Brian Deese is “an MIT Innovation Fellow, focusing on the impact of economic policies that strengthen the United States’ industrial capacity and on accelerating climate investment and innovation.” Before that, Deese assisted Joe Biden as Director of the National Economic Council. Asked in 2022 how American families could cope with surging gasoline prices, the NEC boss said, “this is about the future of the liberal world order, and we have to stand firm.” As Sir Bedevere(Terry Jones) might say, who is this who is so wise in the ways of economics?
Deese is the son of Boston College political science professor David Deese, who “researches the international and comparative politics of energy and climate policies worldwide.” Brian’s mother, Patricia Stanton, served as deputy commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources and assistant commissioner of waste prevention at the state Department of Environmental Protection.
At Middlebury College Deese earned an undergraduate degree in international politics and economics. He got into Yale Law School but left a few credits short of graduation to work for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Composite character president Obama tapped him to help out with climate change.
In a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Obama touted the “amazing” Brian Deese, who “engineered the Paris Agreement, the Aviation Agreement,” and “may have helped save the planet.” The auto industry was also in trouble.
“The wunderkind in charge of saving our auto industry is a 31-year-old with about as much experience as a summer intern,” noted Glenn Beck. “Despite having no formal business education, no business experience and no auto industry experience, 31-year-old Brian Deese is now in charge of dismantling General Motors.” David Sanger of the New York Times also weighed in with, “Meet the 31-Year Old in Charge of Dismantling GM.”
In 2017, Deese became a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. From there it was on to BlackRock, where Deese headed the sustainable investing division, advising clients on meeting environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. Deese was reportedly bagging some $2.8 million a year, and building a net worth of $4 million.
In June of 2021, the amazing Deese outline his vision for a “new industrial strategy,” an “activist government,” approach including “targeted public investment, public procurement, climate resilience and equity.” As Deese contends, “markets on their own will not make investments in technologies and in infrastructure that benefit an entire industry.”
And so on, in what Olson Johnson of Blazing Saddles might call “authentic statist gibberish.” Or, in the style of Monty Python, the wealthy MIT Innovation Fellow could qualify for “upper class twit of the year.”
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.