Mark Zandi's day in the stimulus sun
Friend of the Curious Capitalist Mark Zandi is the subject today of both a Washington Post article and a lengthy post on the WSJ's Real Time Economics blog. The gist of both is that he has become the country's Chief Stimulus Economist. From the Post:
The 49-year-old economist is a Democratic dream, a former adviser to GOP presidential candidate John McCain who advocates spending over tax cuts as the best way to deliver a quick jolt. The founder of Moody's Economy.com now asserts that even if it reaches $900 billion, the current package may be too small. His PowerPoint presentations are a staple at congressional hearings. In floor speeches and news conferences, Democratic lawmakers confer on Zandi an authority once bestowed on Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman.
From the WSJ:
A frequent expert witness at congressional hearings and omnipresent in news coverage, Mr. Zandi has become the most vocal economist arguing for a major fiscal stimulus package. The biggest risk today, he says, is “people not having clear sense of the severity of the recession.”
“I feel strongly about stimulus. I feel it's absolutely vital,” he said. “It'll make all the difference between recession and depression.”
Mark may be right about that. He's also a good guy who calls things like he sees them--and it's nice to see Congress listening to someone like that. But I do worry about anybody being conferred the "authority once bestowed on Alan Greenspan."
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1
Good to see since someone like Krugman wouldn't be so acceptable to many of the folks who seem comfortable listening to Zandi. I too would worry about the "authority once bestowed on Greenspan" but a) Greenspan was long time head of the Fed and had his actual hands on some actual levers, and b) it's probably just journalistic mumbojumbo hyperbole anyway.
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2
If the WSJ is saying that Zandi is the democrats Greenspan, who in the heck are the Republicans listening to?
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That latest plan from the gentleman Senator from Florida is a recipe for disaster. I think it is time to start comparing the two plans...apples to apples sort of thing. In any event, a $500 billion plan over 2 years is really smaller than the economic stimulus added by Bush in '07 which was ineffectual. Have people already forgotten how little effect those tax cuts had on the economy? It lasted barely one quarter!!
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As I watched CNBC, CNN and MSNBC this morning, it dawned on me just how controlled those media personalities are at the moment. They are all so afraid for their jobs that they just mindlessly spout the network talking points. For that matter, CNBC and Mark Haines is just happy talk. As if, we can click our ruby red slippers 3 times and wake up back in Kansas. Are folks that blind that they can't see the serious structural deficiencies in our economy? The last time we had this time of structural inequity was 1929!
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So, I hope and pray that our idiot Congressman will quit postering and pass a bill with at least $1 trillion in spending and stimulus. Because if we don't or can't pass a bill to get the economy goosed, may God have mercy on us all. -
3
ah, bryanfromhouston, you must have missed Senator Thune's riveting speech on stacking hunnert doller bills from here to 679 miles from here, cuz that makes a trillion dollers.
anyway, you really mustn't watch the people on TV. They are in sales.
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