Full Text: Larry Summers Speech, Brookings Institution, The Obama Program and the Current Economic Crisis
Filed under: Recession, U.S. Economy, U.S. Financial Crisis
(Source: White House Press Office)
I am glad to be here. This morning I want to describe our understanding of the root of our current economic crisis, talk about the rationale for the Administration’s recovery strategy, and connect our longer-term economic strategy to the central objective of sustained and healthy expansion.
Full Text: White House Memo to Cabinet Agencies – Scientific Integrity
(Source: White House Press Office)
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
SUBJECT: Scientific Integrity
Science and the scientific process must inform and guide decisions of my Administration on a wide range of issues, including improvement of public health, protection of the environment, increased efficiency in the use of energy and other resources, mitigation of the threat of climate change, and protection of national security.
Obama Administration Should Get Kudos for Orszag’s Budget Blog
The White House gets this right on:
To a lot of people, the budget can seem dry or wonky, and a lot of time it doesn’t get the attention that other major legislation does. But the truth is that as heavy on numbers and figures as it is, it’s a profoundly moral document, it’s a blueprint for the nation’s priorities.
There’s been some criticism here about the way both the Bush and the Obama Administrations have dealt with the banks and financial services industry that brought this mess of an economy down around all of us. But this post is about unadulterated praise, it’s about change you can believe in.
In President Obama’s address to the joint session of Congress the other night when he said:
Finally, because we’re also suffering from a deficit of trust, I am committed to restoring a sense of honesty and accountability to our budget. That is why this budget looks ahead ten years and accounts for spending that was left out under the old rules – and for the first time, that includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. For seven years, we have been a nation at war. No longer will we hide its price.
And now, with Office of Management and Budget Director using blogging as a tool to speak plainly and without legislative language about our nation’s budget, transparency at the federal level gets another lift.
Any government’s budget is too often thought to be a dry, ponderous document. Perhaps that’s why they are written and presented in the ways that they are — the government is trying to lull you to sleep before you figure out what you’re really reading. The Obama Administration’s view of the budget as a “moral document” a “blueprint for change,” is a sea change. These people are beginning to recast the way government does its business in accordance with their core philosophies – the philosophies and principles we voted for. In this case, we actually seem to be getting what a politician promised.
