德尔·威尔明顿。-由于失业率仍然很高，疫情有可能导致又一次经济衰退，当选总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)正在组建一个自由派顾问团队，他们长期以来一直关注全国工人和政府解决经济不平等的努力。
珍妮特·耶伦(Janet Yellen)周一宣布成为拜登的财政部长提名人，她在2014年至2018年期间担任美联储(Federal Reserve)主席，当时她比以往的美联储主席更重视就业最大化，而不是价格通胀。拜登还任命塞西莉亚·劳斯(Cecilia Rouse)为经济顾问委员会主席，希瑟·布谢(Heather Boushey)和杰瑞德·伯恩斯坦(Jared Bernstein)为委员会成员。
所有人都直言不讳地支持政府增加刺激支出以提振增长，这是冠状病毒大流行困扰美国经济的一个主要问题。
经济政策研究所(Economic Policy Institute)高级经济学家、前劳工部(Labor Department)首席经济学家海蒂·希尔霍尔茨(Heidi Shierholz)在奥巴马政府期间表示，这些选择“表明拜登政府希望将经济顾问委员会(CEA)引向真正以劳动人民和提高工资为中心的方向”。
拜登的提名者也是一个比前任总统更加多样化的个人群体。
如果得到参议院的批准，耶伦将是第一位担任财政部长的女性，此前她是第一位担任美联储主席的女性。劳斯将是CEA成立74年来第一位领导该组织的黑人女性。拜登挑选的管理和预算办公室主任尼拉·坦登(Neera Tanden)将是第一位担任这一职务的南亚裔美国人。
拜登还选择沃利·阿德耶莫(Wally Adeyemo)担任耶伦的副手，这将使他成为第一位黑人财政部副部长。劳斯、坦登和阿德耶莫都需要参议院的批准，尤其是坦登已经受到了共和党的严厉批评。
除了进步的演员阵容，拜登的团队在政府和政策制定方面也有多年的经验。这赢得了一些保守派的喝彩，他们指出，正如唐纳德·特朗普总统在2020年竞选期间一再警告的那样，被提名者不是一个决意扼杀经济的极左团体。
曼哈顿研究所高级研究员、米特·罗姆尼(Mitt Romney)总统竞选顾问布赖恩·里德尔(Brian Riedl)表示:“他们是思想自由主义者，但不是彻底的社会主义者。”“他们是相当传统的自由派经济学家和专家。”
尽管如此，拜登政府的宏伟目标仍将面临国会共和党人的强烈反对。共和党需要在1月5日的特别选举中赢得佐治亚州参议院两个席位中的一个，以保持对参议院的控制，共和党在11月3日民主党在众议院的多数席位上取得了重大进展。
“拜登推行的大多数政策都不会在共和党参议院存活下来，”里德尔说。这些建议包括将最低工资提高到每小时15美元，并大幅增加美国富人的税收。
拜登可能会在明年初获得另一轮刺激支出，特别是如果最近确诊病毒病例的激增将经济再次推入衰退。但是里德说，这样一个一揽子计划可能必须在1万亿美元以下才能获得参议院共和党的支持，而不是众议院议长南希·佩洛西寻求的更高数字。
坦登是自由派智库美国进步中心的主席兼首席执行官，也是奥巴马-拜登总统竞选的国内政策主任。她首先在克林顿轨道上留下了自己的印记，并在2008年希拉里·克林顿的总统竞选中担任政策总监。
得克萨斯州共和党参议员约翰·科宁的发言人在推特上说，坦登“被确认为预算主任的可能性为零”，并引用了“对共和党参议员没完没了的贬低言论”。参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)的政治顾问乔希·霍姆斯(Josh Holmes)在推特上表示，她的任命可能注定要失败。
据一位知情人士透露，布莱恩·迪斯(Brian Deese)预计将被任命为白宫国家经济委员会(House National Economic Council)主任。他曾是奥巴马政府的高级经济顾问，现在是贝莱德(BlackRock)的董事总经理兼可持续投资全球主管。
迪斯在奥巴马政府中从事汽车救助和环境问题的工作，他曾担任国家选举委员会和OMB的副主任。
迪斯和阿德耶莫都因与华尔街大型资产管理公司贝莱德的关系而受到进步人士的抨击。贝莱德试图避免财政部更严格的监管审查。许多活动家抨击该公司持有石油和天然气公司的大量股份。
劳斯是一名劳工经济学家，也是普林斯顿大学公共和国际事务学院的院长，他在2009年至2011年期间在经济顾问委员会任职，并在克林顿政府的1998年至1999年期间在国家选举委员会任职。
值得注意的是，她在今年早些时候组织了一封由100多名经济学家签名的信，呼吁政府采取更多行动来帮助冠状病毒大流行造成的美国人。
劳斯周一在推特上写道:“基于事实和证据的更公平经济的规划现在开始了。”。
前美联储副主席、现任普林斯顿大学经济学教授艾伦·布林德(Alan Blinder)称赞了劳斯的管理风格以及她在教育经济学和劳动力培训方面的专长。拜登提议免除两年的社区大学学费。
布林德说:“这种东西正适合她。”。
鲍谢被选为经济顾问委员会的三名成员之一，他是华盛顿公平增长中心的主席和联合创始人，该中心是一个专注于不平等问题的智库。该中心进行自己的研究，并向大多数左倾学者提供研究不平等方面的资助。
伯恩斯坦也获得了CEA提名，在成为左倾智库预算和政策优先中心的研究员之前，他是当时副总统拜登的顾问。伯恩斯坦也是一名社会工作者，也是一家由劳工支持的智库经济政策研究所的经济学家。
Biden names liberal econ team as pandemic threatens workers
WILMINGTON, Del. -- With unemployment still high and the pandemic threatening yet another economic slump, President-elect Joe Biden is assembling a team of liberal advisers who have long focused on the nation’s workers and government efforts to address economic inequality.
Janet Yellen, announced Monday as Biden’s nominee for treasury secretary, served as chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018, when she placed a greater emphasis than previous Fed chairs on maximizing employment and less focus on price inflation. Biden also named Cecilia Rouse as chair of his Council of Economic Advisers, and Heather Boushey and Jared Bernstein as members of the council.
All are outspoken supporters of more government stimulus spending to boost growth, a major issue with the coronavirus pandemic cramping the U.S. economy.
Those choices “signal the desire of the Biden administration to take the CEA in a direction that really centers on working people and raising wages,” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and former Labor Department chief economist during the Obama administration.
Biden’s nominees are also a more personally diverse group than those of previous presidents.
Yellen, if confirmed by the Senate, would be the first woman to serve as treasury secretary, after breaking ground as the first woman to chair the Fed. Rouse would be the first Black woman to lead the CEA in its 74 years of existence. And Neera Tanden, Biden’s pick for director of the Office of Management and Budget, would be the first South Asian American in that job.
Biden also selected Wally Adeyemo to be Yellen’s deputy, which would make him the first Black deputy treasury secretary. Rouse, Tanden and Adeyemo will all require Senate confirmation, and Tanden in particular is already drawing heavy Republican criticism.
Along with its progressive cast, Biden’s team also has years of experience in government and policymaking. And that’s earning plaudits from some conservatives, who note that the nominees are not a far-left group bent on strangling the economy, as President Donald Trump repeatedly warned during the 2020 campaign.
“They are intellectual liberals, but not burn-it-all-down socialists,” said Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and an adviser to Sen. Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. “They’re fairly conventional liberal economists and experts.”
Still, the Biden administration’s ambitious goals will face solid opposition from Republicans in Congress. The GOP needs to win one of two Georgia Senate seats in a Jan. 5 special election to retain control of the Senate, and the Republicans made major inroads on Nov. 3 in the Democrats' House majority.
“Most of the policies that Biden ran on will not survive a Republican Senate,” Riedl said. Those include proposals to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and significantly increase taxes on wealthy Americans.
Biden could secure another round of stimulus spending early next year, particularly if the recent spikes in confirmed virus cases push the economy into recession again. But such a package will likely have to come in under $1 trillion to get Senate Republican support, Riedl said, rather than the higher figure House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is seeking.
Tanden is the president and CEO of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress and was the director of domestic policy for the Obama-Biden presidential campaign. She first made her mark in the Clinton orbit, and served as policy director for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential race.
A spokesman for GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas tweeted that Tanden “stands zero chance of being confirmed" as budget director, citing “an an endless stream of disparaging comments about" Republican senators. And Josh Holmes, a political adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, tweeted that her confirmation was likely doomed.
Brian Deese, a former senior economic adviser in the Obama administration and now the managing director and global head of sustainable investing at BlackRock, is expected to be named director of the White House National Economic Council, according to a person familiar with transition plans who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Deese worked on the auto bailout and environmental issues in the Obama White House, where he held the title of deputy director of both the NEC and the OMB.
Deese and Adeyemo are both under fire from progressives for their connections to BlackRock, a giant Wall Street asset management firm. BlackRock has sought to avoid greater regulatory scrutiny by Treasury. And many activists assail the firm for owning huge stakes in oil and gas companies.
Rouse, a labor economist and head of Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, served on the CEA from 2009 to 2011, and served on the NEC from 1998 to 1999 in the Clinton administration.
Notably, she organized a letter earlier this year signed by more than 100 economists calling for more government action to help Americans caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The planning for a fairer economy, grounded in facts and evidence, begins now,” Rouse tweeted Monday.
Alan Blinder, former vice chair of the Fed and a currently an economics professor at Princeton, praised Rouse's management style and her expertise in the economics of education and workforce training. Biden has proposed making two years of community college tuition-free.
“That kind of stuff is right in her wheelhouse," Blinder said.
Boushey, picked to be one of the three members of the CEA, is president and co-founder of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a think tank focused on inequality. The center conducts its own research and also provides grants to mostly left-leaning academics to study aspects of inequality.
Bernstein, also nominated for the CEA, was an adviser to then-Vice President Biden during the Obama administration before becoming a fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank. Bernstein has also worked as a social worker and was an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-supported think tank.
