Krueger vs. Krugman...It Matters Which is Going to Washington to Serve Obama

[KoKo]

Washington Post.....

Obama’s recent selection of Krueger to head his Council of Economic Advisers is evidence in the eyes of many that the president, who campaigned as a cham­pion for sweeping change, has also adopted an approach of “less so.” And as an unemployment-scarred country prepares to watch Obama deliver his jobs plan to a joint session of Congress on Thursday, the macro-Krugman vs. micro-Krueger divide that once may have seemed like a low-stakes, ivory-tower debate now is anything but.

Obama’s choice of Krueger, who declined to comment while awaiting his confirmation by the Senate, was a safe one. He is an economic superstar and recent assistant secretary of the Treas­ury. His selection has been roundly applauded by the nation’s leading economic minds, including Krugman.

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But as much as Krugman and Krueger have in common — professorships at Princeton, left-of-center politics, genius status in the world of economics — the two economists have marked differences in temperament, campus presence and ideas.

Krueger, 50, is a handsome, fit and able Washington insider. A tennis buddy of past and present Obama economic gurus Larry Summers, Tim F. Geithner and Gene B. Sperling, he also hits with Blinder, who observed with a chuckle of Krugman, a mildly Hobbit-like 58-year-old, “I don’t believe he plays.”


http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/of-princeton-pair-of-krueger-and-krugman-it-matters-which-is-going-to-washington/2011/08/31/gIQAq4874J_story.html

[n2doc]

1. Bankster buddies! n/t

[vi5]

2. "mildly Hobbit-like"

Oh, I see. It's a "cool kids" thing. As it seems everything in this clique-like, Village Beltway media obsessed administration is.

[phantom power]

3. "Bearded intellectual," maybe -- "mildly-hobbit-like," not even a little bit.

WTF is it with these people?

Also, revealing that they didn't even try to link Krugman's suitability to anything like, say, economics.

:eyes:

[Javaman]

7. +1

just another example of just how out of touch the beltway is with the rest of the nation.

They want only yes men, they don't want actual facts and answers.

mr. tennis player sounds like he fits the bill nicely.

we are a very sad nation.

[KoKo]

12. Much of what's wrong with our America these days...is judging by Beltway or Wall Street Standards

of who is a "Chummy Tennis Player" with the "InCrowd" and who looks like a "Hobbit."

Sick and Sad. :-(

Don't even get me started about "Football Fantasy and Basketball" that goes on and on and on...and the rest of the SUPERSTAR STUFF.

[harun]

4. Krugman is more valuable to us outside of the Matrix.

Let the tennis buddies hang together for the next year and a half. Then the Corpo-Fascist's will be swept back in to power. They'll go back to their better paying day jobs then.

[Davis_X_Machina]

5. Because one wants to...

...and the other one has said over and over he has no interest in doing so?

While there was a 'Doctor's Draft' at one point -- I don't think there's ever been one for economists.

[kenny blankenship]

6. There's probably no dollar bounty that could induce P. Krugman to sign on to this sinking ship

And if they had really wanted his advice they probably could have gotten it in outline form for free back in 2009. At this point - what's the point? There is no point. Principles - or lack of them - turn into policy; causes produce consequences; and neither can turned around in midstream or quickly. Obama did what he wanted to do upon taking office which was to restore the Reagan Era at the very moment it was finally & utterly discredited. (Way to go Barack.) Politically, it was a great success: the Zombie Republicans are back from the grave in just two years. Economically speaking, however, Reaganomics has come back with renewed fury and is a bigger FAIL than ever before.

[Davis_X_Machina]

9. He wasn' t interested three years ago either. n/t

[kenny blankenship]

11. Yes, I remember. Now that we can look back, it seems downright prescient, doesn't it?

Having no interest in joining Team Obama is a Krugman stance that validates the award of the Nobel Prize Committee for economics and justifies their estimate of him. It shows that he is not just an academician who manipulates econ-theory like a virtuoso, but he knows in the practical world what things are worth and what they are likely to be. Both his judgment and the Prize Committee's look better and better as time drags on. If only the Peace Prize Committee could have been so accurate.

[jwirr]

8. I think the difference is more about the recognition of the little guy

vs the big guy problem. I do not know a lot about President Obama's appointee but he sounds like he and his friends, including the president, are looking at recovery from the top down while Krugman looks at it from the bottom up.

Most of what we have done so far (bank bailouts, auto companies, tax cuts for the rich, etc.) has been for the corporations, the stock market and the rich. If they are doing better then the country is doing better. Kind of a "what is good for Chrysler is good for America" attitude. This is the policy of the current presidential advisers.

On the other hand Krugman always seems to be talking about the people and their plight. He is talking about the recovery of main street and jobs for the unemployed. I think the difference in who they are trying to base their recovery on - Wall Street or main street.

As for me I want to see some recovery down here and I do not want to wait until the greedy are satisfied with their share of the pie and will let a little trickle down to all of us. It does make a difference who goes to Washington. But no one is listening to us - so as usual it will be Wall Street.

[Marr]

10. I can see why Krueger appeals to the Obama Administration.

He's more inclined to suggest little band-aids that can be added to The List© for election season. Someone like Krugman would be more focused on the systemic problems-- problems the Obama Administration does not want to address.

[KoKo]

13. I think you have nailed it, there. Sadly....n/t He is a very "cool looking guy, though"

for whatever that's worth.