Christina Romer Breaks with President Obama

Arnold Kling

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She writes,

We already have a blueprint for a bipartisan solution. The Bowles-Simpson Commission hashed out a sensible plan of spending cuts, entitlement program reforms and revenue increases that would shave $4 trillion off the deficit over the next decade. It shares the pain of needed deficit reduction, while protecting the most vulnerable and maintaining investments in our future productivity. Congress should take up the commission's recommendation the first day it returns in January.

She was the first chair of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers. He threw Bowles-Simpson under the bus.

Overall, the Times asked six economists for "blue-sky thinking" and what they got was familiar hobby-horse riding. (David Henderson has already discussed Robert Frank's contribution to the symposium.) If they set the bar, then James Pethokoukis cleared it pretty easily.

Pointer from Greg Mankiw, who also informs us that John Cochrane has joined the blogosphere with his bracing commentary.

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CATEGORIES: Fiscal Policy

COMMENTS (4 to date)

Latest Comment

Lord writes:

Except the commission never agreed on a plan, and rightfully so, agreement means coming up with an accommodation and compromise, not demands and orders.

Posted January 2, 2012 11:54 AM

Yancey Ward writes:

Lord,

The commission never "agreed" to a plan by the super majority that was set out at it's inception, but they did produce a plan that had the support of both chairs and a simple majority of the commission. However, it would not have mattered anyway- neither party was ever going to support the plan, and Obama did throw it under the bus.

Posted January 2, 2012 12:03 PM

c141 writes:

Charles Plosser said

what does the Fed need to see before it starts raising rates again?

My question is (and has been for a long time): What happens to all the institutions that have issued 30 year home mortgages? Will we have a whole new S&L crises? Will the abundance of these mortgages prevent the Fed from even raising rates? Will the Fed be forced into raising rates at an incredibly slow pacee?

Posted January 2, 2012 4:32 PM

Chris Koresko writes:

Clearly, the President will heed the advice of his trusted economic advisor, and push for a bipartisan economic policy based on the ideas in the Simpson-Bowles report. He will reach across the aisle, offering meaningful reforms and spending cuts in exchange for tax rate hikes. He will graciously abandon partisanship and posturing in order to pursue policies that benefit the nation, even if that means taking political heat for the failure of the economy to recover on his watch.

Posted January 2, 2012 6:24 PM

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