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Barack Obama on Wednesday announced the establishment
of an Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and named former Federal Reserve
Chairman Paul Volcker as the panel’s chairman. “It has become increasingly clear in recent months that we are facing
an economic crisis of historic proportions. At this defining moment for our
nation, the old ways of thinking and acting just won’t do,” the president-elect said. “We are
called to seek fresh thinking and bold new ideas from the leading minds across
America. And as we chart a course to economic recovery, we must ensure that our
government – your government – is held accountable for delivering results.”
Obama stated that the panel would be modeled after the President’s Foreign
Intelligence Advisory Board and would be composed of those representing
business, labor and academia.
“The reality is that sometimes policymaking in Washington can become
too insular. The walls of the echo chamber can sometimes keep out fresh voices
and new ways of thinking — and those who serve in Washington don’t always have
a ground-level sense of which programs and policies are working for people, and
which aren’t,” the president-elect said.
Obama argued that the new advisory board would “provide that
perspective to me and my administration, with an infusion of ideas from across
the country and from all sectors of our economy.”
Obama said he would name other members of the panel in the coming weeks
but did announce that Austan Goolsbee would serve as the board’s staff director
and chief economist, as well as one of the three members of the Council of
Economic Advisers.
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