06 Aug 2011

Christina Romer Is Much Cooler Out of Politics

Economics, Federal Reserve 8 Comments

I was never hip-deep into macro stuff (I’m an ideologue, remember), but I’ve heard from other free-market people that Christina Romer in the grand scheme was actually pretty cool. But once she went to the White House, things went downhill.

Anyway, check out her in the beginning of this video. She’s pretty funny. (Naughty words, watch out.)

I’m just puzzled by one thing: She seems to imply that the sky is a color other than green. I mean sure, when it’s cloudy out, you can’t see it, but we all agree that the sky is green, right? I’ve seen it that way ever since discovering Rothbard. (HT2 Brent)

8 Responses to “Christina Romer Is Much Cooler Out of Politics”

  1. econovice says:

    Bob, perhaps you could clarify this for me: Economists like Romer argue that the stimulus wasn’t enough, and we needed much more for it to be effective. Does this mean that Romer, and those who share her views, see the stimulus as being insufficient for recovery, but still helping the economy even in the paltry amount that was passed, or does the insufficient stimulus provide a net negative to the economy (according to them)?

    • bobmurphy says:

      Romer thinks it averted disaster but wasn’t enough. She was being a bit slippery in that part of the interview; the innocent viewer wouldn’t know that it was Romer’s own “scientific” forecast that could have assured Obama his stimulus was big enough. The infamous paper predicting that unemployment would peak at 8% with the stimulus was put out by Romer’s team.

  2. Ash says:

    I don’t know about ‘cool’, but from what I’ve seen in her other speeches she seems like an easy going, motherly type.

    What I still don’t understand is her smugness and hostility towards ‘the sky is green’ ideas, even though she has publicly repeatedly and unequivocally come out and said that she had literally no idea what was going on in ’08, and that she is *still completely baffled* by what’s going on now. If your doctor was completely perplexed by your condition, would you trust his perscription or look for a new doctor? I mean jeez louise some humility would be nice.

    And don’t get me started on her cheap shot at the language use of a grown-ass man. She might as well have said he dresses like a seventh grader.

    I really wanted to laugh here but I just became more angry 🙁

  3. Desolation Jones says:

    I was so hoping she would talk about monetary policy.

  4. Bob Roddis says:

    Maher is such a loathsome conformist slug. Justin Raimondo, a true Austrian hero who makes excellent predictions, was on Maher’s show. ONCE.

    http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j070102.html