The President's Economic Team

August 27, 2010 6:51 AM

A detailed exposition of the roles of the White House economic team. This isn't a discussion of Obama's team per se, but rather an explanation of the mechanics and relationships of the various economic advisers to the President.
posted by OmieWise (4 comments total)

Good grief. Too many cooks, etc. But not surprising, sadly. The one thing the federal government excels at is growing and adding more and more and more staffers, advisors, assistants, aides, etc.
posted by davidmsc at 11:02 AM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

This was very interesting and I'm quite glad I read the bulk of it before realizing that it had been written by someone who served in the Bush White House, or I would have been a more hostile reader. The comments are quite surprisingly civilized as well.

I disagree that the lesson is "too many cooks" - there's going to be a huge amount of labor involved in making economic policy, and it's fascinating to get a sense of the nuts and bolts of who does what to whom in making it. There was an interesting aside in here about the fact that in other countries the OMB head and Treasury Secretary roles are combined - I wonder how much the rest of what's described here has analogs/differences in other countries?
posted by yarrow at 12:57 PM on August 27, 2010

And precisely how many cooks would you suggest are necessary to manage a $2 trillion budget and the most powerful country in the world?

You wanna try it?
posted by dry white toast at 2:13 PM on August 27, 2010

Precisely. If one is worried about the federal government's control of things, is the solution to really have fewer voices at the table where decisions are made about the economy?
posted by OmieWise at 3:25 PM on August 27, 2010