NDN Lauds Obama's Move to Create Stimulus Oversight Board

President-elect Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver a major speech tomorrow at George Mason University in Virgina to sell his historic stimulus proposal.

I'm no economist, but thankfully NDN has Dr. Rob Shapiro on hand. NDN Green Project Director and Fellow Michael Moynihan is a serious economic commentator and NDN President Simon Roseneberg is as well.

What I do know is that this is no ordinary spending proposal. This is a stimulus of historic proprortions that reflects the national and global recession we have entered and the enormity of the challenge of recovering from the collapse of the U.S. housing market and crash of U.S. and global financial markets.

Michael has long argued (here and here) that such a massive recovery measure needs an oversight board to ensure that it is administered effectively, in a timely manner and without the waste that can erode public and investor confidence.

NDN issued a statement today from Michael and Simon:

NDN Lauds Obama's Move to Create Stimulus Oversight Board

NDN today applauded President-elect Barack Obama’s commitment to create an Economic Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board.

NDN Fellow and Green Project Director Michael Moynihan proposed the creation of such a board over a month ago, arguing that how the stimulus is administered is as critical to getting America’s economy moving again as its dollar amount.

"American taxpayers are collectively about to make the largest investment of their lifetimes," Moynihan said. "To ensure that the stimulus succeeds in creating jobs while also creating the basis for future growth, it is vital that they get value for their money."

Moynihan continued, "President-elect Obama’s decision to create an emergency recovery board, put details of the progress of infrastructure projects online and ban earmarks are the right actions at the right time to protect taxpayers' money. To administer a program of this magnitude, it is critically important to implement tough auditing and supervision."

Simon Rosenberg, President of NDN, said, "As excited as we are at NDN about the speed with which clean stimulus is now moving forward, moving money out quickly but also responsibly is vital to making this historic stimulus work. If the money is spent wastefully, or perceived as being spent wastefully according to political expediency, it will not only be a tragic missed opportunity but also reduce its impact and undermine market confidence."

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Note: Moynihan previously served in the Clinton Administration under U.S. Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Larry Summers.