The Obama Economic Team

President-elect Barack Obama officially announced key members of his economic team today. The new appointees—and short profiles—are listed here:

Timothy F. Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury

A Rubin robot.

See full profile here.

Lawrence H. Summers, Director of the National Economic Council

A Rubin robot.

Obnoxious.

Situated in the White House, he will have regular access to Obama.

Jackie Calmes writes:

Summers, who may well end up being Obama's closest economic adviser, has been especially public in calling for a big stimulus package. Many saw his touch in Obama's call this weekend for the stimulus plan to create or save 2.5 million jobs.

Doesn't understand basic economics, see here and here.

Christina D. Romer, Director of the Council of Economic Advisors

A Keynesian, but actually appears to pay some attention to the money supply as an influence on the business cycle. See here.

Melody C. Barnes, Director of the Domestic Policy Council

A George Soros operative. She has served as Executive Vice President for the Soros front, The Center for American Progress. She also served as chief counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee from December 1995 until March 2003.

Heather A. Higginbottom, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council

Higginbottom founded and served as Executive Director of the American Security Project, which has been supported by the anti-war Gary Hart. Her stand on domestic policy issues is unclear.

Best hope for economic sanity out of this group is from Romer. But when you are reaching into Berkeley, of all places, for economic hope, you are obviously not talking about a Milton Friedman protege.

Possible sanity on war from Higginbottom.