Weekend Economists Ring in the Old, Wring Out the New: Dec. 30, 2011 to Jan. 2, 2012

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111. Send in the Clowns

Did you all hear the one about the six economists??

Let's set the views of the NYT6 in today's Sunday Business to Ms. Collins' discography:

"Where to go from here? And how to face the challenges ahead? Sunday Business asked the six economists who write the Economic View column to do a little blue-sky thinking on issues as varied as the Fed, Europe and housing. You won’t find stock tips. But if 2011 was any guide, the best advice for 2012 may be this: Hold tight."

N. GREGORY MANKIW A professor of economics at Harvard, he is advising Mitt Romney in the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
Mr. Mankiw advocates more transparancy from the Fed, and praises Bernanke:
"Mr. Bernanke deserves more credit than anyone for preventing the financial crisis from turning into a second Great Depression."
Somewher, I hear Judy singing: "Let's Pretend"

CHRISTINA D. ROMER An economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, she was chairwoman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Ms. Romer, the floor is yours:
"We already have a blueprint for a bipartisan solution. The Bowles-Simpson Commission hashed out a sensible plan of spending cuts, entitlement program reforms and revenue increases that would shave $4 trillion off the deficit over the next decade. It shares the pain of needed deficit reduction, while protecting the most vulnerable and maintaining investments in our future productivity. Congress should take up the commission’s recommendation the first day it returns in January."
Judy? "The Life You Dream"
Sidenote: The favorable Reagan reference by Romer spoke volumes about this administration's approach to the crisis.

TYLER COWEN A professor of economics at George Mason University.
Mr. Cowen reminds us that Europe isn't just our vacation destination:
"There are, however, several darker possibilities. One is that the economies of some major euro zone nations will continue to stagnate. In per-capita terms, Italy is already poorer than it was 12 years ago, so maybe it’s stuck in a slow-growth mode. If that’s the case, more borrowing from the European Central Bank is simply stretching an unsustainable situation."
Ms. Collins is heard singing that haunting refrain: "Farewell to Tarwathie"

ROBERT H. FRANK An economics professor at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.
Mr. Frank reminds us of a happier time when we could actually afford things.
"Growing income disparities don’t just make the 99 percent angry. They also raise the cost of achieving basic goals."
Judy's "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" plays in the background.

ROBERT J. SHILLER A professor of economics and finance at Yale.
Well, you know what this is about...
"Yet the problems facing homeowners today are even bigger than they were in the dark days of the financial crisis. According to the S.& P./Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index, home prices have fallen 13.2 percent since Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008. Over the same period, of course, unemployment has climbed."
Judy Collins sings Pete Seeger's beauty: "Oh, Had I a Golden Thread"

RICHARD H. THALER A professor of economics and behavioral science at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.
Just to reinforce the bleak situation we are in, we invited a Chiacgo School economist to opine:
"Where to start? First, make it easier to eat well while at work. That doesn’t mean limiting the cafeteria menu to tofu and cauliflower. It means offering various healthful, tasty options that are featured prominently. Put an attractive salad bar including some healthy proteins before the burger line, for instance, and subsidize the healthy food."
That's really not a selective quote - his whole piece is like this!
Ms. Collins closes with "Simple Gifts"

Yikes, and you want to be our latex salemen!!















http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/business/from-6-economists-6-ways-to-face-2012-economic-view.html?_r=1&ref=business