KeithHennessey.com

Many of you are new to this blog since I wrote extensively about autos six weeks ago.  As background, I coordinated the auto loan process for President Bush last fall as the Director of the White House National Economic Council (the position now held by Dr. Lawrence Summers).  I wrote a series of posts on [...]

I wrote last Friday about the China/India hole in the American climate strategy: America appears to lack a high-probability strategy for how to get China, India, and Russia to agree to self-impose a significant positive carbon price. The Administration and its Congressional allies are trying to impose a significant carbon price in the U.S. through [...]

(Editorial note:  I was doing so well moving to shorter posts.  I fail miserably in achieving that goal here.  I went the comprehensive route instead.  I promise to return to shorter posts in the future.  Buckle up – this is a long ride.  I hope you find it’s worth it.) (Update:  There’s an important correction [...]

The Obama Administration is beginning to leak to the press their impending decision on loans to U.S. auto manufacturers.  I am writing in parallel to explain how you might think about such a Presidential decision.  There’s an obvious caveat that every President and each Administration are different, but I hope my explanation will at least [...]

I watched the President’s Tuesday evening press conference twice, and have been studying the transcript as well.  I believe the best way to understand a policymaker is simple:  read, watch, or listen to the words that he or she says.  Getting a policymaker’s views through a news filter distorts and loses content.  In this blog, [...]

About Keith Hennessey About this blog About the National Economic Council About my work in the White House Photo credits Technical credits About Keith Hennessey I served as the senior White House economic advisor to President George W. Bush.  My job was to coordinate economic policy for the President, including macroeconomic issues, financial markets and [...]

President Bush spoke at the Manhattan Institute today on financial markets and the world economy. This speech is a prelude to the financial summit the President will host this weekend.  I’ll write separately about the Summit, and about the elements of today’s speech that talk about principles for reform. I want to draw your attention [...]

In May of 2007, I wrote “Why are gas prices high, and what can we do about it?”  At the time, the national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.22. The national average price is now 59¢ higher, at $3.81 per gallon.  That’s down 30¢ from a high of $4.11 in [...]

USA Today editorializes today against making the tax cuts permanent, and includes an opposing view from me. I’ll include both here.  I’ve learned that he who writes the opposing view is at a disadvantage, in that they get to see what I wrote, but not the reverse.  I thought I had anticipated their attacks, but [...]

The Senate is now debating a climate change bill, typically referred to as the “Lieberman-Warner” bill, referring to Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Sen. John Warner (R-VA).  Technically, we think they’ll end up considering a slightly different version of that bill, offered by the Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Sen. Barbara [...]