Obama Aide to Join Growth Debate
30th August 2011
Read it.
Just what we need — another ‘cook’ pissing in the soup. You’d think they would learn.
Alan Krueger, President Barack Obama’s pick to head the White House Council of Economic Advisers, will likely serve as an administration advocate for more aggressive government intervention to revive job growth.
Oh, yeah, that’s worked so very well up to now; let’s have some more. ‘Thank you sir, may I have another?’
He served as assistant Treasury secretary for economic policy in the first two years of the Obama administration, where he helped design the “cash for clunkers” program to boost auto purchases.
A notable disaster that didn’t stimulate the economy, merely shifted car purchases forward a few months. But I guess that’s the story of government service: Come up with a disaster, get rewarded with a better job. Parkinson was wrong: People who work for the government don’t get promoted to their level of incompetence, they get promoted far beyond their level of incompetence.
Mr. Mankiw said Mr. Krueger’s previous stint in the Obama administration means he is already familiar with most of the players and policies. “I think this is a continuity appointment not a change-direction appointment,” Mr. Mankiw said.
Well, yeah. More of the same job-killing interventionism. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
A White House spokeswoman said Mr. Krueger wouldn’t be available for interviews with the confirmation process under way.
Yeah, God forbid the taxpayers should actually find out what he really thinks.
Mr. Krueger, 50 years old, earned his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard in 1987 and has been on Princeton’s faculty ever since. He worked as chief economist at the Labor Department during the Clinton administration.
So he’s never actually been in a position to, you know, create a job. That’s surely just the sort of expertise we need.
August 30th, 2011 at 09:46
Sounds like he has just as much experience at “job creating” as you do…