Tim Fernholz

The Citi bailout plan is incredibly depressing — another equity injection, and staggered responsibility for hundreds of billions of dollars in Citi assets. Not because the government didn’t need to rescue the institutions, but because it seems to have been done with very little attention to the political optics, with very little transparency, and with […]

I’m working on a longer piece on what the potential Clinton appointment to Secretary of State means, but I wanted to note one thing that Matt Yglesias pointed out: This idea that a relatively small disagreement about diplomacy with Iran was their only disagreement during the primaries is widespread, but strikes me as something of […]

The recession is going to affect everyone differently. A lot of folks are going to have to tighten their belts, but thanks to various structural advantages, whether in age, human capital or personal/family wealth, they’re basically going to be fine and able to look forward to a future Obama recovery. But that fact shouldn’t blind […]

Later on today, at noon eastern time, Barack Obama will “announce” his economic team — Tim Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury, Christina Romer as Council of Economic Advisers chair, Lawrence Summers as National Economics Council chair, and Peter Orzag as director of the Office of Management and Budget. High powered! And Rubin-centric, which should […]

This morning, I was wondering if there was a way for Obama to provide any kind of effective policy leadership on the economy before he is inaugurated in January, since the current status quo has left any progress in this area at loose ends. Well, perhaps I have my answer: Then in what has become […]

Today, House Leader Nancy Pelosi held a press conference explaining what the Big Three automakers have to do in order to access a federal loan, asking for a written plan regarding three issues: [O]n the accountability side, no dividends, and no bonuses for people making over $200,000. … In addition to that, on the viability […]

The New York Daily News reports that Obama campaign political director Patrick Gaspard will be the White House political director. There’s already been some controversy over the White House Office of Political Affairs office and some demands that the directorate be eliminated; I argued that the office was a good idea. The president — who […]

Scrapping along the heels of my better-sourced colleagues, here’s the fake-ish news of the day: Hillary Clinton accepts Secretary of State offer. Or so sez The New York Timers, which would not run with their very decisive lede if they didn’t have it down cold. Right? This is a strong choice for Obama, presuming that […]

Yesterday, the illustrious American Prospect published short essays by various youth politics activists and thinkers, responding to the question, “How do we keep Obama’s youth voters mobilized?” While it’s a great thing that young voters are being taken seriously as a political constituency, the question is a bit condescending in its formulation. The better question […]

The economy continues to worsen, and the experts are not pleased that the current lame duck government has left economic policy blowing in the wind until the new guys take over in January. Paul Krugman looks at why this is a bad thing, but doesn’t get into what the president or president-elect should be doing […]