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A pragmatic activist focus in economic thinking shaped at the MIT economics department in Cambridge, Masachusetts. The ECB's Mario Draghi, Bank of England's Mervyn King, and Bernanke shaped their thinking at MIT. Draghi and Bernanke had the same PhD. advisor- Stanley Fischer. Factors calling for a pragmatic approach include the lack of political agreement on th deficit, the housing and foreclosure crisis effects, higher inequality and unemployment effects on the middle class, the effects of the globalized economy on working class manufacturing jobs, people dropping out of the labor foce, and lower inflation, which called for a larger focus on unemployment. Bernanke emphasized the "enormous waste in human potential and productive resources of the economy" throughout 2009-2012. Draghi emphasized the abnormal nature of excessive borrowing interest rates for Italy and Spain during the ECB's bond buying efforts in 2011-2012. Both efforts had a stabilizing effect on the economies of the U.S. and Europe during a period of political discord about future policy.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 12/13/2012
MIT Forged Activist Views of Central Bank Role and Cinched Central Bankers' TiesWall Street Journal 12/12/2012
Linked Articles
New York Times 09/24/2012
Martin Feldstein: Romney's Tax Plan Can Raise RevenueWall Street Journal 08/28/2012
A White House aide says election advisor David Plouffe's influence affected "everything" in the Obama White House. Tom Friedman points to the influence of campaign consultants on the White House as overreaching and pervasive, going so far a to describe the campaign being developed in test tube fashion. Karl Rove pointed to president Obama keeping an eye on reelection 18 months before Nov. 6, 2012, as not a positive development. Friedman specifically mentions president Obama's failure to endorse the Simpson-Bowles commssion on deficit reductions as part of the imprint of election advisors because reducing tax expenditures or deductions might prove politically unpopular. Yet this was part of responsible governance to take on unpopular positions- something other presidents, including Democratic president Truman, did not fail to do choosing instead to educate pubic opiion on difficult steps needing to be taken. Truman took the decisions head on such as confronting the soviets in Greece and other parts of Europe and in Korea after the fall of the Iron Curtain, so soon after a major war when the public was weary of conflict.
Linked Articles
Obama Adviser's Strategy Is High Risk, High Reward
Wall Street Journal 10/31/2012
President Obama Should Seize the High GroundNew York Times 05/26/2012
Limiting tax deductions, loopholes to say $35,000 for high income earners goes further than earlier proposals from Obama advisors to limit tax deductions to 28% in distributing the tax burden more equitably. Obama advisor, Christina Romer, and Romney advisor Feldstein, support limiting tax deductions in this way to help reduce the deficit, creating the basis for an agreement between Republicans and Democrats.
Linked Articles
Budget Showdown Offers an Opportunity for Progress
New York Times 11/10/2012
GOP supercommittee members’ tax plan gives party an identity crisis - The Washington PostWashington Post 11/17/2011
A new Romney administration would create 2.3 million jobs in 18 months according to Romney economc advisor Glenn Hubbard.
Linked Articles
Glenn Hubbard: The Romney Plan for Economic Recovery
Wall Street Journal 08/01/2012
Not More of the SameNew York Times 09/06/2011
IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisors, and Moodys Analytics models showing insignificant impact on U.S. from QE1, QE2 efforts. Nigel Gault, IHS Global Insight's model showing only a 0.1% increase in U.S. growth rate from $500 billion of purchases by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Linked Articles
QE2-Inspired Stock Rally May Soon Disappear
Wall Street Journal 08/08/2011
Fed’s $2 Trillion May Buy Little Improvement in JobsBusinessWeek 10/07/2010
Efforts by Jim Press and Chrysler to gain credibility with the government about its viability, by pushing slaes allottments to dealers. Jim Press did this even as inventory remained unsold on dealer lots. In the White House the debate between advisors was about a decision on Chrysler's future.
Linked Articles
Dealers Say They Were Led Astray in Chrysler's Final Days
Washington Post 06/16/2009
Obama’s Economic Circle Keeps Tensions SimmeringNew York Times 06/08/2009
Fannie and Freddie takeover and the reporting of high level ties with lobbyists of both candidates shows the agents of change argument like the free markets argument "as only a thin veneer" as one expert puts it. In this case though the lobbyists who are in other roles as close advisors to the two candidates and the candidates themselves may not realize that politics as usual here had huge implications. Without the hard work of Secretary Paulson and Bernanke the collapse of Fannie and Freddie could have endangered the American economy, not an overstatement, and could also have serious ripple effects all over the world economy.
Linked Articles
For ’08 Rivals, a Skein of Ties to Loan Giants
New York Times 09/10/2008
The Fannie Mae GangWall Street Journal 07/23/2008
The Feldstein, Romney proposals based on the ideas of the Simpson Bowles Commission of limiting tax deductions finds convergence with Obama economic advisor, Christina Romer's support for Simpson Bowles recommendations after the 2012 presidential elections.
Linked Articles
Democrats Like a Romney Idea to Cap Tax Deductions
New York Times 11/12/2012
Budget Showdown Offers an Opportunity for ProgressNew York Times 11/10/2012
Similiarities in the approach of relying on the private sector for investment and job creation, with the Presidents job being to set the tone and put the right policies in place for the long term.
Linked Articles
Gramm and Hubbard: What a Romney Recovery Might Look Like
Wall Street Journal 06/06/2012
The Reagan MemoWall Street Journal 05/26/2012
Linked Articles
Obama Adviser's Strategy Is High Risk, High Reward
Wall Street Journal 10/31/2012
Plouffe, Obama Aide, Lends Firm Hand to CampaignNew York Times 02/20/2012
Linked Articles
Washington Post 12/25/2015
Tallying the Toll of U.S.-China TradeWall Street Journal 09/27/2011
Different views on the role of the Fed, and the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness of monetary policy to create jobs. Romer and Krugman cite depression era events in 1933 and 1937 when the economy alternated between recovery and a pullback, Meltzer and Hoenig cite the bubbles that developed from loose monetary policy and say the Fed can't create jobs.
Linked Articles
From World War II, Economic Lessons for Today
New York Times 08/13/2011
Kansas City Fed President Defies Conventional WisdomNew York Times 08/13/2011
Elizabeth Warren has known economic advisor Summers for along time at Harvard, and Obama is a friend of Sunstein who wrote abook with Thaler, "Nudge," on the subject of consumer behaviour.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Critic Inspired New Consumer-Protection Agency
Wall Street Journal 06/20/2009
About Time: Regulation Based On Human NatureWall Street Journal 06/20/2009
NYT laments the lack of anything to give hope to homeowners in the $700 billion bailout plan. So do Feldstein and Hubbard both Republican Presidential advisors of reagan and Bush.
Linked Articles
New York Times 10/02/2008
Housing Pain Gauge: Nearly 1 in 6 Owners 'Under Water'Wall Street Journal 10/08/2008
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