Keith Hennessey

re: The President’s debt tweet

For the classes I teach at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business I make my students write policy memos to a friend or family member as if that person was a Member of Congress. I have done the same here. These memos are similar in style to those I used to write for President…

Jobs, jobs, jobs. And also…

Last Tuesday President-elect Trump said, “My Administration will be focused on three very important words: jobs, jobs, jobs.” Mr. Trump emphasizes geography: American policies should encourage economic growth “right here in America.” Nothing wrong with that.

How much advice does the president need? A simple example

How much advice does the president need? Should the president rely on just one person for advice on a straightforward policy question, or delegate a decision to a single person?

What is a White House policy council?

What is a White House policy council and what does it do?

• The President needs someone physically close to him whom he trusts to answer policy questions as they arise.
• When he has to make a policy decision someone…

The Trump tariff and the dumb market

Imagine five American firms, each of which lays off New York workers.

Firms 1, 2, and 3 close their New York widget factories.

• Firm 1 builds a new widget factory in Mexico.

What are the most powerful policy jobs in the White House?

Yesterday I explained why presidents don’t delegate more policy decision-making power to their cabinet. Instead the president makes the big decisions, supported by his White House staff. This makes the White House staff powerful…

Why don’t presidents delegate more policy power to their cabinet?

Why don’t presidents delegate more policy decision-making power to their cabinet secretaries? Why does White House staff have so much power over big policy decisions relative to the much more visible Cabinet?

The costs of protecting 800 American jobs

Last week President-elect Trump announced that he had convinced Indiana-based Carrier not to outsource about 800 U.S. manufacturing jobs to Mexico.

Since then in a series of tweets Mr. Trump has: