Newsweek: Why Is Washington Ignoring "Economic Prophet" Stiglitz?

newsweek.com:

Such is the lot of Joe Stiglitz. Even in the contentious world of economics, he is considered somewhat prickly. And while he may be a Nobel laureate, in Washington he's seen as just another economic critic--and not always a welcome one. Few Americans recognize his name, and fewer still would recognize the man, who is short and stocky and bears a faint resemblance to Mel Brooks. Yet Stiglitz's work is cited by more economists than anyone else's in the world, according to data compiled by the University of Connecticut. And when he goes abroad--to Europe, Asia, and Latin America--he is received like a superstar, a modern-day oracle. "In Asia they treat him like a god," says Robert Johnson, a former chief economist for the Senate banking committee who has traveled with him. "People walk up to him on the streets."

Read the whole story: newsweek.com

Comments

[Counterglow]

The reason they're ignoring him is obvious. If the politicians listened to Stiglitz and acted on what he told them, they'd have to go against the interests of the corporations who pump billions of dollars into their parties and actually act in the interest of the American people.

Not gonna happen.

[joe973]

Agree!!!

[Poboy]

Disagree.

I bet you that you and others, who think like you on this issue, are the same ones who would counsel Black people to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps­."

Well, take your own advice.

It would happen if you make it happen.

[marijam]

More and more, our new White House occupant is starting to remind me of Reagan, sort of a Reagan-lite. I didn't vote for that, and neither did any of my family. We wanted the next FDR.

[DietrichMoody]

you want a four term President ???

[livesimply]

We want a leader to help us out of the big mess we're in and a "don't rock the boat" attitude will not enable us to enact the big changes we need. Great leaders have to take great risks sometimes. Playing it safe never creates innovation.

[kfdan]

How about a 2 term President who works like hell to clean up the structure of government and the structure of the financial system through repel of the Glass-Steagall Act. Anyone with an interest in the health and wealth of the country knew to watch out for the financial scams and shams that have resulted in run-a-way banks and financial giants like Goldman Sachs.
Stiglitz knew that without controls over the financial system ... the greed would get carried away ... as the saying goes ... while the cat's away the mice shall play! Time to bring the bankers and giant financial institutions under control.

ps. I question whether Obama is the kind of President to have the guts to do what's right instead of what will play with the Beltway crowd.

[elcojonu]

I think he meant a ' doer '; not a ' palaberer ', blah, blah, blah, blah.
Let's see how he does with his signature issue, Health Care; that'll tell us a lot about him. Waiting to find out the heft of his CJ's.
One more thing, there could never be another FDR; the mold was pulverized after he was born.

[marijam]

From the article, it is clear that Summers is an "exploiter" and that Stiglitz is not. What I want to know is, what is he predicting will happen next? What is Robert Reich and Krugman predicting will happen next?

[DietrichMoody]

Robert Reich is awesome...­.

[vanmungo]

The Newsweek article glaringly fails to mention that Stiglitz favors not just a public-private "mix" to fix health insurance, but rather nonprofit single-payer Medicare for all: a system, like Canada's (or U.S. Medicare) that would be completely publicly funded (thus eliminating the dysfunctional HMO extortion racket) but privately administered. This is part of an MSM pattern of suppressing any mention of nonprofit single payer, the only reform with a proven track record of controlling costs and guaranteeing high-quality universal care in the rest of the industrialized world for the past half century.

For more information on the only real health-care reform—nonprofit, single payer Medicare for all--and how to achieve it, please see the following Web sites (if you're new to this subject, see especially the FAQ at the link at the top of the list):

www.pnhp.org

www.singlepayeraction.org

http://www.healthcare-now.org

http://www.1payer.net/

http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/

[DietrichMoody]

Thank You.

[slaxx]

oh yeah. he's too much on the left. people would never go for him.

so they'd rather have thiefs.

[pavroviandog]

We're dealing here with a pyramid of extortion built at every level.

"This is part of an MSM pattern of suppressing any mention of nonprofit single payer..."-­---that's because the MSM is beholden to the medical-in­dustrial-c­omplex money in the form of TV ADVERTISING. In other words, they are being made offers they can't refuse. The insurance companies and Pharma have figured out a way to KONTROL the MSM through ad dollars and the threat to pull the advertising if "single payer" was even mentioned. It's not by accident that big pharma has wall-to-wall advertising on the network evening news, let alone throughout TV programming.

The same goes for your "elected" senator or "represent­ative." They've all been made offers they couldn't refuse, and only a handful of decent, true patriots have refused to go along.

The medical-in­dustrial-c­omplex (let's call it MED-IC for short so as not to confuse it with the other equally greedy MIC acronym) is a big bully CARTEL...a­nd as all monopolies do, they do not like COMPETITION. I know, I know, we were all taught that competition was an important part of capitalism; but our teachers neglected to tell us that that the main goal of this system was to destroy all competition and control the market at all costs (no pun intended).

You can see this pattern of monopolistic control in many sectors of the economy: financial-­agribusine­ss-oil-che­mical ( Monsanto quietly controlling seeds through patents).

[DrVeruju]

There isn't much you can do without paying a few percent to the elite.

Checkout the patent control on NiMH batteries and why Toyota no longer makes the Rav4 EV ...

http://evworld.com/blogs/index.cfm?authorid=51&blogid=104&archive=1

[DietrichMoody]

The problem nowadays is that Nobody wanted to hear anybody that warned of this financial crisis but its done, not what is the solution. The concentration shouldn’t be on “who warned.”
Economists since Thomas Hobbes and Adam Smith had understood that capitalism relied on state power to impose instrumental checks on greed and abuse of influence. The world was warned about the current global financial crisis. William White predicted the approaching financial crisis years before 2007's subprime meltdown. But central bankers preferred to listen to his rival Alan Greenspan.
The world has allowed an unexamined faith in market incentives to drive social regulatory imperatives into the shadows. As far as I’m concerned, what does Joe Stiglitz recommend doing about it now and his recommendation should come for free.

[marijam]

What is he saying is going to happen next, that's what I want to know.

[slaxx]

bush sent alan greenspan to congress back in the day and he warned them that freddie and fannie were ticking time bombs and that we needed re-regulation. bush sent numerous reps over the years to tell congress that something needed to be done.

the repub controlled congress was too concerned with winning the next election and never brought it up for a vote

[dragonlady620]

It's worth noting that the GOP had a lobbyist group to block any regulation of Fannie & Freddie at the time that Bush was supposedly warning about this.

[DiogenesOfAlaska]

It is really scary when you think about it: even the views of Hobbes and Smith were not as dark and as close to the feudalism of the middle-ages as some republicans pride themselves to be.

[Lorianne]

Lots of people foresaw the current economic meltdown and spoke up and were not listened to.
And not all of them agree with Steiglitz.
He's not necessarily right because he saw the same thing others saw.

Notice there was not one word about government intervention (as opposed to mere oversight) in the markets.

[DiogenesOfAlaska]

could this be because government intervention is a bad idea whereas government oversight is not?

Which would make Stiglitz right?

[Lorianne]

That's not what I read in the article.
He favors spending MORE stimulus dollars and the bailouts, among other things ..
Way beyond oversight.

[Bloggerrogr]

Thank God I'm old and will be dying soon. You young-uns are going to be so screwed.

[DietrichMoody]

Well, wherever you end up. Pray for Us...

[livesimply]

Take it to the streets like we did, but better luck than we had!

[swift goat pet for truth]

""Newsweek: Why Is Washington Ignoring "Economic Prophet" Stiglitz?"

Because Stiglitz is not bought like Congress is.
Congress wants to listen only to the economist who are owned by Big Corp.

Crony Capitalism, you know.

[slaxx]

because he's too far to the left; if other euro countires like him that MUST make him "un-american" and socialist. politics won't allow it.

[DiogenesOfAlaska]

and what's politics again? Is that what happens when voters decide who should represent them in congress and in an administration?

I guess not.

[sb250guy]

"Newsweek: Why Is Washington Ignoring "Economic Prophet" Stiglitz?"

Because Washington is not interested in fixing anything. The system works for them.

[livesimply]

Eew. I hope you're wrong.

[wrender]

Gerald Celente is another one who predicted the economic crisis back in 2004. The writing was on the wall, so I can only assume this was planned years ago. Either that, or we can attribute it to pure incompetence. But I don't buy that excuse. Never really did, and sure as heck don't now. It's the kind of excuse children make when they don't want to get into trouble.Bu­t yet it's a powerful excuse, becuase we buy it every time from these highly paid, ivy league, elected officials.

[vippy]

There were others who saw this coming and yet it was ignored. Why was it ignored - because those
who ignored it got rich and rich quick. Why then is Obama not going after them you have to ask?
It looks more and more like they finally got us where they wanted us all along and it looks like we will
never get out of this ever again. How come Obama is not going after these crooks because it looks
more and more like he has been bought, too!

[GrannyPants]

Finally! You go Joe! Hopefully, he will be replacing Geitner, who reminds me of a chronie with his Wall Street loyalties! I rooted for Stiglitz long ago and even sent several emails to Obama camp when they were making choices. I really do pray they see that we need someone outside the box to steer this teetering ship. Hey, if he's good wisdom for China, why can't we have some of that too!

[LunaPark]

From the article... "Joseph Stiglitz predicted the global financial meltdown. "

When? Where is the evidence?

[ErnestineBass]

The world is at your fingertips. Google it.

[Montgriz]

Try reading something besides web sites...

[swift goat pet for truth]

That would be "GOPer Websites"

[praxitas]

just getting all defensive without even knowing s**t ?

[praxitas]

and i mean lunapark

[DiogenesOfAlaska]

The article says it. Ever since the early 1990s he warned of the dangers inherent in securitization. It's not a prediction. It's an analysis of structural weaknesses.

The biggest problem is that Alan Greenspan dismissed all involvement based on the idea that you can't predict bubbles. Well, fine. You can't predict anything in economics. True. Then go home, Alan, if you don't have any other ideas.

You don't need predictions to improve upon the legal and regulatory framework.

[Donatella]

"The Stiglitzes, like many middle-class families, had an African-American maid."

Really? I can't think of one middle-class family that had a black maid!

[Montgriz]

You need to get out more...

[thehoopoe]

60 years ago.

[castlerider]

Oh, stop...

He was making a point... And it was quite valid.
.

[livesimply]

Well my family did and so did many others. My father was an engineer, so we were comfortable, but not exactly rich.

[LemonMeringue]

Nobody understands the economy, not even economists. But one thing is clear:

Every time a Republican occupies the White House, their term ends in a recession.

[ErnestineBass]

The only "one" who understands the system is Goldman Sachs, and that's because they're running it. heh

[livesimply]

So true.