Consider the findings of the Council of Economic Advisers (headed by Christina Romer, Austan Goolsbee and Cecilia Rouse) which states in its First Quarterly Report that as of August 2009 end, only $151.4 billion of the original $787 billion has been outlaid or has gone to the American taxpayers and businesses in the form of tax reductions. Just to add to these, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics now states that ever since Obama passed the $787 billion stimulus bill in February 2009, instead of job creation, over 2.6 million Americans have lost jobs.
Capitol Hill has had a history of political appointments where fundraisers have been made members of namesake advisory boards without having much of a role. But with Obama, whose campaign mantra was based on the philosophy of change, one expected better; ergo, such political appointments came as an unpleasant surprise. Since the previous issues, B&E has been covering how there is a clear conflict of interest that some members of TEAB have had in gaining from TEAB’s bailout plans (for examples, Buffet through his investments in Goldman Sachs before it got government funds, Robert Rupin through Citigroup of which he is the Chairman).
Perhaps to his discredit, it is not only Barack’s political appointments on economic advisory boards which is being criticised, but also the manner in which the current allotment of funds is being made – the states that supported him have received generous allotments of stimulus money e.g. Colorado and Virginia (two traditionally red states that lit up blue for Obama in 2008) have jointly received $8.9 billion – for information, Barack Obama, in his victory speech, had said, “We have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states. We are, and always will be, the United States of America.”
Perhaps the President has realised his folly, due to which a parallel running body, Presidential Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB) headed by Paul Volcker has been strangely created – or perhaps not so strangely. But it is merely a step, as four of the members of TEAB are members of PERAB too, excluding Paul Volcker. This has prevented the wisdom of the likes of Volcker from trickling down to action.
Capitol Hill has had a history of political appointments where fundraisers have been made members of namesake advisory boards without having much of a role. But with Obama, whose campaign mantra was based on the philosophy of change, one expected better; ergo, such political appointments came as an unpleasant surprise. Since the previous issues, B&E has been covering how there is a clear conflict of interest that some members of TEAB have had in gaining from TEAB’s bailout plans (for examples, Buffet through his investments in Goldman Sachs before it got government funds, Robert Rupin through Citigroup of which he is the Chairman).
Perhaps to his discredit, it is not only Barack’s political appointments on economic advisory boards which is being criticised, but also the manner in which the current allotment of funds is being made – the states that supported him have received generous allotments of stimulus money e.g. Colorado and Virginia (two traditionally red states that lit up blue for Obama in 2008) have jointly received $8.9 billion – for information, Barack Obama, in his victory speech, had said, “We have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states. We are, and always will be, the United States of America.”
Perhaps the President has realised his folly, due to which a parallel running body, Presidential Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB) headed by Paul Volcker has been strangely created – or perhaps not so strangely. But it is merely a step, as four of the members of TEAB are members of PERAB too, excluding Paul Volcker. This has prevented the wisdom of the likes of Volcker from trickling down to action.
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