Galbraith endorses Yellin, sort of. The article is mostly about what happened to Summers.
Los Angeles Times
Obama's Fed drama
James K. Galbraith | Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr. Chair of Government/Business Relations at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, the University of Texas at Austin
I agree that a lot of the debate was symbolic. But symbols matter. Summers is a symbol of the Clinton administration; of the Washington Consensus; of the neoliberal era of free markets and loose rules; of the global and domestic expansion of the US financial system and the perverse financialization of our economy; of the "world-saving" troika of Greenspan, Rubin and Summers; of the crony capitalist world of the revolving door with its high-paid former and future government stars; of the movement toward the reduction of labor power and the growth of inequality. If Obama had selected him, that would have signaled to the US and the world that we were doubling down on that era and its philosophy, instead of moving beyond it. That would be a terrible signal to send.
ReplyDeleteYellen was in the Clinton administration, but isn't nearly as closely associated with those trends and movements as is Summers. And she hasn't cashed in the way Summers has.
Is Summers history's greatest monster? No. But he had his shot. He put his large, assertive stamp on an era of market fundamentalism and deregulation, and the philosophy of that era has been revealed to be a key contributing cause of the problems we now face. Time for him to move aside.
"Fed drama"
ReplyDeletegood way to put it. it is like a soap opera.
I agree with Dan here (his previous posts) and JKG that we should take down the profile of the Fed many notches...
I wish we could get a Fed head that would go to Congress and tell them that there is not much the Fed can do compared to the fiscal policies they themselves have authority over and that we cannot "run out of money" so have at it and the Fed will just keep track of it all for them...
But this would reduce the current supposed influence of the Fed and monetary policy in general and it would take an exceptional/rare human being to do this type of thing when placed at the top of the organization...
rsp,
That would be excellent, Matt. It would be great to see all of those Monetarists' heads exploding. 9 out of 10 of them can't even give a cogent and realistic explanation of how the nation's centralized banking system actually works.
ReplyDeleteI can tell from your writings you must be really delving into the operations Dan... you will soon know more about them than anyone there if you dont already I'm sure...
ReplyDeleteHate to see you become a 'super bean counter' though ;) so be careful ;)
Seems to me your best talents are in perceiving and writing about 'the big picture' too...
rsp,
Nine out of ten? Who is the tenth that can? I'm perplexed on that one.
ReplyDelete