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Obamanomics: Is this real change?
Timothy Canova: In selecting Clinton-era figures, Obama is embracing those who helped create crisis
On Monday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and President George Bush announced they would be committing $20 Billion in capital and guaranteeing a record $306 Billion in risky assets now belonging to CitiGroup, at one time the world's largest and most profitable financial institution. Meanwhile, Obama announced the twin towers of his economic team, Tim Geithner, current head of the New York Federal Reserve, and Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary under Clinton, to head-up the Treasury and the White House National Economic Council respectively. In our interview with Timothy Canova, Timothy provides a historical analysis of Geithner and, in particular, Summers. He believes that a great deal of the current economic crisis can be put on Summers for his role as Treasury Secretary in the deregulation of the derivatives market, and Geithner for the refusal to re-regulate that market, and in doing so allowing it to grow to unthinkable proportions. He ends by noting that neither Summers nor Geithner have admitted openly that their actions and commitment to deregulation were wrong, something that Alan Greenspan did in a congressional hearing just last month.
Bio
Timothy Canova is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Betty Hutton Williams Professor of International Economic Law at Chapman University. His research covers the disciplines of law, public finance, and economic history. He has a history of critical writing regarding the deregulation of banking and finance since the 1980s. He has analyzed the meltdown of Continental Illinois, at the time the largest bank failure in American history, and anticipated the collapse of the savings & loan industry. Before the Asian economic crisis began, he was arguing against the liberalization of capital accounts, and then warned of a crisis in the bubble economy. He is a long-time advocate for well regulated financial markets, accountability and the rule of law in central banking.
Timothy Canova: In selecting Clinton-era figures, Obama is embracing those who helped create crisis
On Monday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and President George Bush announced they would be committing $20 Billion in capital and guaranteeing a record $306 Billion in risky assets now belonging to CitiGroup, at one time the world's largest and most profitable financial institution. Meanwhile, Obama announced the twin towers of his economic team, Tim Geithner, current head of the New York Federal Reserve, and Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary under Clinton, to head-up the Treasury and the White House National Economic Council respectively. In our interview with Timothy Canova, Timothy provides a historical analysis of Geithner and, in particular, Summers. He believes that a great deal of the current economic crisis can be put on Summers for his role as Treasury Secretary in the deregulation of the derivatives market, and Geithner for the refusal to re-regulate that market, and in doing so allowing it to grow to unthinkable proportions. He ends by noting that neither Summers nor Geithner have admitted openly that their actions and commitment to deregulation were wrong, something that Alan Greenspan did in a congressional hearing just last month.
Bio
Timothy Canova is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Betty Hutton Williams Professor of International Economic Law at Chapman University. His research covers the disciplines of law, public finance, and economic history. He has a history of critical writing regarding the deregulation of banking and finance since the 1980s. He has analyzed the meltdown of Continental Illinois, at the time the largest bank failure in American history, and anticipated the collapse of the savings & loan industry. Before the Asian economic crisis began, he was arguing against the liberalization of capital accounts, and then warned of a crisis in the bubble economy. He is a long-time advocate for well regulated financial markets, accountability and the rule of law in central banking.
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