Summers vs Yellen

Wall Street is looking for men

For the mantle of leadership when,

As the President knows,

He'll have to propose

A successor to Fed Chairman Ben. 

It's increasingly frequently said

By economists very well read

That Obama may stiff

The recovery if

He picks the wrong head of the Fed. 

Dr. Yellen's CV is the nicest

To manage employment and prices

From the days when she ran

The Fed bank in San

Francisco and warned of the Crisis. 

Dr. Summers has those who would vote 'im

'Cause his "gravitas" serves to promote 'im,

While other folks showed 

That's really a code

For the candidate having a scrotum. 

Whatever your partisan views

On the better of qualified Jews,

It's the President's pick

And we'll know pretty quick

The mensch that Obama may choose. 

Don't Jump to Conclusions

Though economists often expect
Their proposals be put in effect,
It's best if one will
Just hold off until
The model's been triply checked.

Unrepentant

The enablers of fraudulent crises,
Reluctant to give up their vices,
Periodically line up
For pols who will sign up
To learn what their fiscal advice is.

In a scathing guest post in the Big Picture blog, financial fraud expert Bill Black despairs that so many economic advisors with track records of enabling "green slime" in the banking sector are unrepentantly pushing the same policy prescriptions. "Romney's lead economist urges policies that will cause the next financial crisis" is Mr. Black's headline. He singles out Mitt Romney's lead economic advisor (and George W. Bush's erstwhile lead economic advisor), Greg Mankiw, for special criticism. Prof. Mankiw's latest New York Times column extolls the virtues of governmental competition in the regulatory sphere, when there is ample history to show that such competition devolves to a "race to the bottom" leading to a lax regulatory environment that invites criminality. The most famous example is of course the savings & loan crisis of the 80's.

Full disclosure: Prof. Mankiw and his famous graduate student Jodi Beggs gave Dr. Goose his first big break in economic show business.

The Four Seasons

Larry Summers admits: "I recall,
We were still losing jobs in the Fall;
Mid the Wintery snows,
Job hemorrhaging slows -
We'll have growth in the Spring (if at all)."