November 16, 2020—Posted on Reddit. Reminder that Minnesota hasn't voted GOP since Nixon. New York not since Reagan. California and Illinois not since Bush 41... Only DC has never voted Republican.
Early alerts on longer-term business, economic and public policy issues. Successor to the web site www.cityeconomist.com. Maintained by John Tepper Marlin.
Monday, November 16, 2020
REPUBLICAN STATES | By Presidency
I write about the biographical and economic threads in history. Special interests include symbols of family, such as coats of arms, and the behavior of families in a crisis.
Sunday, November 15, 2020
ECONOMIST JOB OPENING | In Washington, D.C.
This position is one of a team of four economic policy analysts in an economic policy research and advocacy firm. The team works with legislators, Hill staffers, academics, public interest groups, and progressive organizations on domestic economic policy legislative and political projects with a focus on fiscal and financial policy.Target Start Date: December 7, 2020Job Description: http://eepurl.com/hh3ccr
I write about the biographical and economic threads in history. Special interests include symbols of family, such as coats of arms, and the behavior of families in a crisis.
Thursday, November 12, 2020
BIDEN TRANSITION | Lessons from FDR (updated December 2, 2020)
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| (Library of Congress) Hoover traveling with FDR in silence to FDR' inauguration, Saturday, March 4, 1933. |
—The article is updated with information on most-talked-about appointments here. Biden transition teams list is here.
—Some jobs are not coming back even when Covid-19 is over.
The photo of FDR and Hoover above, on their way to FDR's inauguration, is poignant. On the way, they didn't talk much. Hoover asked a favor of FDR for someone he appointed and would be left behind. FDR promised nothing.
Although FDR served as President for more than twelve years, until his death in 1945, the President and ex-President never met again. Transitions can be brutal in both directions.
FDR faced a mountain of challenges that Hoover had never addressed. Hoover went from being the most powerful person in a devastated world into a total eclipse by someone who knew better than Hoover what to do with the job and power that Hoover left behind.
I write about the biographical and economic threads in history. Special interests include symbols of family, such as coats of arms, and the behavior of families in a crisis.
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
PRESIDENT-ELECT BIDEN'S CABINET | As of January 20, 2021
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| Appointments of President Biden and VP Kamala Harris |
This post is left as it was at the time of President Biden's inauguration. It is updated with new confirmations here:
https://cityeconomist.blogspot.com/2021/01/president-bidens-cabinet-history-and.html
President Joseph Biden has nominated 24 people to cabinet-level positions. Nearly half (eleven) are women. The cabinet was originally composed of the heads of the largest agencies. That today is 15 people, of whom five are women. The other nine positions are cabinet rank.
These numbers exclude the President and Vice President Kamala Harris. Cabinet photos always include the President, but not always the Vice President; Biden is likely to be inclusive. (The Washington Post photos of the cabinet on January 16 included the vice president.)
Agencies change their names and spin off new agencies that become cabinet level themselves. Who is of cabinet rank changes with every administration. Here is some history, followed by President Biden's list and confirmation status.
The cabinet was originally five under Washington. George Washington's cabinet showed five men—the President and the Secretaries of State (Jefferson), Treasury (Hamilton) and War (Knox), and the Attorney-General, heading the Justice Department (Randolph). It was formed after the middle of Washington's first term. The heads of the four agencies are in the order of succession to the presidency in the event of the president becoming incapacitated; precedence is based on when the agencies were first created.
FDR had a cabinet of eleven, including himself. Four date back to Washington's cabinet—State (Hull), Treasury (Woodin), War (Dern), Justice (AG Cummings). Four were new—Agriculture (Wallace), Commerce (Roper), Interior (Ickes) and Labor (Perkins). The other two agencies, since dropped, were the Postmaster-General (Farley) and Navy Secretary (Swanson).
Biden's cabinet has the basic fifteen (plus himself and , the Vice President), plus nine other cabinet-rank positions. The basic eight are the agencies on FDR's list after the two deletions, except that the Department of War on August 10, 1949 was renamed the Department of Defense. Since Roosevelt, seven agencies have been added to his surviving eight: Health and Human Services (HHS, formerly HEW), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Transportation, Energy, Education, Veterans Administration and Homeland Security (DHS). Total: 15 agencies.
The nine other appointees of cabinet rank are a separate group composed of staff members heading smaller agencies or staff groups (3 men, 6 women)—The President's Chief of Staff (no Senate confirmation required), Director of National Intelligence, Science Adviser, CEA Chair, CIA Director, EPA Administrator, OMB Director, SBA Administrator, US Trade Representative (USTR) and UN Ambassador. Sources: AP, Biden Transition, NPR, WaPo.
I. CABINET (Agency heads, subject to Senate confirmation). 15 (10M, 5W). (WaPo's list includes the Vice President and Chief of Staff here, for a total of 17. Chief of Staff is listed here in the second group. Cabinet photos also include the President himself, which would bring the photo to 17 people.)
Health and Human Services Secretary: Xavier Becerra. Former attorney general of California, he led the defense of Obamacare. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director: Rochelle Walensky.)
Veterans Affairs Secretary. Denis McDonough.
II. CABINET RANK (Smaller agencies and WH Staff) 9 (3M, 6W)
National Intelligence Director: Avril Haines. Confirmation hearing, Select Committee on Intelligence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukPQtthKEQQ.
(National Security Council: National Security Adviser: Jake Sullivan)
U.S. Trade Representative: Katherine Tai.
III. OTHER KEY APPOINTEES
Climate Special Presidential Envoy: John Kerry. The new position was recommended by Justice Democrats and the Sunrise Movement. National Climate Adviser: Gina McCarthy.
Council on Environmental Quality, Chair: Brenda Mallory
Domestic Policy Council, Director: Susan Rice.
National Economic Council, Director: Brian Deese.
IV. MORE ABOUT THE CABINET AND BIDEN'S CHALLENGES
- Fortune's take on the economic team.
- Biden Cabinet to Be the Most Diverse Ever (December 19)
I write about the biographical and economic threads in history. Special interests include symbols of family, such as coats of arms, and the behavior of families in a crisis.
Sunday, November 1, 2020
STATE RACES, RED TO BLUE | Heidi's Picks
The following summary of key down-ballot state races was sent to me by Heidi Fiske, who asked me to post it on her behalf, as I have done before:
Nothing is more important than winning the Presidency and taking back the Senate.
But those races are attracting huge sums of money. Not so the state races, which both require and attract less money.
We will realize in January just how important these overlooked races are, because that’s when governors, state AGs, state Secretaries of State, state judges and state legislatures will determine the district lines that will hold for a decade, through 2030, based on this year's foreshortened census.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), the Democratic body that concerns itself with state races, says that if the 48 state legislative candidates in the links below are elected, they will flip 10 chambers in seven critical states from Red to Blue. Of these seats, 34 are in chambers that will rule on district lines for one-third of all House seats (144 of 435).
- Heidi's Picks incorporates recommendations of the DLCC, Future Now, and some other individuals and groups.
- Arizona, 5 legislative candidates
- Iowa, 4 legislative candidates
- Michigan, 4 legislative candidates
- Minnesota, 2 legislative candidates
- North Carolina, 11 legislative + Attorney General + Secretary of State + 2 Supreme Court candidates [NC’s superb governor is not included only because he is well-funded and almost certain to win]
- Pennsylvania, 13 legislative candidates [PA’s outstanding Attorney General is not included only because he is considered sure to win]
- Texas, 9 legislative + 4 Supreme Court
I write about the biographical and economic threads in history. Special interests include symbols of family, such as coats of arms, and the behavior of families in a crisis.
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