That's What I Like in a Financial Advisor

by emptywheel

He opines, from deep inside the Beltway, that "real America" is doing just peachy in this economic crisis.

"We obviously have problems in the housing sector and we have problems in the financial sector, but ... real America is doing just fine," he said.

From which I assume he means those "real Americans" who have neither investments nor a house nor a low income.

And then, he gets out while there are still lifeboats available.

Top White House economic adviser Allan Hubbard is expected to leave his post at the end of this year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday in its on-line edition.

That way, he doesn't have to share his lifeboat with any "real Americans."

Update: Attaturk seems to like these kind of financial advisors, too.

Comments

[radiofreewill]

The rats are spillin' over the side of the listing S.S. King Bush almost every day now...

While the captain of the ship clings to a Majesty that never was...

Hubbard sees economic storm clouds coming. Bush sees a 'Legacy' of vindicated Greatness on the other side of 14 months.

[phred]

Wasn't there supposed to be a Labor Day deadline to jump ship from H.M.S. Bush? Guess the geniuses on the WH staff can't even competently read a calendar.

[bmaz]

In other news from our greatest Administration, I have been eagerly awaiting results from Scott Bloch's OSC investigation; you know, the one that our Democratic Leadersheep and David Iglesias had so much faith in, but this was not exactly what I had in mind. Why, again, is impeachment off the table?

[Jodi]

bmaz,

your Democratic Leaders who know how to Govern know what they are doing!

[BlueStateRedhead]

No joy in whitehousemudville for us. Every departure of a reasonably credentialed person, however compromised their professional perspective is by their service, means that the political operatives have greater control.

If the credentialed-for-what's-worth ever had a say in the first place.
Some former Whitehouse credential person quit long ago because there were no white papers prepared, no policy discussions. Who was that and how long ago?

Curious. Does anyone remember who that was?

[P J Evans]

I see the resident troll has returned from a long Thanksgiving weekend. Unfortunately.

[Redshift]

I suspect "real America" are those who made investments that got 1000% returns -- campaign contributions to Republicans.

[Mimikatz]

I think by "real America" he means not people who don't own houses, but people who don't have mortgages, at least not mortgages they can't pay off comfortably while taking the interest deductions. And not "people who don't have investments" but people who don't manage companies that got enmeshed in the subprime mess. In other words, like all the rest of them, his pals and masters are the real America.

And i think the deadline for resigning or staying to the bitter end is Dec 31.

[Jodi]

P J,

hey I too have returned, from grandmom's house and we ate like there was no tomorrow. Now I am on the ab machine, the bicycle, the treadmill, and 800 calories per day, and I am going to be mean and lean again, and get back my edge, very quickly!

[Neil]

"Hubbard[,60] said in his resignation letter that he was leaving to spend more time with his children."

This guys "children" are likely between 20 and 40 years old. Faced with a 50% chance of recession (those are his numbers we all know its a lock) he's getting out before the fun begins.
[snip]

How about Scott Bloch, Head U.S. Special Counsel and Hatch Act investigator, erasing his hard drive and the hard drives of two top political deputies with a 7-level wipe? Send an FBI investigator down there promptly and ask a slate of questions about his thinking and his declared purpose for destroying this work product, which of course is government property. Get him on record so he can be hung by a legal process. Whether it's corruption (is there any doubt?) or stupidity we cannot continue to permit a tolerant response to this kind of behavior by public servants.

[Shit Stain Remover]

Posted by: Shit Stain Jodi | November 28, 2007 at 12:26

Keep us posted on your personal business. It's interesting.

[Mary]

I'm in mourning. The Bloch "Call A Geek" story comes out during the writers strike with no Stewart and no Colbert.

Unbelievably sad.

OTOH, how do you write a joke that goes beyond the visual of Bloch hitting the phone for Call A Geek from his DOJ offices, and having them trip out in their trademark PT Cruiser with signage, hit the halls of DOJ with their Call A Geek shirts, then whipping out a DOJ credit card to pay them for the wipe job? Man - that's the skill set of the guy directing the special prosecutors?

The visual just sneaks up on mean and makes me laugh ever so often.

[Mary]

Dang - Geeks on Call, not Call a Geek. How could I get so confused, what with how often the Geeks on Call logo is seen in the background of Main Justice pics?

[marksb]

Hey Jodi, wanna join me on a nice fast run along the beach bike path this evening? Only about six miles at a sub-eight minute mile pace...it'll take out those extra pounds in no time. And we can talk politics on the way, doesn't that sound like fun? There are a number of lost and wounded homeless vets that hang out on the beach we can visit with after the run. Really nice guys, they can talk about how the reward for their service has enhanced their lives. You'll love it.

[marksb]

Sorry. I couldn't help feeding it. Pisses me off to find have two generations of homeless vets drinking themselves into a stupor, waiting to die.
----
To the thread: Lying about the economy is such a tried and true pastime. Bernanke lying to Congress (two years in a row) saying that the rising price of oil will NOT negatively impact inflation in America. You can do so much with statistics when you take out all oil costs: look! See? No inflation rise!

I just can't wait for Feb 1 2009 when the Republic's start blaming the recession (or worse) on the new Democratic President and Congress. Bah!

[P J Evans]

Bernanke lying to Congress (two years in a row) saying that the rising price of oil will NOT negatively impact inflation in America.

I wondered how many of them actually believed him. I sure wouldn't: anyone with more than three brain cells could tell that one was wrong.
You have delivery trucks, including the ones delivering petroleum products for gas stations, truck stops, and railroads and the ones taking food from farms and factories to groceries all over the country. (Not to mention FedEx, DHL, and Brown!)
You have utility companies with their service-and-repair trucks.
You have railroads hauling containers from ports to distribution centers.
Every one of them raises prices to cover fuel costs.

Maybe Bernanke hasn't noticed because he never buys anything: his wife does all of it for him. [/snark]

[bmaz]

PJ - Anna Friedmann Bernanke is a product of Wellesley undergraduate and Stanford graduate programs. I doubt she does the shopping (except for that which is done at Saks Fifth Avenue).

[prostratedragon]

Every one of them raises prices to cover fuel costs.

Quite true. But fuel costs are not going to be affected* by a change in either interest rates or the money supply, which are all that Ben has some control over. Although the prices of many things rise when oil rises, that phenomenon is not what an economist means by "inflation." Inflation is an increase in the price of everything which is traceable to nothing else but an excess amount of money appearing somehow in the economy.

The Fed people say they want to communicate better with the public, but I'd agree that they have a long, long way to go.

As for Hubbard, well, economists clearly are not necessarily equipped to be good managers or accountants. Why would anyone have thought the opposite is true?

Oh, I forgot.

===
* For long, anyway; there's sometimes an impact effect that flares out quickly. Also, there's a little effect from the declining dollar to higher oil prices, however a) oil's been rising all year, but the dollar just recently began falling, so it's mainly demand for oil forcing prices up; b) to reverse the dollar decline, the Fed would in effect have to raise interest rates, which would probably accomplish little else good, and which still wouldn't help the demand pressure problem in the oil market.

[prostratedragon]

A recent post from Mark Thoma gives a clear portrait of the mindset of pretty typical economists. (Hint: In his blog, Thoma comes across as very much in the warm and cozy end of the temperamental spectrum. However, liklihood over the profession as a whole piles up very much elsewhere, regardless of politics.)

FYI, the NBER's call on recessions is quasi-official.

[Jodi]

marksb,

thanks for the offer, but where I am a treadmill, is the best I can do without carrying a gun. The place I am staying has a nice little gym though. I just ate too d*** much pie. The richest chocolate custard, and pecan pies you have ever seen. My mom, grandmom, and aunts went nuts making pies. They have already been put on notice for Christmas, no pies! Well maybe pumpkin. And of course the icecream to top it off. Now there is a heavy price to pay!

I get your point about the wounded veterans. My father and younger brother treated many of them, and my father still does, having delayed his retirement. Mom was a nurse years ago, and also treated many. My oldest brother worries about the new ones that are now occuring in his command.

I have said that before that I was doubtful about the beginning of the war in Iraq, and am now horrified at the conduct of it, since about six weeks after it started. Anyone wanting to impeach Bush whether or not it would work, I am all for it. I would just like the impeachment proceedings to go down in history, and be a part of his stupid blind legacy. I believe thatsome of the time spent on these so called oversight events would be better spent on Bush.

I understand what you say about the economy and statistics, because numbers are a part of my portfolio, but when you curse Bernanke, you should then level a worse curse at Greenspan, because it was on his watch that the banks made all those stupid, and in my mind criminal, loans. (My mutuals had too much Citigroup!)

But I carry on. Have a nice run.

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