Tuesday, November 25, 2008

"Naomi Klein, Robert Kuttner and Michael Hudson Dissect Obama’s New Economic Team & Stimulus Plan"


Democracy Now! with audio and video:
On Monday Obama named New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner to the post of the Treasury Secretary. Former Treasury Secretary under Clinton Lawrence Summers was named the Director of the National Economic Council in the White House. Obama also called for a stimulus plan that will “give a jolt to the economy.” We host a roundtable discussion about Obama’s latest economic moves.

The Treasury and the Federal Reserve are expected to announce a major lending program today that will finance billions of dollars of consumer loans as well as business debt. President Bush said Monday that he expected the country would recover from the “tough situation” and said his administration was working in “close cooperation” with Obama’s economic team to draw up plans to calm the financial markets.

Meanwhile Obama introduced the leading players in his new economic team at a press conference in Chicago. He named New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner to the post of the Treasury Secretary. Former Treasury Secretary under Clinton Lawrence Summers was named the Director of the National Economic Council in the White House. Obama also announced that he had chosen Berkeley economics professor Christina D. Romer to head his Council of Economic Advisers and Melody Barnes as director of his White House Domestic Policy Council. Obama called for a stimulus plan that will “give a jolt to the economy.”

Naomi Klein, Investigative journalist and author of “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.”

Robert Kuttner, Veteran economic journalist and the cofounder and coeditor of The American Prospect magazine. His latest book is called “Obama’s Challenge: America’s Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency.”

Michael Hudson, president of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of “Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire.” He is the chief economic adviser to Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

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