Ben Carson to be HUD secretary...... Why?

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Ben really is only qualified to be Surgeon General, and even that's iffy.

 

[fskimospy]

Rewarding loyalists is part of the cabinet stuffing game. I never expected Trump to make inspired choices. For all his noise about draining the swamp, his choices are about what I have come to expect out of Republicans.

As for appointing you or me, depends on our respective credentials. As I said, Chris Christie would raise an eyebrow. Dr Carson is a curious choice, not an unreasonable one

Can you explain what sort of credentials are important to you? You already said that you don't find credentials in housing or urban development to be important for housing and urban development, but it seems that you find surgical credentials to be good? I'm not trying to talk shit, I am genuinely confused.

 

[OrByte]

of all the people in this country that actually have experience in federal and/or state housing authorities.

Let's give the job to a heart surgeon.

yeah, that makes sense.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

of all the people in this country that actually have experience in federal and/or state housing authorities.

Let's give the job to a heart surgeon.

yeah, that makes sense.

technically, he was a neurosurgeon, and a pretty excellent one at that. But he still thought the pyramids in egypt were grain silos for joseph, so DERP.

 

[JockoJohnson]

Ben really is only qualified to be Surgeon General, and even that's iffy.

I hear that position might be reserved for Dr. Oz.

 

[dank69]

HUD secretary had to be a Trump loyalist and a black, so it was either Carson or Omarosa.

This. Now when they start cutting programs people can't blame it on racism.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

I hear that position might be reserved for Dr. Oz.

Dr Phil is gonna be pissed

 

[trenchfoot]

Ben really is only qualified to be Surgeon General, and even that's iffy.

This makes the most sense. However, it seems more like a payoff for loyalty/support rendered during the campaign to me.

Then there is the idea that this is Trump we're talking about, so we can throw reason and logic out with the common sense that's usually called on to analyze a curiosity.

With that in mind, I can think of any number of reasons why Trump threw Carson on the table. Maybe he did it just to piss people off, to keep things off balance and unpredictable. Or maybe he likes to hire compliant yes men that will reliably do whatever Trump tells them to do without raising an eyebrow at him.

Either way, we'll never really know seeing as if Trump is a known compulsive liar of which he skillfully employs as a deflector shield and sword to hack down and defeat any sort of criticism and accusation that gets leveled at him.

The guy is slippery, cunning and dodgy. I would have hoped he'd use those attributes for the good of the people rather than himself and his ilk, of which seems to be the direction he's taking at the moment.

 

[Starbuck1975]

Can you explain what sort of credentials are important to you? You already said that you don't find credentials in housing or urban development to be important for housing and urban development, but it seems that you find surgical credentials to be good? I'm not trying to talk shit, I am genuinely confused.

What I am saying is that eventually some people hit a point in their careers, through experience, education or perspective, that they bring something to the table other than industry specific credentials.

As I've said, Dr Carson is a curious choice, but not a particularly remarkable one

 

[vi edit]

This actually bothers me less than the DeVos, Sessions or Price who just seem to hate America. Ben is an odd duck with some very confusing world views, but he doesn't have as much an axe to grind, agenda to push, or pocket to pad with this appointment.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

This actually bothers me less than the DeVos, Sessions or Price who just seem to hate America. Ben is an odd duck with some very confusing world views, but he doesn't have as much an axe to grind, agenda to push, or pocket to pad with this appointment.

I fear he has a very religious ideology to push, and has been trying to do so for some time.

 

[JSt0rm]

ben is black black is urban done. next problem.

 

[vi edit]

I fear he has a very religious ideology to push, and has been trying to do so for some time.

I understand that. But there's only so much "damage" he can do in the position with that agenda. Unlike DeVos who seemingly wants to promote creationism in public schools...and *IS* in a position that can influence that.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

I understand that. But there's only so much "damage" he can do in the position with that agenda. Unlike DeVos who seemingly wants to promote creationism in public schools...and *IS* in a position that can influence that.

yea, that's a pit in my stomach.
education and environment are soft targets, and can be easily changed, and not for the better.

 

[fskimospy]

I understand that. But there's only so much "damage" he can do in the position with that agenda. Unlike DeVos who seemingly wants to promote creationism in public schools...and *IS* in a position that can influence that.

DeVos isn't in much of a position to do that either. Despite conservatives' rage at the federal education department it doesn't have very much control over what is taught in public schools. It's mostly a case of offering states carrots to do what it wants and the carrots aren't usually THAT big. The fear with DeVos is that she will reapproproate public funds to private religious schools that will teach creationism, not so much that creationism will end up in public schools.

She also seems like an incompetent crony with a disastrous record of failure, but that's kind of to be expected here, no?

 

[jammix]

Why wouldn't Trump put Dr. Ben Carson in as Surgeon General instead of HUD where he has absolutely no experience.

 

[rpanic]

His first order of business will have every dwelling convert a room for storage of grain for food security.

 

[Jaskalas]

Carson in no way is qualified to run the agency other than he supported Trump.

Not sure what other comment to make other than it should be an confirmation hearing..

You clearly do not understand upper management. They set forth direction, and can make/override calls, but they hire the people who live/eat/breathe the subject to act as their advisors. Carson will "run" it but any CEO knows that it'll be someone else who truly "manages".

Confirmation hearing in this case is largely about political agenda and forward thinking goals.
Democrats will attack qualifications but that can be viewed as immaterial.

 

[fskimospy]

You clearly do not understand upper management. They set forth direction, and can make/override calls, but they hire the people who live/eat/breathe the subject to act as their advisors. Carson will "run" it, but any CEO knows that it'll be someone else who truly "manages" it.

How will someone such as Carson who has no knowledge or experience in upper management, housing policy, or urban development set an effective direction? How will he know what calls to make or override, and how will he know if the people he is hiring as his advisers are knowledgeable or effective? I mean by his own admission he is unqualified to run a federal cabinet level agency.

I agree with the argument that someone doesn't need to be the world's foremost expert on something to manage an agency in that field well, but the idea that you don't need to know ANYTHING about the subject at hand is ridiculous. Maybe he ends up being a fantastic HUD secretary, but the odds are stacked against him. This was a stupid hire that strongly indicates both cronyism and total indifference to HUD's mission.

 

[Jaskalas]

How will someone such as Carson who has no knowledge or experience in upper management, housing policy, or urban development set an effective direction?

I'll agree that it's like a "trial by fire" experience, and has more potential than normal to end horribly, but one might argue that's Trump in a nutshell.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Why wouldn't Trump put Dr. Ben Carson in as Surgeon General instead of HUD where he has absolutely no experience.

I know, he's got such an amazing record assigning cabinet positions to properly qualified people. Shocking, just shocking.

 

[bshole]

You clearly do not understand upper management. They set forth direction, and can make/override calls, but they hire the people who live/eat/breathe the subject to act as their advisors. Carson will "run" it but any CEO knows that it'll be someone else who truly "manages".

Ain't that the truth!

 

[Jhhnn]

I understand that. But there's only so much "damage" he can do in the position with that agenda. Unlike DeVos who seemingly wants to promote creationism in public schools...and *IS* in a position that can influence that.

HUD sets policy that has an enormous impact on the housing market, particularly the GSE's. It was HUD who decreed that the GSE's would back more "affordable" loans in the run-up to the crash & HUD who promoted the idea that the GSE's should back commercial paper rather than keeping securitization in house.

 

[VRAMdemon]

I'll agree that it's like a "trial by fire" experience, and has more potential than normal to end horribly, but one might argue that's Trump in a nutshell.

He'll work for Donald Trump. That seems to be the main qualifier...

People already inside with the real experience will actually run the department. Ben Carson is only there to appear on Sunday morning TV shows and try and make people feel better about Donald Trump's policies.

 

[vi edit]

HUD sets policy that has an enormous impact on the housing market, particularly the GSE's. It was HUD who decreed that the GSE's would back more "affordable" loans in the run-up to the crash & HUD who promoted the idea that the GSE's should back commercial paper rather than keeping securitization in house.

I agree that woeful ignorance could certainly cause a mess. But given the lesser of two evils...ignorance vs. self serving agenda...I guess I choose ignorance? Which is really my point...he's got no skin in the game on this like many of the other picks and maybe comes in and does a better job than we think.