Fed Nominee Blocked

"Peter Diamond," said Senator Shelby,
"A talented theorist may well be,
But his Keynsian views
I'll flatly refuse,
However deserved his Nobel be."    


If you were a conservative Republican trying to derail the confirmation of a Democratic president's nominee to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, you could not have done a better job of it than Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama).  After graciously praising Dr. Diamond's accomplishments, and arguing that they lack relevance for the Fed, Sen. Shelby got down to brass tacks: his opposition to "an old-fashioned, big government Keynesian" on policy grounds.

Nobel Laureate's Empty Stocking

As for Christmas the senators flocked home,
Peter Diamond dejectedly walked home
To find naught 'neath the tree
For a Fed nominee
But the medal he picked up in Stockholm.

The US Senate adjourned for the holidays without taking a vote on the confirmation of MIT economist Peter Diamond, President Barack Obama's nominee for the board of the Federal Reserve.  Dr. Diamond, who shared this year's Nobel Prize in economics for his research of the labor market, will face a tougher confirmation fight in 2011, when the Senate returns with more newly elected Republicans.



Happy Holidays to Peter Diamond and all readers of Limericks Économiques!

Diamond's Tip

Peter Diamond, our new Nobel laureate,
Says: "The stimulus works, and I'm for it.
In times of contraction,
More federal action
To bolster demand can restore it."   

In an interview on NPR, MIT economist Peter Diamond affirmed that the first fiscal stimulus package had averted much wider job losses, and that another round of fiscal stimulus should follow, this one aimed at states to prevent layoffs of public employees.  Mr. Diamond was one of three recipients of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics, for his study of "friction" in the job markets (i.e., if there are many open positions and many jobless, why can't they just get together?).