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Ben Carson Picked to Head HUD

Ben Carson Picked to Head HUD

Grew up in public housing

Former presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson, has been tapped to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Earlier reports indicated Carson had turned down administrative offers.

From the NYT:

Ben Carson, who took Donald J. Trump on a tour of blighted neighborhoods in Detroit during the presidential campaign, including his boyhood home, has been chosen by Mr. Trump to oversee one of the government’s main efforts to lift American cities as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Mr. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, was an early endorser of Mr. Trump after ending his own presidential bid.

“Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities,” Mr. Trump said in a statement Monday morning. “We have talked at length about my urban renewal agenda and our message of economic revival, very much including our inner cities.”

“Ben shares my optimism about the future of our country and is part of ensuring that this is a presidency representing all Americans,” he added. “He is a tough competitor and never gives up.”

With no experience in government or running a large bureaucracy, Mr. Carson, 65, publicly waffled over whether to join the administration. He will oversee an agency with a $47 billion budget, bringing to the job a philosophical opposition to government programs that encourage what he calls “dependency” and engage in “social engineering.”

He has no expertise in housing policy, but he did spend part of his childhood in public housing, said a close friend, Armstrong Williams, and he was raised by a dauntless mother with a grammar-school education. In his autobiography he stressed that individual effort, not government programs, were the key to overcoming poverty.

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Comments

With no experience in government or running a large bureaucracy…

Well, you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to be…oh, wait, he is a brain surgeon!

I really expected him for Surgeon General, but we’ll see how this works.

A single person cannot manage that size of an organization and it is encouraging to read that Carson was not sure of taking on the task. Knowing that a job will be overwhelming is a start.

As long as the Trump Team selects excellent managers to assist Carson, it will be ok.

I hope Romney is asked to be a “super” inspector general and task him to actually find ways to reduce the size of government.

liberalinsight | December 5, 2016 at 12:28 pm

“With no experience in government or running a large bureaucracy”
“He has no expertise in housing policy”
Well… Well… Mr Trump what were the selection criteria then?
“Mr. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, was an early endorser of Mr. Trump after ending his own presidential bid.”
Oh.

    healthguyfsu in reply to liberalinsight. | December 5, 2016 at 12:32 pm

    I’m guessing these little tantrums make you feel better about yourself because that’s about all they accomplish. Go ahead and let it out, lil fella.

      healthguyfsu in reply to healthguyfsu. | December 5, 2016 at 12:32 pm

      I’m guessing these little tantrums make you feel better about yourself because that’s about all they accomplish. Go ahead and let it out, lil fella.

    2nd Ammendment Mother in reply to liberalinsight. | December 5, 2016 at 2:30 pm

    Remind me what Julian Casto’s credentials were to hold the same job?…. Oh wait, he was polishing his resume to be Hillary’s VP pick…. and once again got hosed by the Dems (first time was the promised Texas gov’s nod that ended up going to deeper pocket Planned Parenthood sweetheart)…..

    but hey…. tell me how that “neighborhood diversity program” is going when your bank can’t write you a mortgage because to many people of your ethnic background already live in that neighborhood with the adorable bungalow and great schools.

    Right. Because former heads with “With no experience in government or running a large bureaucracy” have done such a great job.

Interesting to compare Carson’s experience and qualifications to those of Julian Castro the outgoing HUD secretary.

Castro’s notable achievement before he was appointed HUD secretary was that he was guilty of defrauding HUD as the symbolic “mayor” of San Antonio.

HUD is one of the agencies that should simply be shut down.

If Dr. Carson isn’t totally torpedoed by the civil ‘servants’ in HUD he’ll come away with enough experience in government to be a viable presidential candidate in the future.

2nd Ammendment Mother | December 5, 2016 at 2:34 pm

Give him the backing of strong financial people and auditors and I can see Carson making a huge impact. The youth I work with here in Texas all admire him (and have been to hear him speak anytime he’s nearby) and his message of being the master of your own future. If anyone can talk to the traps of government dependency and how the criminal elements pray on the projects, I think this might be the guy. It’s an uphill game, but somehow it seems like the right kind of cerebral challenge for the right person.