Obama’s Science Adviser Called for ‘Zero Economic Growth’

CNS News Service ^ | Friday, July 31, 2009 | Christopher Neefus

[jmcenanly]

At a time when it was popular among environmentalists to talk about capping pollutants, John Holdren was writing about placing “caps” on the U.S. economy itself--and working toward “zero economic growth.”

Holdren, who is now President Obama’s top adviser on science and technology policy, wrote in the 1970s that it would be “entirely logical” to cap the Gross National Product--the total productivity of the American economy.

“It is by now abundantly clear that the GNP cannot grow forever. Why should it?” Holdren asked in a 1977 college science textbook he co-wrote with Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich, titled “Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment.”

[jmcenanly]

Holdren makes this guy sound absolutely reasonable.

[livius]

All joking aside, I’ve always thought that “zero economic growth” was what Obama was aiming for all along. He hates us and wants to bring us down to pre-industrial, Third World level.

[FlingWingFlyer]

This guy Holdren is a typical, moronic screwball. A perfect fit in the Obama administration.

[Da Coyote]

Let’s ask “Dr Science,”... he has a master’s degree... in SCIENCE.”

The Obamaloon only picks those with plastic degrees. Yup, you can get one in science - albeit that’s much, much harder than one in the marshmallow arts.

[JPJones]

In addition: Didn’t Geithner recently say something about “getting rid of the economic booms”.....?

[swain_forkbeard]

I found Dr. Strangelove’s advice very “reasonable”. Especially his plan for rebuilding our country’s population.

[SDShack]

Unbelievable! Liberal fanaticism run amok.

Today, the 0zer0 team is out their saying how great -1% GDP is, so I guess this makes sense in 0zer0 world and is what we have to look forward to.

Zero GDP growth means Zero job growth. No wonder 0zer0 had to talk about “saving or creating jobs”, instead of just “creating” them.

I didn't think any president could be worse than Carter, but 0zer0 is making Carter look like a genius.

Didn't 0zer0 say a few weeks ago that “We're broke, we are out of money”. Of course Joe Gaff Biden said that we have to spend more because we are bankrupt. The same Gaff Biden that said “we got it wrong on the economy”. So I guess it makes sense that another advisor is touting Zero GDP growth.

0zer0’s entire economic plan is a “clunker”.

[GQuagmire]

In a sane world, Holdren would be institutionalized.....

[marron]

I think he’s saying that after a couple of years of Obama, zero economic growth will look like something we should aspire to. If the economy would just stop collapsing, wouldn’t that be wonderful.

[marron]

Remember just a couple of years ago when they were trying to convince us that 5.2% unemployment under Bush was a full blown recession?

[dforest]

I guess we are all going to accept this. Okey dokie!

[Chode]

and America, takes another one in the........

[HiTech RedNeck]

He has a Napoleon complex, he’s self loathing, and he’s the TOTUS. Put them together and whaddya get: The pied piper to hell.

[Crazieman]

Directive 10-289?

[Nachum]

The list, ping

[theBuckwheat]

It is very easy to get zero growth under socialism. In fact the Austrian economists have proved that since socialism destroys the ability of an economy to properly measure the costs of its components, “economic calculation” under socialism is IMPOSSIBLE.

In short: socialism is not sustainable.

see: http://mises.org/humanaction/chap26sec3.asp

[Rodamala]

Just a small side note not specifically mentioned in that article... Paul Ehrlich, co-author of that college text in question, was the leading "authority" on population explosion theory. Ehrlich predicted out of control population expansion. Exponential population growth, when combined with a limited or failing global food production system, would doom mankind, IIRC.

Fortunately, most of the population will die off from "CO2 poisoning" and Human-caused Climate Change, first. /s

[Palin2024]

Too bad we won’t be getting any cash for this one!

[mojitojoe]

1. Afghanistan-Pakistan (Af-Pak) czar, Richard Holbrooke
2. AIDS czar, Jeffrey Crowley [openly gay white man]
3. Auto recovery czar, Ed Montgomery
4. Behavioral science czar, position not yet filled
5. Bailout czar, Herbert Allison Jr., [replaced Bush bailout czar Neel Kashkari, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability confirmed by Senate]
6. Border czar, Alan Bersin
7. Car czar, Ron Bloom [Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury , under Senate oversight]
8. Climate change czar, Todd Stern
9. Copyright czar, not appointed yet
10. Counterterrorism czar, John Brennan
11. Cybersecurity czar, position will be vacant on August 21st [upon the departure of Melissa Hathaway]
12. Disinformation czar, Linda Douglass [This is a new media buzz since our earlier list, a response by pundits to the White House request for informants: see Glenn Beck and Lew Rockwell]
13. Domestic violence czar, Lynn Rosenthal
14. Drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske
15. Economic czar, Larry Summers
16. Economic czar number two, Paul Volcker
17. Education czar, Arne Duncan
18. Energy czar, Carol Browner
19. Food czar, Michael Taylor [a former Monsanto executive, or, the fox in charge of the henhouse]
20. Government performance czar, Jeffrey Zients
21. Great Lakes czar, Cameron Davis
22. Green jobs czar, Van Jones [who has a communist background]
23. Guantanamo closure czar, Daniel Fried
24. Health czar, Nancy-Ann DeParle
25. Infotech czar, Vivek Kundra [Shoplifted four shirts, worth $33.50 each, from J.C. Penney in 1996 (source). His last day in DC government was March 4 but on March 12 the FBI raided his office and arrested two staffers.]
26. Intelligence czar, Dennis Blair [Director of National Intelligence, a Senate confirmed position. He is a retired United States Navy four-star admiral]
27. Latin-American czar, Arturo Valenzuela (nominee) [although this post is referred to as a czar, he is nominatied to be Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs and so is subject to Senate confirmation. Voting on his confirmation was delayed to clarify his position on Honduras. Watch WaPo’s Head Count to track status of confirmation.]
28. Mideast peace czar, George Mitchell
29. Mideast policy czar, Dennis Ross
30. Pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg
31. Regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein
32. Religion czar, aka God czar Joshua DuBois
33. Safe schools czar, Kevin Jennings [appointed to be Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, a newly created post (that does not require Senate confirmation); openly gay founder of an organization dedicated to promoting pro-homosexual clubs and curricula in public schools]
34. Science czar, John Holdren
35. Stimulus oversight czar, Earl Devaney
36. Sudan czar, J. Scott Gration
37. TARP czar, Elizabeth Warren [chair of the [Congressional Oversight Panel for the Trouble Assets Relief Program; note that Herb Allison is frequently called the TARP czar]
38. Technology czar, Aneesh Chopra
39. Trade czar, Ron Kirk
40. Urban affairs czar, Adolfo Carrion
41. War czar, Douglas Lute [retained from Bush administration, married to Jane Holl Lute, currently a Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security]
42. Water czar, David J. Hayes [a Deputy Interior Secretary and therefore subject to Senate oversight]
43. Weapons czar, Ashton Carter [actually Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics and so subject to Senate confirmation]
44. Weapons of mass destruction czar, Gary Samore

Positions being planned:

1. Income redistribution czar
2. Land-use czar
3. Mortgage czar, formally “consumer financial protection czar” (source)
4. Radio-internet fairness czar
5. Student loan czar, to oversee a program of mandatory service in return for college money (source)
6. Voter list czar
7. Zoning czar

Obama has moved swiftly to concentrate power in the White House, bypassing the review of our elected representatives in Congress in most of the posts listed above. Even though cabinet positions are part of the executive branch, the cabinet secretaries must be approved by Congress, they are funded by Congress, and they can be called before Congress to testify. Most of these czars, on the other hand, are appointed by Obama at his sole discretion, and are answerable only to him. If subpoenaed by Congress, they can claim executive privilege.

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