just for jim....

[wesw]

oh, I don t know....

has the current HUD crop of leaders and bureaucrats been effective?

the last lauded leader, that I can recall, was jack kemp.

granted, carson is no quarterback, but......

[Big RR]

Even if they have not been effective (and I'll leave that assessment to people who follow HUD and it successes and problems), that's no reason to just nominate someone who will not be effective for your administration. Political patronage/rewards should be for jobs of no consequence, not heading a major cabinet department.

[Lord Jim]

Wes, I don't have a knee-jerk negative reaction to somebody being picked who doesn't come from the pool of people approved by the lobbying interests for that department...(As evidenced by my putting Betsy DeVos on my "wait and see list")

But Carson is more than just an "outside the box" pick...

It's not that Carson has unconventional or unorthodox ideas for new approaches to the issues that HUD deals with; there is no evidence that Carson has given any thought whatsoever to these issues at all...

On top of that, by his own admission, he has absolutely no experience running a large organization of any kind...(Carson has never run anything larger than a surgical team) in fact he found the prospect of doing so so intimidating that he turned down the HHS position.

So, he has never demonstrated any interest in the issues involved, has never developed any ideas about them, and has no experience at all running a large organization ...

That's three strikes in my book...

[Sue U]

oh, I don t know....

has the current HUD crop of leaders and bureaucrats been effective?

the last lauded leader, that I can recall, was jack kemp.

granted, carson is no quarterback, but......

HUD oversees a sprawling portfolio of housing and urban development issues. Here's a link to a 146-page booklet that provides only a basic listing of departmental programs.

Despite its extensive mandate, HUD is chronically underfunded by Congress, resulting in cuts to programs that serve the most needy, including homeless families and veterans.

The last major scandal at HUD occurred under Ronald Reagan, when 16 administration officials were convicted in rigging bids for low-income housing projects to reward Reagan campaign contributors and Republican lobbyists.

Also, Jack Kemp was ineffective as HUD Secretary for a variety of reasons, including the Bush I administration's general disinterest in poverty and urban affairs and Kemp's own inability to work with Congress.

Of course, you could have found all this yourself with a simple google search, but you are still apparently A Idiot.

[Big RR]

Disninterest? Didn't he have his thousand points of light?

But the Carson nomination shows Trump has no interest in such things whatsoever.

[Sue U]

Disninterest? Didn't he have his thousand points of light?

But the Carson nomination shows Trump has no interest in such things whatsoever.

Not sure I agree. By his nominations of Betsy DeVos, Ben Carson, Tom Price and Seema Verma, Trump has demonstrated that he is actively hostile to the interests of minorities, cities and the poor, at virtually every level.

[Big RR]

You could well be right, sue. Either way, he will make it a worse time to be poor or minority.

[wesw]

sue...., that should be..., AN idiot....

[Long Run]

[Sue U]

Yet another sterling cabinet pick for Trump: a Labor Secretary whose businesses routinely violate labor laws and exploit minimum wage workers; who opposes the overtime rules he is supposed to enforce, as well as any increase in the minimum wage; who thinks workers are happier being called "assistant manager" rather than actually getting paid for overtime, and who makes up economic "facts" to justify his anti-labor ideology.

Thank God for Donald Trump, candidate of the working man!

O hai, all you working class people who voted for Trump, I'm sure this administration will be great for you!

ETA:

Oh, what did you say, New York Times?

Andrew Puzder Is the Wrong Choice for Labor Secretary

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
DEC. 8, 2016

Working in fast-food is no picnic. The industry is infamous for grindingly low pay and labor law violations. Yet Andrew Puzder, the chief executive of the company that operates Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, has been chosen by President-elect Donald Trump as labor secretary.

Here is the record at those restaurants. When the Obama Labor Department looked at thousands of complaints involving fast-food workers, it found labor law violations in 60 percent of the investigations at Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, usually for failure to pay the minimum wage or time and a half for overtime.

The central problem for workers today is persistently low pay, even at profitable companies with highly paid executives. Mr. Puzder, however, has been adamantly opposed to a meaningful increase in the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour. Mr. Trump has said he could stomach an increase to $10, which is still abysmal. Ideally, a labor secretary, who is supposed to have a deeper understanding of this issue, would push for much more. But Mr. Puzder has said that a big raise would mean fewer jobs for workers starting out. Even if that was true, and the evidence suggests otherwise, there are millions more who would benefit from raising the minimum wage.

Mr. Puzder has also been a scathing critic of efforts by the Obama administration to update the rules for overtime-pay eligibility, which have not been fully adjusted for inflation since the mid-1970s. His argument boils down to an assertion that employees prefer a low salary and the “prestige” of a managerial title — even though they would be entitled to overtime if they remained hourly employees. His opposition to the new overtime rules is especially troubling given that it would be his task as labor secretary to defend the rules, which have been challenged in court.

Mr. Puzder has also blamed the Affordable Care Act for causing a “restaurant recession.” There is no evidence that health care reform has harmed job growth, and there is certainly no evidence of a restaurant recession.

Mandatory sick leave has been criticized by Mr. Puzder as well. He says it would be an undue burden on businesses. Yet in all other advanced economies, paid sick days, paid parental leave and similar policies are rightly seen as investments in human capital, as necessary as investments in plants and equipment.

For Mr. Puzder, being pro-business seems to mean being anti-worker. That makes him the wrong choice for labor secretary.

NYT

[Lord Jim]

On Morning Joe this morning, they were reporting that this clown has moved into top contention along with Mitt Romney for the SOS position:

Rex Tillerson, a Candidate for Secretary of State, Has Ties to Vladimir Putin

Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Rex Tillerson, who was meeting with Donald Trump on Tuesday to discuss becoming his secretary of state, is a seasoned deal-maker whose close ties to Vladimir Putin and other world leaders could redefine American interests abroad.

His emergence as a candidate to be the nation’s top diplomat despite having no government experience surprised senior Exxon officials—including Mr. Tillerson, according to people familiar with the matter.

Friends of the 64-year-old Texas oilman, whom they describe as a staunch conservative, said they expect he would consider the job due to his sense of patriotic duty and because he is set to retire from the company next year. The meeting was taking place Tuesday morning at Trump Tower in New York, according to a transition official.

His appointment would introduce the potential for sticky conflicts of interest because of his financial stake in Exxon, which explores for oil and gas on six of the world’s seven continents and has operations in more than 50 countries. He owns Exxon shares worth $151 million, according a recent securities filing.

Friends and associates said few U.S. citizens are closer to Mr. Putin than Mr. Tillerson, who has known Mr. Putin since he represented Exxon’s interests in Russia during the regime of Boris Yeltsin.

“He has had more interactive time with Vladimir Putin than probably any other American with the exception of Henry Kissinger,” said John Hamre, a former deputy defense secretary during the Clinton administration and president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank where Mr. Tillerson is a board member.

In 2011, Mr. Tillerson struck a deal giving Exxon access to prized Arctic resources in Russia as well as allowing Russia’s state oil company, OAO Rosneft, to invest in Exxon concessions all over the world. The following year, the Kremlin bestowed the country’s Order of Friendship decoration on Mr. Tillerson.[ This would be like having a Secretary Of State who had received The Order Of Lenin ]

The deal would have been transformative for Exxon. Mr. Putin at the time called it one of the most important involving Russia and the U.S., forecasting that the partnership could eventually spend $500 billion. But it was subsequently blocked by sanctions on Russia that the U.S. and its allies imposed two years ago after the country’s invasion of Crimea and conflicts with Ukraine.

Mr. Tillerson spoke against the sanctions at the company’s annual meeting in 2014. “We always encourage the people who are making those decisions to consider the very broad collateral damage of who are they really harming with sanctions,” he said.

Read more here:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trum ... 1481033938

No experience, conflicts of interest up the wazoo, and a hardcore longtime Putin pal...

Well, I wouldn't have thought this possible, but congratulations Donald...

You've managed to come up with a potential SOS candidate that would be even worse than Rudy Giuliani...

The good news is that if this Putin crony is nominated, he will face serious confirmation problems, with two GOP Senate votes pretty much automatically against him, (McCain and Graham) and a number of others (like Marco Rubio, who has also said he's not going to vote for nominees soft on Putin) likely to follow suit.

Knowing that the nomination would face significant Republican Senate opposition and might very well be voted down will hopefully be enough to discourage Trump from even trying to get this guy for the job.

[Crackpot]

No it will give him the ability to deflect his failures "If you would have allowed the guy I wanted...

[ex-khobar Andy]

Per Sue's NYT cut:

Mr. Puzder has also blamed the Affordable Care Act for causing a “restaurant recession.” There is no evidence that health care reform has harmed job growth, and there is certainly no evidence of a restaurant recession.

I recall that when John Schnitzer of Papa John's pizza chain did the math, he decided and announced that giving health care to all the workers would add $0.14 to the price of a pizza.

[Guinevere]

oh, I don t know....

Truer words never written here.


I've been too jammed with work and holiday and my Swede to post here, but the appointments are universally cynical, self-serving, and wholly designed to protect and shield the P-E , rather than serve the American people. Such a group of insiders with long records of opposing the policies of the agencies they are taking over, or newcomers without a lick of experience or sense, I have never seen. It's insulting to everyone who has worked long and hard to make our country better, and truly sad.

I am fighting as many as I can and I encourage others to do the same. Do not remain silent.

[ex-khobar Andy]

With you Guin at the barricades . . .

Almost worse than Trump if that were possible, is the realization that something like 50% (give or take) of the people I see every day are so fucking dense that they bought it. Yes the Russians and the FBI and Hillary's obvious flaws (not a good speaker, for one) and some electoral games may have played a role in a percent or two here and there; and may even have turned the election. But it should not have been close. It's a bit like blaming the field goal kicker who misses a sitter in the final minute, when the team should have been 20 points up by then.


You begin to wonder if the (mostly right-wing led) neglect of the public education system was part of a cunning plot to bring us to this moment.

[Guinevere]

Glad to have you with us Andy!

I am truly beginning to believe that the goal of the Trump administration is to keep the majority of Americans stupid, poor, unhealthy, and unsafe, so that those few Trumpanzees insiders can cash in and then walk away after destroying our great nation.

[Guinevere]

Jesus, and now Tillerson for Secretary of State. I'm going to puke. Better start learning Russian now.

[Burning Petard]

"I am truly beginning to believe that the goal of the Trump administration is to keep the majority of Americans stupid, poor, unhealthy, and unsafe. . . . "

I went thru the training program to become a public school teacher about 50 years ago.I dropped out when I decided that the above was indeed the primary function of the public school system--to provide a cheap and maleable mass labor supply. Unhappily economic systems have changed and that cheap mass labor is now mainly useful off-shore. Meanwhile the USofA pipeline for science and technology workers is inferior to most of the rest of the developed world.

snailgate

[Guinevere]

I absolutely disagree with you snail. I am the proud recipient of a public education, and that's not how I ended up. Massachusetts and Maryland have the finest public education systems in the country, and both of those states enjoy the significant economic and cultural benefits of a highly educated populace.

[BoSoxGal]

Guin I heard a report on radio or tv this week that Trump's transition team has requested extensive info on EPA civil servants and in particular scientists and their CVs. Can you speak to what protections are in place, if any, to ensure that Pruitt doesn't purge the best & brightest from the agency?

eta: Actually I gather it's Department of Energy scientists that they are researching - who has attended climate change conferences, published papers on climate change, etc.