When Robert Rubin and his friends
say they intend to "fix the economy," they're using the word
"fix" the same way as your veterinarian does.
Will
America ever get rid of Robert Rubin?
The
Wall Streeter became a top economic witch doctor for Bill Clinton in the 1990s.
During his tenure, he convinced old Gullible Bill to
- Drop his campaign promise to help working families by raising the minimum wage.
- Push hard for the job-crushing NAFTA scam.
- Join the odious Republican Senator Phil Gramm of Texas in the disastrous deregulation of Wall Street derivatives, which led to the 2008 economic collapse that’s still crushing our middle class.
Heck
of a job, Robbie!
Among
his protégés are Timmy Geithner and Larry Summers. He helped slip them into the
top economic spots in the Obama regime.
Geithner,
a true friend of Wall Street, led the Treasury during Obama’s first term in
office. He dutifully fought such true reformers as Elizabeth Warren, when she
was trying to stop the Street’s too-big-to-fail greedheads.
Summers,
an economics professor fond of sticking his foot in his mouth, was the “genius”
who convinced Obama in 2009 to implement only a small, weak stimulus plan, then
to surrender even that to Republican demands for a failed, budget-butchering,
austerity scheme.
With
a record like that, surely we’ve heard the last of the Rubinistas, right? We
wish! But, no.
Astonishingly,
Rubin’s deep circle of economic Hell has been pushing Larry “Screw-Up” Summers
on Obama, saying he’s just the man to take over the Federal Reserve. For some
reason, he’s supposed to steer America’s national monetary system and be
trusted to fix our economy.
Sure
he is. The problem is that for Rubin & Co., the word “fix” has the same
meaning as it does for your veterinarian.
To
say “no!” to Summers, go to TheNation.com/activism.
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is
a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. He's also editor of the
populist newsletter, The Hightower
Lowdown. OtherWords.org