My point of view
The election was close because you have a bad record. Your record is
bad because you didn’t build a focused economic team. I couldn’t
predict that your initial team would disintegrate. But I saw it and
told you, you didn’t do anything about it. I did tell you I thought
Bill Clinton knew more about economics than you, but he showed he
didn’t know enough by supporting the extension of the Bush tax cuts in
2010. He promised millions of jobs by stimulating a green
reto-fitting industry… not so much. No one is a know it all, not even
me. You must have team work on the economy, look what you, H. Clinton
and R. Gates did as a team in foreign affairs.
Your initial economic team didn’t know how to pull the strings of
power. In recent public appearances, Goulsbee still thinks government
is powerless. Leadership is not blaming Congress, real leadership is
figuring out the strings of power where there is no user's manual.
Your election team won by writing their own playbook. Economics,
indeed government, runs by people who make up the playbook. It seems
to me A. Greenspan and L. Summers know how to write the playbook, they
know the strings of power. I would think you should ask the two for
their advice when going over your short list of people for Treasury,
Commerce and the White House.
You were able to prod the military into actions, it initially didn’t
offer as options, because you drew ideas from the backrow of advisors.
You weren’t so lucky in the economic domain. I wrongly predicted that
the Occupy movement would produce Watts riots. I feel the sense of
social injustice is palpable and you are right to focus government
policy to help the middle class. There is no backrow of government to
prod to initiate this. I -think making a cabinet position for H.
Clinton called Intra-governmental Affairs to address these issues is
what is needed, a front row person who is wise, empathetic and knows
the strings of power. She is passionate about this.
I have written you about the virtue of wisdom over intelligence. I
value your criteria of empathy. There as some in your current staff
who lack empathy. S. Rice, E. Holder, V. Jarrett and T. Geithner
appear strained, nervous in public and don’t appear sufficiently
comfortable in themselves to be empathetic to others. Frankly, they
look pathetic in public. I judge them by their public demeanor. V.
Jarrett is tied to R. Gibb’s dismissal and strongly tied to Shirley
Shroud’s misfortune, clear examples of poor judgement. Hint: select
people who are genuinely wise and empathetic.
One last item on entitlements. I think instituting a means test, from
now on, would save money. Seniors paying over $10,000 in Federal
taxes should pay for healthcare (or get charged a healthcare premium)
for the first $35,000 of services. Medicare etc will pick up the
bills in excess of $35,000. The $35,000 ceiling is an arbitrary
value, but hard to pin down because the pool of premiums from Seniors
will get used because there are few seniors who don’t claim anything.
This is better than having nothing to offer when trying to compromise.
bad because you didn’t build a focused economic team. I couldn’t
predict that your initial team would disintegrate. But I saw it and
told you, you didn’t do anything about it. I did tell you I thought
Bill Clinton knew more about economics than you, but he showed he
didn’t know enough by supporting the extension of the Bush tax cuts in
2010. He promised millions of jobs by stimulating a green
reto-fitting industry… not so much. No one is a know it all, not even
me. You must have team work on the economy, look what you, H. Clinton
and R. Gates did as a team in foreign affairs.
Your initial economic team didn’t know how to pull the strings of
power. In recent public appearances, Goulsbee still thinks government
is powerless. Leadership is not blaming Congress, real leadership is
figuring out the strings of power where there is no user's manual.
Your election team won by writing their own playbook. Economics,
indeed government, runs by people who make up the playbook. It seems
to me A. Greenspan and L. Summers know how to write the playbook, they
know the strings of power. I would think you should ask the two for
their advice when going over your short list of people for Treasury,
Commerce and the White House.
You were able to prod the military into actions, it initially didn’t
offer as options, because you drew ideas from the backrow of advisors.
You weren’t so lucky in the economic domain. I wrongly predicted that
the Occupy movement would produce Watts riots. I feel the sense of
social injustice is palpable and you are right to focus government
policy to help the middle class. There is no backrow of government to
prod to initiate this. I -think making a cabinet position for H.
Clinton called Intra-governmental Affairs to address these issues is
what is needed, a front row person who is wise, empathetic and knows
the strings of power. She is passionate about this.
I have written you about the virtue of wisdom over intelligence. I
value your criteria of empathy. There as some in your current staff
who lack empathy. S. Rice, E. Holder, V. Jarrett and T. Geithner
appear strained, nervous in public and don’t appear sufficiently
comfortable in themselves to be empathetic to others. Frankly, they
look pathetic in public. I judge them by their public demeanor. V.
Jarrett is tied to R. Gibb’s dismissal and strongly tied to Shirley
Shroud’s misfortune, clear examples of poor judgement. Hint: select
people who are genuinely wise and empathetic.
One last item on entitlements. I think instituting a means test, from
now on, would save money. Seniors paying over $10,000 in Federal
taxes should pay for healthcare (or get charged a healthcare premium)
for the first $35,000 of services. Medicare etc will pick up the
bills in excess of $35,000. The $35,000 ceiling is an arbitrary
value, but hard to pin down because the pool of premiums from Seniors
will get used because there are few seniors who don’t claim anything.
This is better than having nothing to offer when trying to compromise.
