I think we're pretty much in agreement about this part. I agree with you that it's lame for People's World just to play the role of cheerleader and not try to push the envelope - that was the point of my critique of the People's World piece. I agree that the New York Times is doing a better job explaining to its readers the limits of what Yellin is likely to offer than People's World is.
Summers is defeated. Yellin's won the nomination round. If she wins confirmation, the forces of progress will have to pivot to challenging her for not being good enough. It's important not to say and do things now that undermine the pivot. On Thu, Oct 10, 2013 at 8:57 AM, Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > On 10/10/13 9:36 AM, Robert Naiman wrote: > > > > This is a very nice piece, except for three things: > > > > 1. The headline: "Obama picks full-employment advocate Yellen to head > > Federal Reserve." Calling Yellin a " full-employment advocate" seems > > unduly generous/wishful thinking in the context of what the piece > > actually reports. > > > > That's really funny. I thought that Naiman was quoting from the NY Times > article today but it was from the "Communist" Party newspaper. In fact, > the NY Times makes sure to clue in its ruling class readers what Yellen > is about despite the article's title "Yellen’s Path From Liberal > Theorist to Fed Voice for Jobs". So weird to see the newspaper of the > big bourgeoisie more critical of Yellen than a paper that calls itself > socialist: > > > http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/business/economy/for-yellen-a-focus-on-reducing-unemployment.html > > Yet it is easy to overstate the changes Ms. Yellen likely would bring. > She would be the first Democrat to lead the Fed in nearly three decades, > but a liberal central banker is something different from – and more > conservative than – a liberal politician. She was instrumental in the > Fed’s decision last year to declare a target of 2 percent annual > inflation, and has shown only a very limited willingness to tolerate > higher inflation. > > On regulatory issues, too, Ms. Yellen’s views are closer to those of the > Obama administration than to those of the left-leaning Democrats most > fervently seeking her nomination. She believes markets are imperfect and > require significant regulation. But she favored the emergence in the > 1990s of financial giants like Citigroup and has not supported calls for > their breakup. > > And Ms. Yellen may find her own instincts constrained by the > increasingly restive minority of Fed officials who want to start pulling > back from the stimulus campaign. > > Richard W. Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas – who > will become a voting member of the Fed’s policy-making committee next > year as part of a regular rotation – is among those officials. Of Ms. > Yellen, he said last week, “She’s wrong on policy, but she’s a darn > good, decent, wonderful person.” > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected]
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