The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
The people in charge of economics under Trump
Deregulation and corporate tax breaks will serve to further the serious problems in the American economy.
When Barack Obama was elected in November 2008, he was handed an economy unprecedented in modern history. He ran a campaign centered on the message of hope and change. When it came time to name his cabinet appointments, he chose Lawrence Summers and Robert Rubin to lead the economic transition.
Robert Rubin, a prominent opponent of the Glass-Steagall Act, later became chair of Citigroup, one of the first banks to receive a government bailout from the Obama administration.
The same economic executives who supported deregulation that led to the great recession were now in charge of the global economy.
While there have been significant improvements in the US economy since 2008, by metrics including unemployment and GDP growth, there is still a lot of economic anxiety in this country. Workers are working longer hours for lower wages, while the top 0.1 percent has seen tremendous growth in income and accumulated wealth. Wall Street continues to dominate elections, and lobbyists to big banks still have tremendous influence in policy formation. There are an estimated 16 million children living in poverty, while the average CEO makes 300 times that of their average worker.
In the 2016 election, Donald Trump ran a campaign similar to Barack Obama, using rhetoric such as hope and economic prosperity. He proudly boasted his inability to be bought out, and his proposal to “drain the swamp.”
And like his predecessors in the White House, Donald Trump had to make important decisions regarding his cabinet.
After spending months criticizing Hillary Clinton’s ties to Wall Street executives and banking lobbyists, the results are in: Steve Mnuchin, a Goldman Sachs alum, will be the Secretary of the Treasury. He supports extending corporate tax cuts, and bought IndyMac, making billions on the foreclosure of American homes. If one can look past the white nationalism of Steve Bannon, the incoming chief strategist, he was at one time an investment banker for Goldman Sachs. Wilbur Ross, incoming Secretary of Commerce, owns a private equity firm that gave him the nickname “The King of Bankruptcy.” Finally, Carl Icahn, a maven of Wall Street and a supporter of extreme deregulation, was chosen to be an Advisor on Regulatory Overhaul to Donald Trump.
The economic anxiety that propelled conservative populism to mobilize in a strength sufficient to accelerate Donald Trump to the White House is real and must be addressed by both parties.
The solution that the most recent Democratic president, and now the current Republican president, have undertaken is to place the criminals in charge of the law.
Continued deregulation and corporate tax breaks will serve to further the serious problems in the American economy, including childhood poverty, stagnating wages, and wealth inequality.