Sometimes the crudest forms of Marxist analysis of the relationship between class and politics make the most sense.
Read this scorching commentary by Simon Johnson – the former IMF Chief Economist turned ubercritic of the power of the big banks - on the appointment of a senior Wall Street figure, Bill Daley from Morgan Stanley, as President Obama’s new chief of staff. This cements already close relations between Obama’s economic team and Wall Street, and signals a further turn to the right.
Daley was on the executive committee of Morgan Stanley, in charge of “corporate responsibility.” He was formerly Secretary of Commerce in the second Clinton Administration. He was an opponent of Obama’s health care reform and financial regulation legislation, and his new appointment has been welcomed by the US Chamber of Commerce.
Read and weep.
“Let’s be honest. With the appointment of Bill Daley, the big banks have won completely this round of boom-bust-bailout. The risk inherent to our financial system is now higher than it was in the early/mid-2000s. We are set up for another illusory financial expansion and another debilitating crisis.”
Bill Daley will get it done.
(By the way, Johnson and Kwak’s excellent book, Thirteen Bankers, is now out in paperback.)