Mr Stiglitz is a Nobel-prizewinning economist and a professor at Columbia University. He chaired the Council of Economic Advisers in the White House under President Bill Clinton. The council was created by the Employment Act of 1946, which committed the United States "to foster…conditions under which there will be afforded useful employment for those able, willing, and seeking work".
Politics -- the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to protect each from the other.