The list of proposed candidates to replace Larry Summers as director of the President’s National Economic Council includes Jason Furman, Richard Levin, and Gene Sperling. They, like Summers are Jewish.
The head of the Fed Ben Bernanke is Jewish of course as are other board members and other prominent Jews associated with the government are Rubin/Volcker/Geithner. Even the most notable bear Nouriel Roubini is Jewish.
Surely there must be economists and businessmen from the vast American ethnic community who have the experience and standing to be placed in these positions which are so vital to the welfare of all Americans. Are there no Italian Americans at Harvard, no Irish Americans at Yale, no Black or Hispanic Americans in leading corporations capable of economic management?
My concern in this matter is not for the direction of the economy or concern that non-Jewish Americans are being passed over perhaps for these senior roles but the concern is for the Jewish community.
When the economy is booming and everyone is "getting a taste" then Greenspan can rule the Fed forever and no one would care. However should the economy have a second, major downturn then with so many Jews so prominent in the highest echelons of economic policy making there might be an upwelling of anti-semitism.
When things turn really bad history shows that scapegoats are looked for and history has shown that the Jews were the ultimate scapegoat for the last depression. This happened after the Russian revolution in which Jews, such as Trotsky, Sverdlov, Zinoviev, Litvinov and many others were prominent in the highest echelons of the Communist party. When the economy turned disastrous it unleashed waves of anti-semitism in Russia and the Nazi's used these same Russian leaders as political straw men to aid their rise to power, with terrible results for European Jews.
Logic falls by the wayside when unemployment rises to massive numbers. Mad conspiracy theories emerge, such as the Warburg banking family (one of whom helped create the Fed) ran America, with one branch, and Germany with another, that there was a secret Jewish organization with a master plan to take over the world (The Protocols of Zion).
There is no doubt whatsoever that non-Jews could fill major roles in the economy, it is a puzzle as to why they are not being brought forward by both Republican and Democratic administrations. I believe it would be in the Jewish communities long term best interest if there was more of an ethnic balance at the top.
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