Ben Carson's Economist Seeks Tax System Overhaul
A Virginia professor with no previous campaign experience but strong views advises the rookie Republican candidate on poverty, taxes and government programs to cut.
Ben Carson, 2016 Republican presidential candidate, listens as he attends a service at Maple Street Missionary Baptist Church in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Sunday, Aug. 16, 2015.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Get Thomas Rustici talking about the current state of U.S. economic policymaking, and the adjectives start flowing: Corrupt, worst, wasteful, bloated, dangerous.
And at least one important person is listening. Rustici, a professor at George Mason University in Virginia, is now the senior economic adviser to Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon and Republican presidential candidate who is surging in polls nationally and in Iowa.