Robert Johnson Rob Johnson is the Director of the Project on Global Finance at the Roosevelt Institute and is a regular contributor to NewDeal 2.0, which runs his "FinanceSeer" column. He serves on the United Nations Commission of Experts on Finance and International Monetary Reform. Previously, Dr. Johnson was a managing director at Soros Fund Management, where he managed a global currency, bond and equity portfolio specializing in emerging markets. He was also a managing director at the Bankers Trust Company. Dr. Johnson has served as chief economist of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee under the leadership of Chairman William Proxmire and was senior economist of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee under the leadership of Chairman Pete Domenici. Dr. Johnson was an executive producer of "Taxi to the Dark Side," an Oscar-winning documentary produced and directed by Alex Gibney. Dr. Johnson is a member of the Development Advisory Board of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., and is the former president of the National Scholastic Chess Foundation. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Economic Policy Institute and the Institute for America's Future. Dr. Johnson received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from Princeton University and a B.S. in both Electrical Engineering and Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As Frank Zappa would say…

“This is the crux of the biscuit”

From Ryan Grim on HuffPo (”Wall Street Banks Tricking Little Guys Into Lobbying for Them”)”:

Wall Street titans, recognizing that they have something of a credibility problem when it comes to opposing regulatory reform, are enlisting more sympathetic, everyday folks to lobby on their behalf on Capitol Hill.

Bankers, brokers and swaps dealers have been browbeating their clients — farmers, fuel companies, airlines, municipal power companies — who are the “end users” of financial derivatives: Lobby Congress against reform of the derivatives market, the bankers say, or the cost of your derivative deals will skyrocket.

“There are many…

No Change to Believe In: Finance is much the same as ever.

Writing for Newsweek, Rob Johnson explores the obstacles to financial reform. Will it take another meltdown to get them?

The worst crisis since the Great Depression is entering its third year — the recession actually began in late 2007. Trillions of dollars have been lost worldwide, both on the balance sheets of financial institutions, and more profoundly in lost GDP and employment. Yet so far there is no serious legislation in the pipeline that would address the causes of the meltdown by radically overhauling the banking and mortgage-finance systems and regulating trade in risky assets like derivatives.

There are four reasons for…

If only they had been in Charge instead of Geithner/Bernanke and Paulson

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Reflections on Obama, One Year Later: ‘Tragically Charismatic’

One year after Obama’s election, Rob Johnson, Director of Financial Reform at the Roosevelt Institute, looks at his promise, his tragic flaw, and the need for the President to stand up to powerful industry groups if he is to stem the tide of public cynicism.

Barack Obama was elected to the White House just after the turmoil of TARP and the climax of the crisis of financial markets. People throughout the country had deep suspicions of the government, and justifiably so. After all, the Bush years were a feeding frenzy for cronyism and corporate welfare. The TARP and the AIG scandals emitted…

New Agenda for America: Will the Day that Lehman Died Mark the Movement to a New Paradigm?

To mark the 80th Anniversary of the Great Crash of ‘29, we asked 15 progressive thinkers to write about lessons learned and what lies ahead. Together, their reflections constitute a New Agenda for America — a message of how the ideals of a fair society should apply to the economic and social policies of our time.

Today marks the 80th anniversary of an epochal day in this country’s history — the beginning of what became the Great Depression. The widespread misery that followed changed our ways of conceiving of the economy and how a good society should operate. While there have been…

Opening night in Chicago: Senator Durbin denounces unfairness; calls for reform

Rob Johnson, Director of the Economic Policy Initiative of the Roosevelt Institute, is on the ground in Chicago, where thousands of Americans have gathered to protest bank abuse. Johnson reflects on the reform needed, and ask the provocative question: Should women regulate finance?

“There were times when I thought I couldn’t last for long
But now I think I’m able to carry on
It’s been a long, been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will”

~~Sam Cooke: A Change is Gonna Come

Opening night at the Showdown in Chicago. Senator Durbin from Illinois gave a rousing speech…

ND20 Alert: Derivatives Regulation. Does Barney Frank heed the warning?

See the story on FRONTLINE of Brooksley Born and the Commodities Futures Trading Corp (CFTC). Featuring Rubin, Greenspan, Summers, Levitt and Roosevelt Institute friends Joe Stiglitz and Michael Greenberger.

From PBS website: “Long before the meltdown, one woman tried to warn about a threat to the financial system.”

Click here for details on this must-see episode.

Rob Johnson is a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Project on Global Finance at the Roosevelt Institute.

2 to Go: Letter to FCIC from Roosevelt Institute’s Andrew Rich and Rob Johnson

Today, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, established by Congress to investigate the causes of the financial market collapse, will hold its first public meeting. What will happen? The public is concerned and rightfully so. Will we take this opportunity to find out what caused the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression and learn how to prevent its reccurance? Or will we squander this moment in deference to powerful interests and some of the very people whose reckless actions harmed our society — at the peril of our security and the very fabric that is the essence of a civil…

Van and Veal

Glen Beck gets a scalp. Are we now serving chicken Obama to the media?

Read Jane Hamsher’s take on the Van Jones sacrifice and how liberals got corralled into a ‘veal pen’ by the administration…

Rob Johnson is a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Project on Global Finance at the Roosevelt Institute.

Squandered Honeymoon: How botched bailouts hamper healthcare reform

Has the Obama administration’s fumbling on finance led to a loss of faith that’s roadblocking healthcare reform? Robert Johnson, Director of the Economic Policy Initiative at the Roosevelt Institute, explains what happens when a choice of government or free markets looks like no-win scenario, and calls on Obama to regain our trust.

We live in an era where the effectiveness of government has been denigrated for more than 30 years. The echo chamber of the right, particularly since the election of Ronald Reagan, has sought to intimidate anyone who let the romantic notion into their head that government can help. They…