4 brutal takedowns of Politico's plan to craft a 'boom economy'
The ultimate insider news organization takes insider-ism to a whole new level — drawing scorn from many fellow journalists
The conceit of "Crafting a Boom Economy," a new story by Politico editor Jim VandeHei and chief political correspondent Mike Allen, is that a bipartisan consensus exists in Washington, D.C., on how to reinvigorate the economy, but elected officials are constrained by political polarization from admitting the truth. In interviews with "top lawmakers, officials, their senior aides, and the CEOs who advise and lobby all of them," VandeHei and Allen have gleaned a foolproof, five-point plan for strong economic growth:
It's as simple as that, according to the luminaries quoted in the story, including Bill Clinton's former chief of staff Erskine Bowles, Warren Buffett, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and a lot of financiers: Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, hedge fund manager Kenneth Griffin, and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Of course, the limited scope of that source pool, as well as the Moses-like handing-down of infallible truths, has drawn guffaws from certain quarters of the web. Here are four samples:
"Politico accidentally exposes Beltway elite" by Jonathan Chait at New York:
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"Delusions of wisdom" by Paul Krugman at The New York Times:
"Politico's hilarious article on what it will take to make the economy 'boom'" by Joseph Weisenthal at Business Insider:
"Things in Politico that make me want to guzzle antifreeze, point of no return edition" by Charles P. Pierce at Esquire:
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Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.
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