Brian Deese: The New Face of General Motors

Brian DeeseBrian Deese hails from the establishment elites: the son of an engineer specializing in “renewable energy” and a political science professor at Boston College, he majored in political science at Middlebury College, went on to Yale Law School, took leave to become deputy economic policy director for the Obama campaign, then moved on to the White House’s National Economic Council. The New York Times recently profiled Mr. Deese, 31 years old, as the face behind the dismantling and restructuring of General Motors:

Mr. Deese’s role is unusual for someone who is neither a formally trained economist nor a business school graduate, and who never spent much time flipping through the endless studies about the future of the American and Japanese auto industries.

The profile quotes Lawrence Summers on Deese:

“And there he was in the Roosevelt Room, speaking up vigorously to make the point that the costs we were going to incur giving Fiat a chance were no greater than some of the hidden costs of liquidation.”

Yet Mr. Deese’s impressive legal and politically scientific education has apparently not instilled in him any basic understanding of opportunity cost. Presiding over General Motors’s operations should teach him a few lessons, which he is likely to ignore, as have scores of career bureaucrats preceding him. The argument Mr. Deese employed in favor of nationalizing General Motors — that costs to the government would be greater under dissolution due to associated unemployment and insurance expenses — betrays inability to see past the numbers in front of him.

Read the rest in Commentary Magazine.

Viola—Purple Glory

Viola

I love this drawing. These were the times when I had gotten great at the technique but I just didn’t have the time to draw as often. Around the beginning of high school, I think. I remember I drew this around Christmas. The picture doesn’t do it justice because the drawing is huge and the paper has folded a bit under its own gravity. So the golden sickle looks a bit crooked and the posture seems off. So much detail is lost! The texture is not fully captured either: There is a sparkle layer over the eyes and over the most precious parts of her garment. Damn, I can really draw anime!