One of the ongoing memes which I hope to do some small part in propagating is that despite everything that has happened, we are still a very wealthy country. We still have lots of good policy options available to us. The suffering of the past can't be undone, and that permanence is always at the heart of urgency, but the future is still what we want to make of it.
This includes a great number of talented and passionate individuals who would love a chance to be part of the decision-making process in Washington.
One of the key points of obfuscation by those who wish to sow despair and confusion is the notion that the 'experts' agree. What's fascinating when you start looking around for people outside of the same 'ole same 'ole retread of Harvard University, University of Chicago, and other Wall Street-friendly laissez-faire corporate types is that there's a great diversity of thought (and all jesting aside, there are of course lots of great thinkers at places like Harvard and Chicago, too). What Paulson and Greenspan and Bernanke and Geithner and Summers and Emanuel and others have been up to doesn't represent some evidence-based consensus of economic and legal thought. We don't have to invent magical new technologies to heal our country.
We just have to listen to people who are more interested in crafting effective public policy than in consolidating wealth and power. It's perfectly understandable to have feelings of exhaustion or despair or apathy or doubt; these are quite natural human emotions. I would question somebody who claimed they never experienced these.
But if you ever want a pick me up, if you ever question whether 'everybody out there is nuts', as Michael Douglas' character in the Wall Street sequel has been saying in the trailers, check out the huge numbers of smart people dedicated to the reality-based world. It doesn't mean we agree on every particular issue; it means we begin at the same point - creating a peaceful and prosperous country for all Americans, not just those who inherit a fortune.
Larry Summers did a great job in his tenure shielding the rich in general, and Wall Street in particular, from meaningful changes of the status quo. To a certain extent, I have to tip my hat to his results. But it's a very tenuous equilibrium, trying to hold together something that's neither natural nor popular. The following is my list of 10 personal favorites and a host of other people. It would take but one of these individuals placed into a similar position of power to change the game. There are many others of similar talent and will. We're not going to win the battle against the corporatism of the Reagan-Bush era overnight. But these are very exciting times. We have the ideas. We have the policy tools. We have the people. The moneybags are becoming ever more comical in their desperation. Change will come, sooner or later.
Let's make it sooner.
Joseph Stiglitz
Dean Baker
Robert Reich
Robert Kuttner
Bill Black
James K. Galbraith
L Randall Wray
Michael Hudson
Simon Johnson
Amartya Sen
Andrew Rich
Ann O'Leary
Anna Burger
Arjun Jayadev
Barbara Arnwine
Bo Cutter
Brad DeLong
Bruce Judson
Christopher Hayes
Daniel Berger
David Woolner
Deepak Bhargava
Eric Liu
Stanley Greenberg
Heather Gerken
Hendrik Hertzberg
Jeff Madrick
Jie Chen
Jim Carr
Joe Conason
Joe Costello
john a. powell
Jonathan Alter
June Carbone
William Leuchtenberg
Goodwin Liu
Marcia Dyson
Mario Seccareccia
Mark Schmitt
Marshall Auerback
Matt Miller
Maya Rockeymoore
Jal Mehta
Meizhu Lui
Michael Waldman
Sarah Phillips
Rev. Jim Wallis
Rob Parenteau
Robert Dallek
Robert Johnson
Samuel Issacharoff
Sarah Hicks
Thomas Ferguson
Sean Wilentz
Yves Smith
(okay, I cheated on this list. It's mostly just the braintrusters from New Deal 2.0!)
And of course, Paul Krugman, one of the most successful economists at navigating our corporate media maze to communicate with a mass audience. While I think he's most useful fulfilling precisely that role, this song remains as timeless and poignant as ever.