Interesting roll out of policy perspective and managment acumen from the White House -- a Citibanker at Treasury, an expert in giving away money at OMB, and now a government supplier at Commerce. It seems members of print it, borrow it and spend it coalition will be well taken care of.

Look out America there will be a nationwide Art Tax shortly.

"Beyond her work at OIW and United Streetcar, Brown also shares her other passions. She serves on the board of eight non-profit organizations or business associations, including Portland’s Creative Advocacy Network, an organization dedicated to funding art education in the Portland area"

http://capitalistchicks.com/?q=node/542

From the article: Though the company was overbudget and beset with delays...

CORRECTION: Not "was"... "IS"!

Here's one completely legit and serious news story that captures today's government/manufacturing dynamic:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/hungover-energy-secretary-wakes-up-next-to-solar-p,31204/

"over budget and beset with delays" transfers well from Portland to DC...an appropriate bumper sticker for Obanomics. She'll fit right in.

If the unethical, wasteful, corrupt, and stifling "changes" currently being imposed on Portland were being quietly greenlighted by the White House, it could explain a lot. There's definitely something disturbing about the widespread arrogant confidence, disregard for rules of conduct, and coordinated persistence that our local public officials keep displaying. Is Portland a federally backed experiment?

This kind of thing is not impossible. Look up "Project MKUltra" and other related projects going around the same time if you want to try on your own tin hat.

Isn't it something how the press never reports the pay to play crony capitalists activities by the ruling class around here?

What a wonderful world it is.

Of course OIW & their gal was cozy with the local politicians. That helps.

Back on November 21st the Clackamas County commission voted unanimously to give Oregon Iron Works/United Streetcar $2 million in tax dollars.

It was never reported. You'd think they would have bragged about.

But weeks later one of the outgoing commissioners got her dream job with the company.
Now there's some "job creation" for ya.

http://portlandtribune.com/cr/24-news/127310-lininger-joins-oregon-iron-works

There was no county press release about the $2 million bragging about "job creation" and even after getting all of the info, the Oregonian spiked the story.

Here is the deal:

The last item in the packet, last 10 pages, the agreement with Oregon Iron Works.
It didn't say where the money comes from $1 million was Urban Renewal and $1 million from an Oregon Opportunity Fund.

http://www.clackamas.us/bcc/documents/businesspackets/packet112112.pdf

Oregon Iron Works had already been given property the county bought to use for close to free.

It's all part of the same CRoCk cabal.

The same cabal that sent former Clackamas County Chair Lynn CRC Peterson to be Washington's secretary of transportation.

There's no end to it.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing?

Does Obama know her track record includes a complete failure to deliver even a single working streetcar on time?

Streetcar technology is more than 100 years old, she had a bunch of Czech models to get ideas from, and she still can't "git'er done."

What's next, Blumenauer in charge of Federal Highway Administration?

I'm old enough to remember how Neil got his first big step up the ladder.

This appointment and whole streetcar mindset is another clear demonstration of what is wrong Obama’s (and the City of Portland’s) spending priorities. The taxpayer’s credit card with an unlimited credit line is continually being swiped for social engineering projects that require huge ongoing and operational expenditures that are neither financially self-sustainable or adequately unfunded. The snail rail Eastside Streetcar even takes misaligned priorities a step farther; it is ineffective as a transportation alternative.

correction "or adequately funded"

Par for the course, as former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk joined Commerce four years ago. The difference between Princess here and Uncle Ron was that while she may have sold Portland up the river the way Ron did (Ron was notorious for hosting Dallas projects that did nothing but make money for his former boss Ray Hunt), she didn't run for US Senate, only to take a dive for John "Man On Box Turtle" Cornyn. To run against someone as incredibly stupid and arrogant as Cornyn, even by Texas congressman standards, and lose so spectacularly, takes TALENT.

It's written larger than this. Here's an example of cutting edge modern academic thought:

"I argue that autonomy, or the freedom to act in accordance with your own decisions, is overrated—that the common high evaluation of the importance of autonomy is based on a belief that we are much more rational than we actually are. We now have lots of evidence from psychology and behavioral economics that we are often very bad at choosing effective means to our ends. In such cases, we need the help of others—and in particular, of government regulation—to keep us from going wrong."

So, individual autonomy is "overrated," and our betters, armed with social science, government and governmental regulations, need to step forward to tell us how to live our lives for our own good.

This is where this stuff comes from.

Don't leave out big business who "partners" with government to make it all happen.

So the Commerce Department is now openly advocating for crony capitalism? That's pretty brazen.

In such cases, we need the help of others—and in particular, of government regulation—to keep us from going wrong.

Strange line of logic there. So basically we humans are incapable of choosing effective means to our ends, and should defer to other (presumably fallible) humans in government to choose those means for us. This of course begs the question of who is electing the government officials in the first place (i.e. the same ineffective/incapable voters). The only argument here is basically circular.

The up side is she'll never get any project / assignment / task completed on time.

The down side is she'll never get any project / assignment / task completed on budget.

And nothing completed will work.

It's an Oregon Ironworks product, after all.

Wait a second. How can this be ?
These people are progressives, how can they be corrupt ?
To hear them bleat only conservatives are like that