Quote from nwbprop:
Thanks Jack for the reply. You always have a much more focused perspective. Could you please go in more depth of the EOP(Executive office of the President) and how long it might take to get the economic viability back.
Although it may be selfish, i am more curious as to the relationship of volitility and economic viability. I think that if the big money understands that the economic viability is bad, then we might get a correction. This would lead to good volatility instead of this trickle up.
thanks and i am glad to hear your health is getting better.
The simplest over all example that immediately offers a picture is how the body handles shock as it percieves danger or stress. the blood retreats to the inards and slows stuff down as an act of preservation. Also imagine the stages of shock and the fact that it can get to an irretreavable situation.
The EOP has two primary functions when push comes to shove. The mission and the surprises. During quality times it is possible to bring to bear an incredible array of resources to deal. At other times damage control prevails.
Nixon set up OMB. There is also the JEC on the hill. This is what "runs" the money federally. It is in an econometric context. Four elements define econometrics: direct, indirect, induced and substitution. The mission drives this along side "standing obligations". Surprises require fixing.
Strangely all of this is colored in just one way. By the leader. Since I am apolitical and independant financially and have not had to work during my life, I am classified as "free" in the system. It made it possible for me as a person who was assigned "quick studies", to cogently and succinctly write, on zero time frames, stuff to S&B a response for an immediate need. I absolutely had a 100% guarantee that I would be pissing off people. This was important as a means of getting all issues surrounding a need on the table, addressed, brokered, resolved, planned for and then manifested.
From this set of pictures you can see a continuing very high pressure process.
All Presidents before Bush have been inclined to "problem solve".
The construct was to have a person act as "honest broker" continually in the realm of the "need". An honest broker is a person with incredible expertise in the field of the need and he is a person whose track record has taken him to the top of the class of experts in that realm.
EOP, for economics, does not have an "honest broker". Second, because of this there is no problem solving model at play. There was an effort at one point, however simply because the EOP was mostly staffed with carryover expertise from prior admins. This group worked to get the situation in hand thinking they had "rights" but they were trumped by two groups. Cheney et al and law makers. Neither of these controlling factions had any motivation to do the right thing. Both have other primary motivations and obligations.
Now to answer your Q. I will give you one liners each facet.
The leader. He will "not argue with himself. What he has said is the way it is going to be. (This was unknown to most people from cabinet level on down at the beginning.)
NEC man. He is a reject in the community of expertise in which he has spent his life. He was put there because he can be controlled in the known idealogical context in which he made his mark. Greenspan regards him as a nitwit. So there is no "honest broker".
Brandeis reports. These traditional bound 10 pagers (The cogent result of full blown honest broker efforts in each and every sector of EOP) usually given to the Pres and associated staff are not done in this admin any more. A group of economic people tried to do it and got smashed.
Brandeis resolutions. In the past they were debated and the Pres decided. to days replacement. An agenda is set, the participants are "faxed" scripts and they are signalled in the meetings to say their pieces. After this not decision is made by the Pres. He acknowledges the input and says to the troops to proceed as indicated.
How long to fix it? This is a housecleaning chore. Replace Lindsay. Reestablish Brandeis with current top guns and get the agenda makers and script writers axed (five or six people). Replace the EOP management staff since they were just axed. Half of the top guns have never done a Brandeis or been on staffs that have. Getting replacements is not going to happen. There is no one in their right mind that will take the jobs. So it will take about 11 to 12 months to put the fix in. There are some really heavy weights on the detail now. Soros is an example.
I am 71 and just read the papers and stay in touch. It happened, though, that I worked with a portion of the present crew when they were comming up the line in prior admins or knew them or of them in the private power structure. WIN was a thing I axed (Ford) as an example that will give you a deeply humous context.
