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Will Tim Geithner Lead Us Over or Around the Fiscal Cliff? – by Robert Reich
Posted on November 29, 2012
Because of Poof’s post today, I’m watching this kind of news. . . ~J
Portrait, Robert Reich, 08/16/09. (photo: Perian Flaherty)
Source: Reader Supported News, via email
By Robert Reich, Robert Reich’s Blog
27 November 12
‘m
trying to remain optimistic that the President and congressional
Democrats will hold their ground over the next month as we approach the
so-called “fiscal cliff.”
But leading those negotiations for the White House is outgoing
Secretary of Treasury Tim Geithner, whom Monday’s Wall Street Journal described as
a “pragmatic deal maker” because of “his long relationship with former
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, for whom balancing the budget was a
priority over other Democratic touchstones.”
Geithner is indeed a protege of Bob Rubin, for whom he worked when
Rubin was Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration. Rubin then
helped arranged for Geithner to become president of the New York Fed,
and then pushed for him to become Obama’s Treasury Secretary.
Both Rubin and Geithner are hardworking and decent. But both see the
world through the eyes of Wall Street rather than Main Street.
I battled Rubin for years in the Clinton administration because of
his hawkishness on the budget deficit and his narrow Wall Street view of
the world. During his tenure as Treasury Secretary, Geithner has
followed in Rubin’s path – engineering a no-strings Wall Street bailout
that didn’t require the Street to help stranded homeowners, didn’t
demand the Street agree to a resurrection of the Glass-Steagall Act, and
didn’t seek to cap the size of the biggest bank, which in the wake of
the bailout have become much bigger. In an interview with
the Journal, Geithner repeats the President’s stated principle that tax
rates must rise on the wealthy, but doesn’t rule out changes to Social
Security or Medicare. And he notes that in the president’s budget (drawn
up before the election), spending on non-defense discretionary items –
mostly programs for the poor, and investments in education and
infrastructure – are “very low as a share of the economy relative to
Clinton.” If “pragmatic deal maker,” as the Journal describes Geithner,
means someone who believes any deal with Republicans is better than no
deal, and deficit reduction is more important than job creation, we
could be in for a difficult December.
Robert B. Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the
University of California at Berkeley, was Secretary of Labor in the
Clinton administration. Time Magazine named him one of the ten most
effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written
thirteen books, including the best sellers “Aftershock” and “The Work of
Nations.” His latest is an e-book, “Beyond Outrage.” He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause.
Related articles
Thanks to: http://jhaines6.wordpress.com
Posted on November 29, 2012
Because of Poof’s post today, I’m watching this kind of news. . . ~J
Portrait, Robert Reich, 08/16/09. (photo: Perian Flaherty)
Source: Reader Supported News, via email
By Robert Reich, Robert Reich’s Blog
27 November 12
‘mtrying to remain optimistic that the President and congressional
Democrats will hold their ground over the next month as we approach the
so-called “fiscal cliff.”
But leading those negotiations for the White House is outgoing
Secretary of Treasury Tim Geithner, whom Monday’s Wall Street Journal described as
a “pragmatic deal maker” because of “his long relationship with former
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, for whom balancing the budget was a
priority over other Democratic touchstones.”
Geithner is indeed a protege of Bob Rubin, for whom he worked when
Rubin was Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration. Rubin then
helped arranged for Geithner to become president of the New York Fed,
and then pushed for him to become Obama’s Treasury Secretary.
Both Rubin and Geithner are hardworking and decent. But both see the
world through the eyes of Wall Street rather than Main Street.
I battled Rubin for years in the Clinton administration because of
his hawkishness on the budget deficit and his narrow Wall Street view of
the world. During his tenure as Treasury Secretary, Geithner has
followed in Rubin’s path – engineering a no-strings Wall Street bailout
that didn’t require the Street to help stranded homeowners, didn’t
demand the Street agree to a resurrection of the Glass-Steagall Act, and
didn’t seek to cap the size of the biggest bank, which in the wake of
the bailout have become much bigger. In an interview with
the Journal, Geithner repeats the President’s stated principle that tax
rates must rise on the wealthy, but doesn’t rule out changes to Social
Security or Medicare. And he notes that in the president’s budget (drawn
up before the election), spending on non-defense discretionary items –
mostly programs for the poor, and investments in education and
infrastructure – are “very low as a share of the economy relative to
Clinton.” If “pragmatic deal maker,” as the Journal describes Geithner,
means someone who believes any deal with Republicans is better than no
deal, and deficit reduction is more important than job creation, we
could be in for a difficult December.
Robert B. Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the
University of California at Berkeley, was Secretary of Labor in the
Clinton administration. Time Magazine named him one of the ten most
effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written
thirteen books, including the best sellers “Aftershock” and “The Work of
Nations.” His latest is an e-book, “Beyond Outrage.” He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause.
Related articles
Thanks to: http://jhaines6.wordpress.com
