Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel: Idea Man or Skull Cracker

Rahm Emanuel apparently will be Barack Obama's White House chief of staff. So what sorts of things about the economy will he be whispering in the new president's ear. Well, Emanuel is "new New Deal" guy. Here is what he proposed several months back concerning the creation of a "new social contract" between government and workers so we don't abandon free trade. As he told me in April, "The answer to our challenges doesn't lie with China changing its currency. The good news is that all the solution like here at home." His ideas:

1) Force students to complete high skill and at least one year of college or higher education. Expanded education tax credits.

2) Universal healthcare for kids and older workers.

3) A National Institutes of Energy modeled after the National Institutes of Health.

4) Universal savings accounts with a government match.

Me: This is the sort of relatively incrementalist agenda that might sense to Obama in a time of budgetary constraints.

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