Interview with Clark

Thanks to a pointer from CalPundit, here’s [*] a law professor’s account of lunch with a bunch of other law professors and Wesley Clark. For those curious about the General’s domestic policies, there’s a little bit to chew on here. He knows there’s no actual “lockbox” and thinks that raising the Social Security earnings cap is a good place to start. He also agrees with me about the symmetry between the Bushies and the French in terms of an excessively narrow and selfish view of national interest.

My friend Stuart Levine read the interview more carefully than I did, and concludes that I missed a bet. He writes:

“I think that you missed the most impressive comment reported there. It was as follows:

On whether the Chinese government should be forced to revalue the Yuan (unit of currency), he agreed that it would need to be done in the long run, but thinks it can’t be done right now because there are too many underperforming loans in the Chinese economic system. Essentially, the Chinese economy needs to be fixed before revaluation can be done.

“Do you want to make a side bet on whether Bush can even name the Chinese unit of currency, much less whether he has any insight into the issues facing the Chinese economy? Clark may not have long standing experience with all domestic issues he would have to address as candidate and president (but then again, neither did either Bush or Clinton at this stage in their ’00 and ’92 campaigns, respectively), but he has the willingness to delve into the complexities of these issues. That is a characteristic that Bush will never have.”

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com