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Joe Biden nominates a team of economic advisers that has never been seen before. Criticism is now being voiced against some candidates, both on the right and on the left.
Cause resentment on both sides of the political spectrum: Neera Tanden, appointed Head of Administration and Budget.
Photo: Mike Segar (Reuters)
50 percent women, 50 percent minority representatives, 50 percent supporters of an active state: if Joe Biden wanted to lead by example by selecting six leading economic advisers, then he has succeeded. If the Senate approves his plans, the economic team of the future president of the United States will be more feminine, diverse and progressive than ever.
Also in terms of content, a change of course is coming: a key point of economic policy in the future is likely to be the promotion of low-income people, especially African Americans, those groups who have lost their jobs, their apartment and your small savings, particularly often as a result of the corona pandemic.
But self-confessed centrist Biden wouldn’t be Biden if he hadn’t also included a counterweight to the more left-wing candidates on his short list. Two of the top six positions he’s now assigning will be taken over by men who in the past worked, among other things, for the world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock – that is, they were at the epicenter of American financial capitalism. Controversies are likely to be scheduled here, especially with young and progressive members of the Democratic Party.
Obama administration specialists
Specifically, these are the candidates Adewale “Wally” Adeyemo and Brian Deese. Adeyemo, 39, who will become Deputy Treasury Chief under Minister Janet Yellen, has previously worked for the administration of former President Barack Obama, including as Deputy Chief of Staff to Democratic Finance Minister Jacob Lew. In 2017, the Nigerian-born lawyer moved to Blackrock as a business advisor and chief of staff to CEO Larry Fink, before being named founding president of the Obama Foundation in 2019.
To this day, Deese runs a department at Blackrock that seeks out financially lucrative investment opportunities, yet ecologically and socially sustainable. Like Adeyemo, the 42-year-old from the Obama era already has a lot of experience in government. As director of the National Economic Council (NEC), he will become Biden’s top economic policy adviser, replacing Larry Kudlow, who, as Trump’s henchman, defended his fiscal and trade policy against all kinds of criticism, although he himself occasionally he let his doubts slip away.
Principle of “ethnic justice”
According to unanimous statements, Cecilia Rouse, formerly dean of Princeton University, will be the head of the CEA’s Economic Advisory Council. She was a member of the President’s economic policy advisory staff under Bill Clinton and Obama and, as a researcher, has empirically shown that the American economy would benefit if the huge educational gaps between black and white children and adults could be eliminated. The 56-year-old’s appointment is proof that Biden wants to anchor the principle of “ethnic justice” in all areas of government, said Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman of the Sadie Collective, which wants to increase the number of African American women in the economy.
Neera Tanden, a nominee for the Office of Management and Budget Affairs, continued to get in trouble with both Democrats and Republicans.
Heather Boushey and Jared Bernstein, among others, whose nominations are likely to please the left wing of Democrats in particular, will help Rouse in the CEA. Boushey, 50, runs the Center for Growth with Gender Equity in Washington, which fights, among other things, for paid parental leave and a higher minimum wage. Bernstein, 64, was already serving as an economic advisor to former Vice President Biden.
The politically important Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will lead Neera Tanden. It is open whether the daughter of Indian immigrants will take office: the 50-year-old woman had in the past drawn the ire of left-wing Democrats and right-wing Republicans; it is questionable whether there will be enough for a majority in the Senate.
And there will be another change in the White House: The head of the US telecommunications regulator FCC, Ajit Pai, will vacate his position. While the FCC is independent, it is a tradition for its president to leave when the president’s party affiliation changes.
