Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Still having trouble believing in the change

Dean Baker:

While the Bush administration must take responsibility for the current crisis (they have been in power the last eight years), the stage was set during the Clinton years. The Clinton team set the economy on the path of one-sided financial deregulation and bubble driven growth that brought us where we are today. (The deregulation was one-sided, because they did not take away the "too big to fail" security blanket of the Wall Street big boys.)

For this reason, it was very discouraging to see top Clinton administration officials standing centre stage at Obama's meeting on the economy. This is not change, and certainly not policies that we can believe in.


The Treasury appointment is... um.... kind of important. Now, we aren't sure exactly what Obama is going to end up doing, but the more I watch, the less comfortable I am. If Obama ends up implementing some kind of Clinton II economic agenda, the Grand Socialist Revolution of November 2008 will have delivered nothing of substance other than a slightly less politicized Federal workforce.

Not saying anything bad has happened yet. But if Larry Summers ends up with a job in this administration, it'll be time to start walking away from Obama.

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