A Question of First Things First

The ancient proverb of finding opportunity in crisis sounds wonderful, but the follow-through can be problematic. Transition staff working for US President-elect Barack Obama hope to enact health care reform and a clean-energy policy. But an economic crisis may not be the time to take on grand new initiatives, suggests Clive Crook, in an essay for the Financial Times. The Obama administration will encounter harsh and immediate demands from all sides, including members of his own party in US Congress. Such is democracy: “It would be wrong for a health or energy plan, the consequences of which the country might have to live with for decades, to go through on the nod because it is part of an emergency stimulus,” Crook notes. An effective economic stimulus package, needed to jumpstart the global economy, requires general rather than specific spending that targets a few sectors. After a series of bailouts and stimulus packages, Crook also questions whether the US will achieve the self-discipline to control a massive deficit. Obama supporters and global onlookers alike could be surprised by the next president’s early steps. – YaleGlobal