Obama is not even President yet but his chief economic advisor Lawrence Summers is playing the role progressives feared he would in Obama's Admin. This was reported by TPM last Thursday after Summers met with Senate Democrats regarding Obama's economic stimulus plan:
Democratic senators are still emerging from their closed-door briefing with Obama economic adviser Larry Summers ... but a senior Democratic senator, Iowa progressive Tom Harkin, just gave me a dire buzzword: trickle-down.
"There's only one thing we've got to do in this stimulus, and that's create jobs," Harkin told me. "I'm a little concerned by the way Mr. Summers and others are going on this ... it still looks a little more to me like trickle-down."
Likening Barack Obama's economic recovery plan to the failed supply-side excesses of the Reagan and Bush years is a bit of a Cassandra moment. But Harkin didn't back down. "What I'm hearing from Mr. Summers is that they've got a different approach -- tax breaks, and this and that," he said. Harkin warned that, much like the outcome of George Bush's $600 stimulus package last year, recipients of quick tax cuts "are going to be salting it away, not spending it."
They got rid of Larry Summers at Harvard, how can we do the same? Most of Obama's cabinet picks have been disappointing, but Summers was probably his worst pick, and Obama originally favored him for Treasury Secretary!
Below is the recent press release from Gerald Celente who runs the Trends Research Institute (TRI)in upstate NY. The TRI has had a pretty good track record over many years. Last December they predicted "The Panic of '08" that we are now experiencing. The forecast for 2009 is similarly grim regarding the economy - "The Collapse of '09" - and how about this, "Revolution"! Does anyone have an opnion about this forecast, or does anyone have any information about TRI and Celente? I have read forecasts from TRI and heard Celente interviewed on the radio. He has appeared on the Fox News Channel as well. He claims to be a political agnostic but seems like a libertarian.
"Top Trends Of 2009
By Gerald Celente
12-18-8
KINGSTON, NY -- Exactly one year ago, The Trends Research Institute alerted you to an impending economic crisis we named, the "Panic of '08." Last year we wrote:"In 2008, Americans will wake up to the worst economic times that anyone alive has ever seen. And they won't know what hit them. "
Our forecast was right on target. Few others saw the Panic coming. As former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin declared (November 29, 2008,) "Nobody was prepared for this."
Mr. Rubin's statement was incorrect. We were prepared, and we prepared our Trends Journal ® subscribers.
Now, in our "Top Trends of 2009," we forecast "The Collapse of '09," which in turn will spiral into the "Greatest Depression" the worst economic conditions America has ever experienced.
That's not all. Beyond economics, 2009 will be a tumultuous year."
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