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June 1, 2009
If you didn't already think that American auto corporations were a thing of the past . . .
"There was a time between Nov. 4 and mid-February when I was the only full-time member of the auto task force," Mr. Deese, a special assistant to the president for economic policy, acknowledged recently as he hurried between his desk at the White House and the Treasury building next door. "It was a little scary."But now, according to those who joined him in the middle of his crash course about the automakers' downward spiral, he has emerged as one of the most influential voices in what may become President Obama's biggest experiment yet in federal economic intervention.
I'm very sorry that those who joined him in the crash course don't describe him as competent or right or visionary - "influential" can be a very bad thing. The most complimentary thing the article says about him is reading a compliment into Larry Summers not hating 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.
via Prof. Althouse.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at June 1, 2009 12:10 PM