So, I bet you all remember that wonderful sexist Larry Summers who said that women aren't excelling in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields because of innate differences between our brains and men's. Isn't he sweet?
Well, word around the water cooler is that he is the front runner for the position of Treasury Secretary in Obama's cabinet. I know he was Clinton's Treasury Sec, but that was also before he decided to tell the world that women have less 'aptitude' then men in certain areas, namely "manly" areas like science. (I wish he'd still be alive when the big old boy's club that is hard science comes crashing down. Sadly, physics and engineering are still quite depressing at the undergrad level.)
Should there be any room in the cabinet of anyone in the Democratic party, especially someone coming off of a campaign rife with sexism, for a person who is so openly sexist? Not only that, but one who is world known as someone who is a raging sexist pig? (Ask anyone in STEM anywhere in the world. The scientists were not amused.)
I'm gonna say no, and not only for obvious reasons, but for the same ones that NOW President Kim Gandy gave:
But on the topic of the old Harvard controversy, Gandy added: ”I’m torn on the subject. Part of me thinks his opinions on women’s capacities for math and science don’t have relevancy to financial markets. On the other hand, economics is a very math-heavy field. Does that mean he’d be less likely to include women in his own circle of advisers? I don’t know the answer to that question; I don’t know him. But I do wonder whether if his comments about women’s lack of aptitude for math and science had instead been a comment or an opinion about African Americans having less capacity for math and science, would he be on anybody’s short-list. That’s a fair question to ask.”
Where's my pony?
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he's offensive on many levels--"Africa Is "UNDER-Polluted"
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumen...
long article on him -- http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/l... -- Lawrence of Absurdia
THAT larry summers?!
why yes, THAT VERY SAME LARRY SUMMERS
Instead of heeding this oracle's warnings, Greenspan, Rubin & Summers rushed to silence her. As the Times story reveals, Born's wise warnings "incited fierce opposition" from Greenspan and Rubin who "concluded that merely discussing new rules threatened the derivatives market." Greenspan deployed condescension and told Born she didn't know what she doing and she'd cause a financial crisis.
[...]
In early 1998, according to the Times story, one of the guys, Larry Summers, called Born to "chastise her for taking steps he said would lead to a financial crisis. But Born kept at it, unwilling to let arrogant men undermine her good judgment. But it got tougher out there. In June 1998, Greenspan, Rubin and the then head of the SEC, Arthur Levitt, Jr., called on Congress "to prevent Ms. Born from acting until more senior regulators developed their own recommendations." (Levitt now says he regrets that decision.) Months later, the huge hedge fund Long Term Capital Management nearly collapsed--confirming some of Born's warnings. (Bets on derivatives were a key reason.)
"Despite that event," the Times reports, " Congress (apparently as a result of Greenspan & Summer's urging, influence-peddling and pressure) "froze" Born's Commissions' regulatory authority.
stoopid grrlz... can't do simple math.
Stoopid grrlz...
... think it's about the math instead of robbing the country blind. What's wrong with them?
Excellent link. Somebody should also look into Valarie Jarrett's time as head of the Chicago Stock Exchange...
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
But, but, his Harvard men LOVE him!
Here's the Boston Globe's pic of Larry to accompany their photoshow of possible cabinet picks.
Oh wait, no, I see one, possibly two women in the back. Well, to be fair Larry never said no women can do math and science. Even evolution occasionally throws out a few genetic freaks.
My guess: if Obama doesn't pick Larry, one of his surrogates will leak that it was because of the controvery TSBs raised to vilify such a nice man. Because ONation just can't get enough of that stuff.
You don’t know me, son. So let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you’ll be awake, you’ll be facing me, and you’ll be armed.
-Malcolm Reynolds, “Serenity”
i think it's more likely that a Wall St guy gets it--
non-profit/academic guys will get other posts (like EPA or HHS or Surgeon General or whatever--less business-y posts), but Treasury will go to someone like a Corzine--who was a bigshot on Wall St (but not to Corzine himself).
Banks/finance/creditcards look like this new administration's version of Bush/Cheney's oil industry focus--from Biden on down.
From Big Oil to Big Money
Yeppers. Quite right. That's what to watch for. Linky goodness! (I imagine that Bloomberg and WSJ are just as corrupt as WaPo and the Times, but I will say that Bloomberg tends to be a beat ahead, and the writing is snappier. Plus, their hawt anchorwoman wears [wait for it] a tweed jacket. How classy is that?
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi