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Obama is replacing his chief economic adviser – Larry Summers – with Gene Sperling.
Sperling is currently a counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and is now being appointed as Obama’s chief economic adviser. He’s been there before: Sperling will hold the exact same post he held under Bill Clinton – National Economic Adviser to Clinton and director of the National Economic Council.
In that post, Sperling was principal negotiator with Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers in finalizing the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act Financial Modernization Bill which repealed Glass-Steagal.
And Shahien Nasiripour notes:
Sperling … served as a consultant to Goldman Sachs, and in 2008 harvested sums reaching seven-figures for his work there and in delivering speeches to the highest ranks of the financial services realm.
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Economist Dean Baker and the liberal pundit Robert Kuttner [note that] a key item on Sperling’s resume is the nearly $900,000 he earned as a consultant for Goldman Sachs, at the very time the bank was playing a leading role in the worst financial crisis since the Depression.***
Sperling earned Obama’s enduring gratitude late last year when he played an instrumental role in delivering the deal to extend the tax cuts handed out by President George W. Bush to the wealthiest Americans in exchange for continuing emergency unemployment benefits.
(Granted, many on the left and right say that Sperling has a warm, cuddly streak, and he has done some good things, his background and past actions indicate that he think exactly the same as Summers. See this and this.)
Obama is also replacing chief of staff Rahm Emanuel with William Daley.
Daley is a senior executive VP of JP Morgan. He was Emanuel’s mentor, and President Clinton’s Secretary of Commerce. And yes, he is a scion of the Daley family of Chicago political fame.
Different day, same crowd …
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