Althouse: "And ultimately everybody on the economic team knows that at the end of the day we’re going to hold hands and jump together."

June 8, 2009

"And ultimately everybody on the economic team knows that at the end of the day we’re going to hold hands and jump together."

David Axelrod, describing how Obama's economic team works.

42 comments:

rhhardin said...: Economists have lots of hands.; 6/8/09, 8:01 AM
bearbee said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/8/09, 8:06 AM
TWM said...: Much like they do in kindergarten.; 6/8/09, 8:11 AM
bearbee said...: ...we're going to hold hands and jump together.

....off the cliff.....and take you'all with us.

Nationalization........and exit strategy?!!

HAH!

The National Debt Road Trip; 6/8/09, 8:12 AM
Bissage said...: The real question is whether the White House economic team knows how to prevent a mine shaft gap.; 6/8/09, 8:12 AM
ricpic said...: At the end of the day we're going to hold hands and raise taxes. Because we love to stick it to the dumb schmuck peasants who go on voting for us no matter what...the dumb schmucks.; 6/8/09, 8:18 AM
John said...: Ultimately everyone on the economic team knows that at the end of the day we're going to hold hands and push the middle class off the cliff and see what happens.

The federal government has become a two trillion dollar basic economics lab for these clowns.; 6/8/09, 8:19 AM
john said...: This is the picture Axelrod had in mind, I think.; 6/8/09, 8:23 AM
weffiewonj said...: Don't know which one is Summers, and which is Geithner, but "the fall'll probably kill you" is a metaphor for somethng here:

Butch: All right. I'll jump first.
Sundance: Nope.
Butch: Then you jump first.
Sundance: No, I said!
Butch: What's the matter with you?!
Sundance: I can't swim!
Butch: (guffawing at his partner) Why, you crazy - the fall'll probably kill ya!

Sundance shakes his head as he ponders the insanity of actually jumping to escape their pursuers. He grabs a gun belt held out by Butch, jumps with him in tandem, and wails:

Ohhh . . . s - h - i - i - i - i - i - t !; 6/8/09, 8:29 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: It is good news that this team of economic rivals is fighting. So far, they have not made one good decision on the economy. Or they have made some good decsions but the socialist Obama has overruled those decisoions. I suspect the latter is the case.

It won't be long before some of these people resign and leaks will come out that Obama is both innumerate and a socialist.; 6/8/09, 8:36 AM
John said...: "It won't be long before some of these people resign and leaks will come out that Obama is both innumerate and a socialist."

My bet is Volker is the first to leave. Volker is one of the great strong dollar inflation fighters in history. I can't believe he is endorsing what is going on.; 6/8/09, 8:38 AM
Anonymous said...: As is typical with the NY Times, you cannot read this story and come away with anything useful.

The existence of the story is, however, very useful. It says that the Times is preparing the battlespace for Obama to blame economic problems on Larry Summers so he can fire him later on when the heat gets really bad.

For example: Obama's economic team woefully underestimated unemployment. They seem unable to grasp that the economic problems in the country are not improving; rather they are accelerating.

This leads to policy missteps. If you try to believe (despite fact) that unemployment is getting better; then your policy of not extending unemployment benefits results in worsened economic conditions as millions of newly unemployed people stop paying their house notes.

You see, their utter denial leads to policy missteps which have real economic ramifications.

The economy is worsening under Obama's leadership; and they realize this after last Sunday.

So, they're about to need a scapegoat who they can blame once "this is all George Bush's fault" no longer is operative.

The NY Times story means that the scapegoat will be, in fact ... Larry Summers.; 6/8/09, 8:53 AM
AllenS said...: This administration, the MSM, and the turds that float in the punchbowl, will never stop blaming Bush.; 6/8/09, 8:57 AM
Zach said...: You get the impression that this article could have been about 10 times as juicy if people didn't have to go on the record. All of the sourced stuff is people talking about what a lovable scamp Summers is.

I would like to hear more about this exchange:

Mr. Goolsbee and Mr. Summers also clashed in March over whether to bail out Chrysler and ease its merger with Fiat, or to let the automaker fail.

Mr. Summers, along with Mr. Geithner and the political advisers, favored giving Chrysler a second chance. “My judgment, and Tim’s judgment, was that given all the equities involved, and given the potentially traumatic effects on confidence, that it was much better to try to save Chrysler if a reasonable merger agreement could be reached,” he said.

Mr. Goolsbee argued that rescuing the financial system was one thing, since credit is the economy’s lifeblood, but the government should not run an auto company. Saving Chrysler, he added, could further harm General Motors, which stood to gain market share.

The arguments became so heated that Mr. Summers stormed from one meeting, a witness said. While he later included Mr. Goolsbee’s objections in a memorandum for Mr. Obama, he excluded Mr. Goolsbee from the decisive meeting with the president.

Remember, the poor shmuck doing the research for the auto bailouts is a 31 year old on sabbatical from law school. It sounds like economic advice is getting heavily cross-pollinated with political advice.; 6/8/09, 9:02 AM
Fen said...: Florida: The existence of the story is, however, very useful. It says that the Times is preparing the battlespace for Obama to blame economic problems on Larry Summers so he can fire him later on when the heat gets really bad.

Excellent analysis. Pravda is merely shaping the propaganda battlefield.; 6/8/09, 9:06 AM
bearbee said...: Richard Fisher, Dallas Fed President and Chief Executive Officer May 28, 2009

Storms on the Horizon.

Add together the unfunded liabilities from Medicare and Social Security, and it comes to $99.2 trillion over the infinite horizon.

Why quibble over pennies.....let's make it $100,000,000,000,000; 6/8/09, 9:14 AM
Anonymous said...: The whole piece was purposely a distraction by the Obama administration.

They know that the media rushes to a supposed fight like flies to ....

So they throw out these supposed fights to attract and distract the media.

The real story has nothing to do with jostling in the econ circles.

The real story is that not one of Obama's econ advisors has ever seen or studied a situation anywhere near what they inherited and what they've now created, and therefore none of them have a clue what is next or how to manage it.; 6/8/09, 9:45 AM
The Drill SGT said...: at the end of the day we’re going to hold hands and jump together,” Mr. Axelrod added.

Is that how the O'Team describes:

"Let's all drink the Grape Koolaid and pray together?"; 6/8/09, 10:01 AM
jayne_cobb said...: Yeah....

I gotta agree with Bearbee on this.

I immediately thought "off a cliff" as well.; 6/8/09, 10:04 AM
Wince said...: Before I commented that we should expect (hope for?) at least one high profile defection from the Obama economic team.

The NYT over the weekend:

Obama’s Economic Circle Keeps Tensions Simmering

WASHINGTON — President Obama was getting his daily economic briefing one recent morning when a fly distracted him. The president swatted and missed, just as the pest buzzed near the shoes of Lawrence H. Summers, the chief White House economic adviser. “Couldn’t you aim a little higher?” deadpanned Christina D. Romer, the chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Yesterday I compared the Obama economic plan to Theo Boem's recipe for Lemonaide.

Close. Evidently, Axelrod views his role as the adminster of the Jonestown Kool Aide.; 6/8/09, 10:05 AM
TheCrankyProfessor said...: Oh - and about the 31 year old running the auto business - the nicest thing the Times could say about him was that Summers doesn't hate him:

""Brian grasps both the economics and the politics about as quickly as I've seen anyone do this," said Lawrence H. Summers, the head of the National Economic Council who is not known for being patient whenever he believes an analysis is sub-par -- or disagrees with his own."; 6/8/09, 10:10 AM
bearbee said...: So who will be the first to exit and land an 'insider expose' book deal?; 6/8/09, 10:19 AM
Sloanasaurus said...: The fact is we don't really know what is being said.

I would hope that Summers and the rest are telling Obama that unless the deficit outlook is moderated, the rise in long term interest rates will continue at a sustained and rapid clip. These high interest rates will turn into political defeat for Democrats.

Obama's first inclination will be to raise taxes. But this will not be enough. At some point, Obama is going to have to face reality that we cannot have government health care and other programs.; 6/8/09, 10:58 AM
traditionalguy said...: Running our government is easy if you don't have to plan to protect Americans. This economic airplane is on a take of roll piloted by Obama's Team. That team will hold hands until they see whether the airplane has power to reach take off speed, or crash.Their goal is not recovery of the Wall Street and the Free Market traded in American Dollars which created American World Hegemony. The goal is much lower and includes creation of a World Monetary Unit that is no longer controlled in America's Banks. Hang on all passengers!; 6/8/09, 11:08 AM
Joe said...: Are they jumping together because they have built a consensus, or have members of the team learned that it just isn't worth the emotional cost to fight the battles any more?

I suspect the latter--I've worked with far too many companies where this kumbaya shit has taken over and the people who can rock the boat and effect real change just throw up their hands and stay on for the ride until they find a way to exit without destroying their careers.; 6/8/09, 11:20 AM
Palladian said...: "I've worked with far too many companies where this kumbaya shit has taken over and the people who can rock the boat and effect real change just throw up their hands and stay on for the ride until they find a way to exit without destroying their careers."

Except these people "staying on for the ride" is destroying everyone's careers.; 6/8/09, 11:32 AM
AllenS said...: I would like to take this opportunity, and on the behalf of the other 50+ million social security recipients, to personally thank all of the Bark Obama supporters for the $250 that was electronically deposited in my checking account on May 14th. I plan to buy beer with the money. I tried to figure out how much was spent, but my humble, little pocket calculator only goes up to 8 figures. Would it be possible for oh, maybe, $500 next year? You know, for the economy?; 6/8/09, 11:45 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: I hate it when I fumble files. I could not find this on my site but I did find it on my back-up blog. Thank goodness for back-ups. It's one of my favorite anims. Weland the lemming. Incidentally, it's totally untrue that lemmings do this. It's another animal myth, like the ostrich head-in-sand thing. Repeating these myths reveals much about the speakers ignorance regarding animal behavior. But they're still funny.; 6/8/09, 11:49 AM
bearbee said...: Exploding debt threatens America

Standard and Poor’s decision to downgrade its outlook for British sovereign debt from “stable” to “negative” should be a wake-up call for the US Congress and administration. Let us hope they wake up.; 6/8/09, 11:53 AM
Palladian said...: "Let us hope they wake up.'

LOL. FAT FUCKING CHANCE, when they've been asleep for the last decade or so.; 6/8/09, 12:16 PM
William said...: Look who's not on the team: Robert Rubin, Franklin Raines, Stanley O'Neal. Sadly these genii bankrupted their companies before they could join the halls of government as wise men. Robert Rubin was the genius Treasury Secy on the Clinton team before Sumner. We all read much of his brilliance during that tenure. He went on after govt service to Citi where he had the vision to see the money that could be made in credit default swaps.....Well, he certainly succeeded in making a lot of money. Citi not so much. Although Ken Lay and Enron are firmly fixed in the public mind with the Republican Party, the Democratic Party and the failure of Citi and Merrill have not been so linked. If three years from now inflation and unemployment are at or above double digit figures we will continue to read articles in the Times about the brilliance of Obama and his team....In business, failure is defined by bankruptcy. In government, failure is defined by a bad press and/or lost election. Rubin, O'Neal, and Raines will disgorge their winnings before the Times reports that the Obama team is bunch of arrogant jerks.; 6/8/09, 12:25 PM
El Presidente said...: I, for one, can't wait for the end of the day.; 6/8/09, 12:31 PM
Palladian said...: lol; 6/8/09, 12:40 PM
Henry said...: At the end of the day, Obama's economic geniuses wait to fall in line with his political adviser.

That's my reading.; 6/8/09, 12:45 PM
rhhardin said...: In fairness, unfunded Social Security doesn't count towards the hole because you can dump that ``obligation'' very easily just by raising the retirement age.

When the time comes, that's what should be done, and will be done.

It ain't a country club as lifetimes extend. You need actual people doing work to support those retired and not dead yet.; 6/8/09, 1:56 PM
bearbee said...: Peking students found Geithner funny.
Geithner tells China its dollar assets are safe

"Chinese assets are very safe," Geithner said in response to a question after a speech at Peking University, where he studied Chinese as a student in the 1980s.

His answer drew loud laughter from his student audience, reflecting scepticism in China about the wisdom of a developing country accumulating a vast stockpile of foreign reserves instead of spending the money to raise living standards at home.; 6/8/09, 1:58 PM
AllenS said...: If they keep giving out large sums of money to people on soc. sec., you'll have to raise the retirement age to, about, 82.; 6/8/09, 2:07 PM
bearbee said...: Raise payroll tax
Raise retirement age
Means test
Cut benefits
Cut medical care; 6/8/09, 2:55 PM
KCFleming said...: Shooting old people would probably be cheaper.

Or we could truck them to Alaska and stack 'em like cordwood when they freeze. A guy could pay down a lot of his carbon footprint like that.

Win win.

But Team Obama tells us all is well, so all must be, in fact, well.; 6/8/09, 4:24 PM
jeff said...: "Raise payroll tax
Raise retirement age
Means test
Cut benefits
Cut medical care"

In other words, raise taxes. Pull people paying taxes off any social services.

Not entirely sure how your going to get the people paying taxes to buy into this, but the other 1/2 (even those paying payroll taxes) will probably go with it. Who says you cant vote yourself rich?; 6/8/09, 4:40 PM
bearbee said...: Shooting old people would probably be cheaper.

Tut, tut....nothing so gruesome, if you please! It could be handle in a more .... compassionate manner.

If people live too long, say, starting with age 80, government could require repayment by taxing any wealth they have, confiscating their estates post-death (or maybe pre-), requiring Uncle Sam be made beneficiary to any life insurance.; 6/8/09, 4:45 PM
KCFleming said...: Yeah, like the reverse mortgage, plundering their savings until it's gone.

Then shoot them.; 6/8/09, 4:50 PM