Romney, Bush, and Glenn Hubbard

The Off-Topic forum for anything non-LDS related, such as sports or politics. Rated PG through PG-13.
_beastie
_Emeritus
Posts: 14216
Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 2:26 am

Romney, Bush, and Glenn Hubbard

Post by _beastie »

Romney’s economic advisor: Glenn Hubbard

Hubbard was Bush Jr.’s economic advisor, and is now Romney’s economic advisor. I would think that being Bush’s economic advisor alone would disqualify someone for the job currently, but Romney disagrees. So let’s see some of what Hubbard has preached in the past.

This link is to Hubbard’s paper that he co-authored with William Dudley from Goldman Sacs in 2004.

http://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/gh ... acilit.pdf

Here are some pertinent quotes from the paper.


The ascendancy of the US capital markets —including increasing depth of US stock, bond, and derivative markets — has improved the allocation of capital and of risk throughout the US economy. Evidence includes the higher returns on capital in the US compared to elsewhere; the persistent, large inflows of capital to the US from abroad;the enhanced stability of the US banking system; and the ability of new companies to raise funds. The same conclusions apply to the United Kingdom, where the capital markets are also well-developed.


Uh, yeah, prescient. Not.

The development of the capital markets has provided significant benefits to the average citizen. Most importantly, it has led to more jobs and higher wages.


My god, the man’s a prophet.

The capital markets have also acted to reduce the volatility of the economy. Recessions are less frequent and milder when they occur. As a result, upward spikes in the unemployment rate have occurred less frequently and have become less severe.


::::choke, sputter::::

The development of the capital markets has also facilitated a revolution in housing finance. As a result, the proportion of households in the US that own their homes has risen substantially over the past decade.


Yea, that revolution in the housing finance market really worked out well.

Why in the world would anyone trust the judgment of a man who chooses this guy as his economic advisor? It’s like trusting a man who would choose foreign policy advisors from the Bush administration.

Oh, wait….
We hate to seem like we don’t trust every nut with a story, but there’s evidence we can point to, and dance while shouting taunting phrases.

Penn & Teller

http://www.mormonmesoamerica.com
_beastie
_Emeritus
Posts: 14216
Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 2:26 am

Re: Romney, Bush, and Glenn Hubbard

Post by _beastie »

Here's a Forbes article on the same issue.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/eamonnfingl ... et-stooge/

For countless voters who feel they have been impoverished by a manipulative financial elite, probably the most devastating issue concerns Hubbard’s income sources. When interviewed for Inside Job, Hubbard, whose day job is to teach economics at Columbia University, denied that Wall Street firms and other financial corporations accounted for the majority of his consulting and directorship commitments. Now thanks to new disclosure rules imposed by Columbia, it turns out that, of dozens of consulting, advisory, speaking, and directorship arrangements that have boosted his income over the last decade, at least two thirds have been with the financial sector — including MetLife, KKR, Goldman Sachs, Freddie Mac, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America.

This squares oddly with Hubbard’s statement when interviewed for Inside Job: “I don’t do much consulting in the financial services industry. I do have some directorships, but the income from those would be modest compared to my other income.”

“Modest,” it turns out, is a relative term. According to Ferguson, Hubbard’s income from three financial directorships alone comes to more than $700,000 a year. Hubbard’s income from these directorships is disclosed under SEC rules but he is not obliged to disclose other income from connections with more than two dozen other financial services corporations. Ferguson concludes that Hubbard’s total take from the financial services industry is far more than $700,000 a year. Yet in the Inside Job interview, Hubbard implied that he earned more from writing textbooks than from his financial services connections.
We hate to seem like we don’t trust every nut with a story, but there’s evidence we can point to, and dance while shouting taunting phrases.

Penn & Teller

http://www.mormonmesoamerica.com
_beastie
_Emeritus
Posts: 14216
Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 2:26 am

Re: Romney, Bush, and Glenn Hubbard

Post by _beastie »

I'm surprised this hasn't gotten any attention. I think it's damning.
We hate to seem like we don’t trust every nut with a story, but there’s evidence we can point to, and dance while shouting taunting phrases.

Penn & Teller

http://www.mormonmesoamerica.com
_Jason Bourne
_Emeritus
Posts: 9207
Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:00 pm

Re: Romney, Bush, and Glenn Hubbard

Post by _Jason Bourne »

Or there are more interesting pressing matters like hurricane Sandy.
_Brackite
_Emeritus
Posts: 6382
Joined: Wed Oct 25, 2006 8:12 am

Re: Romney, Bush, and Glenn Hubbard

Post by _Brackite »

I'm surprised this hasn't gotten any attention. I think it's damning.


Sorry, but I don't.


Or there are more interesting pressing matters like hurricane Sandy.


I should start a Thread about hurricane Sandy here.
"And I've said it before, you want to know what Joseph Smith looked like in Nauvoo, just look at Trump." - Fence Sitter
_beastie
_Emeritus
Posts: 14216
Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 2:26 am

Re: Romney, Bush, and Glenn Hubbard

Post by _beastie »

Yes, I'm sure that Hurricane Sandy has chased it off the front page, but I thought more would be interested in it on this board.

Brackite,

I don't understand how this doesn't bother you. Romney's big promise is to fix the economy, and yet his main economic advisor was behind the Bush economic policy and endorsed policies that later were shown to have contributed seriously to the devastation of our economy.

And this doesn't trouble you?
We hate to seem like we don’t trust every nut with a story, but there’s evidence we can point to, and dance while shouting taunting phrases.

Penn & Teller

http://www.mormonmesoamerica.com
_Analytics
_Emeritus
Posts: 4231
Joined: Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:24 pm

Re: Romney, Bush, and Glenn Hubbard

Post by _Analytics »

beastie wrote:I'm surprised this hasn't gotten any attention. I think it's damning.

Damning? yes. News? Not at all. Romney is a Wall Street guy who made his fortune in the world of modern finance. Of course he's going to turn to that same crowd for advice.
It’s relatively easy to agree that only Homo sapiens can speak about things that don’t really exist, and believe six impossible things before breakfast. You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven.

-Yuval Noah Harari
_cinepro
_Emeritus
Posts: 4502
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:15 pm

Re: Romney, Bush, and Glenn Hubbard

Post by _cinepro »

beastie wrote:I'm surprised this hasn't gotten any attention. I think it's damning.


If Romney has anything to do with Glenn Hubbard, it definitely hurts his credibility as a "turn around" guy.

If Obama had shown better judgement, this could actually push my vote to him based solely on this, but Obama's support for Geithner and Bernanke is as bad or worse, so I'll go with Romney and hope for the best.
_cinepro
_Emeritus
Posts: 4502
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:15 pm

Re: Romney, Bush, and Glenn Hubbard

Post by _cinepro »

Analytics wrote:Damning? yes. News? Not at all. Romney is a Wall Street guy who made his fortune in the world of modern finance. Of course he's going to turn to that same crowd for advice.



Then what's Obama's excuse?
_beastie
_Emeritus
Posts: 14216
Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 2:26 am

Re: Romney, Bush, and Glenn Hubbard

Post by _beastie »

cinepro wrote:
Analytics wrote:Damning? yes. News? Not at all. Romney is a Wall Street guy who made his fortune in the world of modern finance. Of course he's going to turn to that same crowd for advice.



Then what's Obama's excuse?


Did one or some of Obama's economic advisors fully support the very policies that resulted in an economic crash for this country? In particular, Hubbard's paper that I linked in the OP shows that he believed that the new derivative markets would lead to the "enhanced stability of the US banking system", which would lead to "more jobs and higher wages", "reduce the volatility of the economy" with muted recessionary impact, and that the housing bubble was a good thing.

Did one or some of Obama's economic advisors make similar statements?
We hate to seem like we don’t trust every nut with a story, but there’s evidence we can point to, and dance while shouting taunting phrases.

Penn & Teller

http://www.mormonmesoamerica.com
Post Reply