...

r vmarkov, this is the only positive thing about the elections? are you serious? have you been sleeping for the last 4 years? the american electorate has rejected a man whom deducts more for a goddamn horse than i make in a year and a half,they also rejected his side kick rand worshiping hypocrite paul ryan. also rejected were tea party bible thumping men who seem to think they know whats best for women and their health. i am not an obamabot, but i think we have averted a catastrophe. ryan says that obama doesnt have a mandate? really? how much worse do they have to be beaten to have a mandate?

Райчо Марков said...

@ dave,

I am not exited about Obama winning over Romney either. :-(

Anonymous said...

Speaking Romney, some of you have probably already seen this version of the concession speech, but it's still funny.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/08/romneys-real-concession-song-gregory-brothers_n_2093188.html