My co-author Scott Beaulier shares a funny but informative dialogue with his lawyer here.  Excerpt:

LAWYER: So you’re an economist at Mercer?

ME: Yep.

LAWYER: What do you think of this crisis?

ME: Well, I’m really concerned about the long-run effects it
will have.  I expect much higher taxes and much higher inflation
because of our actions today.

LAWYER (cutting me off): Inflation?  Inflation?  That’s the
least of my concerns.  Let me tell you what I think…I think we’re in
a Japan era rut.  We’re going to go sideways for a long time.  I think
that if we hadn’t acted back in September and October, we were hours
away from financial Armageddon.  I just don’t understand how people can
continue to argue against regulation after all we’ve been through.  It
was three  strokes of the pen to remove regulation that got us into
this mess.  I think the most asinine position to hold is the Rick
Santelli one of “don’t bail out the losers.”  You’re not one of the
Mercer economists who wrote
that article in the paper, are you?

ME: I am, and I actually find myself in agreement with Santelli.

As Homer says, “It’s funny because it’s true.”