McCain and his gang of 300 economists
Last month, when economists, en masse, concluded that John McCain’s idea for a “gas-tax holiday” didn’t make a lick of sense, McCain told a group of voters that economists aren’t to be trusted.
This morning, McCain decided that he actually loves economists.
U.S. Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign today released a statement signed by over 300 professional economists in support of John McCain’s Jobs for America economic plan. The list includes Nobel Prize winners, business economists with experience in the private sector, policy economists with experience in government and academic economists from major universities and state and community colleges.
Considering the fact that McCain’s economic plan is rather ridiculous, I suppose it’s rather impressive that his campaign pulled together over 300 professional economists (I’m going to assume that’s accurate; I didn’t check the credentials of the names) to endorse this nonsense.
But as it turns out, there’s a catch. As Ben Smith reported, “The statement [signed by the economists] leaves out two big chunks of McCain’s economic argument: the gas tax holiday and his promise to balance the budget by the end of his first term — there’s literally nothing in the release that mentions the deficit or national debt.”
In other words, the economists didn’t endorse his economic plan; they endorsed his plan after taking out two of the more transparently stupid centerpiece ideas of the plan.
Doesn’t that tell us quite a bit? The McCain campaign couldn’t even get like-minded economist allies to endorse his economic plan without quietly allowing them to ignore two of the proposals McCain claims to take seriously?
For that matter, here’s another question. For the next four months, how many times will the McCain campaign and his media base argue, “This economic plan must be pretty good if it’s been endorsed by over 300 economists”? If anyone’s willing to set an over/under, bet on the over. Trust me.
Aaack!
If the demoquacks don't get their shit together and support Obama, we are stuck with 4 more years of bush as a senile old fart!
I don't see what his economic plan has to do with him holding off an army of a million Iranians...
Sadly, anti-intellectualism plays well with proletariat class resentment. McCain's attack on economists is just a reiteration of the same kind of faux populism employed by the Fascists of yesteryear. The game is to deflect criticism of the real malefactors of wealth onto the shoulders of those who offer real solutions to the economic woes faced by the poor, middle and working class. Thus, the very people who offer a sensible critique of class and economics can be portrayed as elitist by offering up quick, feel good bribes such as tax holidays and rebates that ultimately damage future gains over long term solutions that would really empower those at the lower rung of the economic ladder. It's basic psychology, people would rather take a quick five bucks now than wait for the effects of long term gains to kick in.
Where can one obtain the list of the 300 economist who have signed off on
McShame's plan??? I tried to contact Ben Smith at his given email address
at Politico, but got an error message..."Not a good address". Sure would like
the listing so I/we can give it a review and see who these persons(or whatever)
are.
considering the state of the u.s economy, american economists have how much credibility? the best way for an economist to win a nobel prize, is to come up with a plan to transfer wealth from the middle class to the upper class.
In four months the number of economists endorsing his “plan” will have dwindled from 300 to 30.
Republicans corrupt everything and everyone they touch. So 300 economists took enough money or promises from John McCain to half endorse his economic plan. Scientist, economists, Generals, journalists etc..............have all been corrupted by the GOP and turned themselves into liars and the rest of the professionals in their fields into suspicious chararcters. They find the weakest, the most corruptible and use them to bring shame and degradation and suspicion on everyone else in that profession.
What a wretched disgusting party.
doggiebobo @ 5:
I'm starting the research now.
But on the very first one, "Burton Abrams", the first review on "RateMyProfessor.com" reads:
"A biased prof, only wants to hear his own views."
Not a good start. I expect more.
Clearly from the same school of questionable scholarship that brought us "intelligent design" and "voodoo economics" and "PNAC."
Let the poor peasants have a gas tax holiday. Here's your crumb. Now go away and quit complaining you dirty little poor people.
And according to his idiotic put down ad, a gas tax holiday will somehow HELP the Environment.
turd.
Before even clicking the link I knew one of my old professors would be on the list. He signed off on many of Bush's economic policies, and even helped create some.
Of his 3 hour class, about half of it was spent talking about how republican policies are the only way to run a country (No government interference, free market without regulations, no minimum wage, etc.). Any other way would lead to failure like the USSR. It was during the Fall of 2006, so every week, as the election was getting closer, he would bash the Democratic Party more and push a Republican agenda.
The class after the election was the sweetest class of that entire semester. He was completely disheveled, and just couldn't comprehend how his party could have lost. He kept going on and on how the voters were wrong and we'll see someday.
BTW he was a completely brilliant guy, accomplished all sorts of things in his life. Just couldn't separate his teaching from his political affiliation.
Couldn't have been all that brilliant, backing the Republican bullshit. Sounds like a hypocrite to me.
Sound Familiar?
Sept. 6th, 2000 - “Bush campaign spokesman Dan Bartlett said Bush’s balanced budget “provides needed investments in Medicare, Social Security, education and defense, while providing tax relief for everyone paying income taxes.” Bush said Wednesday that six Nobel laureates and 294 economists had endorsed his plan, citing it as “better for working families and continued prosperity” in advertisements appearing in USA Today on Wednesday.”
I wonder if any of McCain's "300 Economists" are the same as Bush's "6 Nobel Laureates and 294 Economists"?
Same Exact Fucking Bullshit.
I Like Pie @ 11:
that's the mentality....oil companies/speculators will just have room to raise prices....it won't amount to little if anything........it will only hurt other programs.
The last 300 grads from the Chicago School of Economics. The rest are on Obama's team.
ARRRRRGH!! We ALREADY HAVE a simpler tax system. That's the purpose of the "standard deduction," to approximate the deductions a typical taxpayer might have, so as to avoid all the work of keeping and finding all those receipts.
Almost anyone can opt to file the 1040-EZ, which is only a few lines. Those sophisticated enough to have capital gains can fill out a two-page form 1040 and attach Schedule D.
Complexity is optional. For the most part, people with complex taxes are rich people who can afford accountants.
BTW: Here's the roll call of the 300 (from St. John's site). I'm sorry to say one of my graduate school classmates is on it. I'm afraid his ambition is corrupting his judgment.
Burton Abrams, University of Delaware
James D. Adams, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Douglas K. Adie, Ohio University
Richard Agnello, University of Delaware
William Albrecht, University of Iowa
Constantine Alexandrakis, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth
William Alpert, University of Connecticut
Wayne Angell, Former Fed Governor
Fernando E. Alvarez, University of Chicago
Geoffrey T. Andron, Austin Community College
George R. Averitt, Purdue University North Central
Charles Baird, California State University, East Bay
Howard Beales, George W ashington University
Stacie E. Beck, University of Delaware
Gary Becker, University of Chicago
Donald Bellante, University of South Florida
Daniel K. Benjamin, Clemson University
John J. Bethune, Barton CollegeSanjai Bhagat, University of Colorado
Andrew G. Biggs, American Enterprise Institute
Robert G. Bise, Orange Coast College
Michael K. Block, University of Arizona
Donald Booth, Chapman University
Karl J. Borden, University of Nebraska
Michael Bordo, Rutgers University
George H. Borts, Brown University
Michael Boskin, Stanford University
Daniel P. Brandt III, Washington, D.C.
Ike Brannon, Department of the Treasury
David P. Brown, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jeff Brown, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Joseph Brusuelas, Merk Investments
Phillip J. Bryson, Brigham Young University
Andrzej Brzeski, University of California, Davis
James Buchanan, George Mason University
Todd Buchholz, Two Oceans Management
Richard Burdekin, Claremont McKenna College
Richard V. Burkhauser, Cornell University
James B. Burnham, Duquesne University
Andrew B. Busch, BMO Capital Markets
James L. Butkiewicz, University of Delaware
Mark Calabria, United States Senate
James Carter, Vienna, VA
Don Chance, Louisiana State University
Barry R. Chiswick, University of Illinois at Chicago
Bhagwan Chowdhry, UCLA
Richard Clarida, Columbia University
Candice Clark, Economic consultant
Kenneth W. Clarkson, University of Miami
Warren Coats, IMF, retired
John Cogan, Hoover Institution
Boyd D. Collier, Tarleton State University
Michael Connolly, University of Miami
Kathleen B. Cooper, Southern Methodist University
Joshua Coval, Harvard University
Ted Covey, McLean, Virginia
Nicole Crain, Lafayette College
W. Mark Crain, Lafayette College
Dan Crippen, Former CBO Director
Thomas D. Crocker, University of Wyoming
Robert L. Crouch, University of California, Santa Barbara
Mario J. Crucini, Vanderbilt University
Ward S. Curran, Trinity College
Coldwell Daniel III, The University of Memphis
Antony Davies, Duquesne University
Steven Davis, University of Chicago
Clarence R. Deitsch, Ball State University
Richard DeKaser, National City Corporation
Stephen J. Dempsey, University of Vermont
Christopher DeMuth, American Enterprise Institute
David B.H. Denoon, New York University
William G. Dewald, Ohio State University
Arthur M. Diamond Jr., University of Nebraska at Omaha
John Diamond, Rice University
David L. Dickinson, Appalachian State University
Francis X. Diebold, University of Pennsylvania
Jeffrey H. Dorfman, University of Georgia
Thomas J. Duesterberg, Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI
Parnell Duverger, Broward Community College
Isaac Ehrlich, SUNY at Buffalo
Martin Eichenbaum, Northwestern University
Jeffrey A. Eisenach, Criterion Economics
Michael A. Ellis, Kent State University
Joachim G. Elterich, University of Delaware
Kenneth Elzinga, University of Virginia
Stephen J. Entin, Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation
T.W. Epps, University of Virginia
Michael G. Erickson, The College of Idaho
Paul Evans, Ohio State University
Dino Falaschetti, Hoover Institution
Frank Falero Jr., California State University
Susan K. Feigenbaum, University of Missouri, St. Louis
Martin Feldstei n, Harvard University
Eric Fisher, California Polytechnic State University
Arthur A "Trey" Fleisher III, Metro State College of Denver
James Forcier, University of San Francisco
William F. Ford, Middle Tenn. State U.
Michele Fratianni, Indiana University
Luke Froeb, Vanderbilt University
Kenneth C. Froewiss, NYU Stern School of Business
Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Hudson Institute
Timothy S. Fuerst, Bowling Green State University
Lowell Gallaway, Ohio University
B Delworth Gardner, Brigham Young University
Dave Garthoff, The University of Akron
Ilhan K. Geckil, Anderson Economic Group
Rick Geddes, Cornell University
Joseph A. Giacalone, St. John's University
Adam Gifford, California State University, Northridge
David Gillette, Truman State University
Micha Gisser, University of New Mexico
Amy Jocelyn Glass, Texas A&M University
Charles J. Goetz, The University of Virginia
Claudio Gonzalez-Vega, The Ohio State University
Lawrence Goodman, Bergen City, NJ
Barry K. Goodwin, North Carolina State University
Eric S. Graber, Independent Economist
Douglas H. Graham, The Ohio State University
J. Edward Graham, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Phil Gramm, Former U.S. Senator
Teresa Beckham Gramm, Rhodes College
Wendy Lee Gramm
William B. Green, Sam Houston State University
Kenneth Greene, Binghamton University
Paul Gregory, University of Houston
Earl Grinols, Baylor University
Gary Hansen, UCLA
Eric Hanushek, Hoover Institution
Stephen Happel, Arizona State University
James E. Hartley, Mount Holyoke College
Kevin Hassett, American Enterprise Institute
Joel W. Hay, University of Southern California
Jared E. Hazleton, Texecon: A Texas Economic Consulting Firm
Charles E. Hegji, Auburn University Montgomery
Robert H. Heidt, Indiana University School of Law
Harold M. Hochman, CUNY Graduate Center and Lafayette College
Robert J. Hodrick, Columbia Business School
Stuart G. Hoffman, The PNC Financial Services Group
Arlene Holen, Washington, D.C.
Mac R. Holmes, Troy University
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, John McCain 2008
C. Thomas Howard, University of Denver
E. Philip Howrey, University of Michigan
Glenn Hubbard, Columbia University
James L. Huffman, Lewis & Clark Law School
J. Christopher Hughen, University of Denver
E. Kingdon Hurlock, Calvert Investment Counsel
Stephen L. Jackstadt, University of Alaska, Anchorage
Joseph M. Jadlow, Oklahoma State University
Sherry L Jarrell, Wake Forest University
Michael C. Jensen, Harvard Business School
Dennis A. Johnson, University of South Dakota
Shane A. Johnson, Texas A&M University
Richard Just, University of Maryland
Tim Kane, Washington, D.C.
Steven Kaplan, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
Alexander Katkov, Johnson and Wales University
Melissa Kearney, University of Maryland
Joe Kennedy, Arlington, Virginia
Lawrence W. Kenny, University of Florida
Calvin A. Kent, Marshall University
E. Han Kim, University of Michigan
Robert G. King, Boston University
Paul R. Koch, Olivet Nazarene University
Meir Kohn, Dartmouth College
James W. Kolari, Texas A&M University
Roger C. Kormendi, Kormendi/Gardner Partners
Marvin Kosters, American Enterprise Institute
Robert Krol, California State University, Northridge
Anne Krueger, Johns Hopkins University
Deepak Lal, University of Cal ifornia, Los Angeles
Douglas Lamdin, The University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Daniel L Landau, University of Connecticut
Richard La Near, Missouri Southern State University
Nicholas A. Lash, Loyola University
Don R. Leet, California State University, Fresno
Norman B. Lefton, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
Tom Lehman, Indiana Wesleyan University
Thomas M. Lenard, Technology Policy Institute
Noreen E. Lephardt, Marquette University
Adam Lerrick, Carnegie Mellon University and the American Enterprise Institute
Philip I. Levy, American Enterprise Institute
W. Cris Lewis, Utah State University
Andrew Light, Liberty University
Jane Lillydahl, University of Colorado at Boulder
Zheng Liu, Emory University
Luis Locay, University of Miami
John R. Lott Jr., University of Maryland
Lawrence W. Lovik, Alabama Policy Institute
Robert Lucas, University of Chicago
John Lunn, Hope College
R. Ashley Lyman, University of Idaho
Paul W. MacAvoy, Yale School of Management
Glenn MacDonald, Washington University in St. Louis
John Makin, American Enterprise Institute
Burton Malkiel, Princeton University
David Malpass, Encima Global LLC
Michael Marlow, California Polytechnic State University
Donald J. Marshall, Consulting Engineer and Economist
Aparna Mathur, American Enterprise Institute
Timothy Matthews, Kennesaw State University
John Matsusaka, University of Southern California
Bennett McCallum, Carnegie Mellon University
Paul W. McCracken, University of Michigan
Martin C. McGuire, University of California-Irvine
W. Douglas McMillin, Louisiana State University
Roger Meiners, University of Texas - Arlington
Will Melick, Kenyon College
Allan Meltzer, Ca rnegie Mellon University
John Merrifield, University of Texas at San Antonio
Paul Merski, Independent Community Bankers of America
Jim Mietus, Great Falls, VA
Todd Milbourn, Washington University in St. Louis
Geoffrey P. Miller, New York University Law School
James Miller, George Mason University and The Hoover Institution
William C. Miller, Pioneer Analytics LLC
David E. Mills, University of Virginia
Velma Montoya, National Council of Hispanic Women
Michael Moore, George Washington University
Charles Britt Moss, University of Florida
Robert Mundell, Columbia University
Tim Muris, George Mason University
David B. Mustard, University of Georgia
Richard F. Muth, Emory University
Anthony N. Negbenebor, Gardner-Webb University
Charles Nelson, University of Washington
Robert J. Newman, Louisiana State University
Michael P. Niemira, International Council of Shopping Centers
Tom O'Brien, University of Connecticut
Lee E. Ohanian, UCLA
June O'Neill, Baruch College, CUNY
Steve Parente, University of Minnesota
Randall Parker, East Carolina University
Douglas Patterson, Virginia Tech
Tim Perri, Appalachian State University
Mark J. Perry, University of Michigan-Flint
Tomas Philipson, University of Chicago
William Poole, University of Delaware
Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business School
Barry Poulson, University of Colorado Boulder
James Prieger, Pepperdine University
R. David Ranson, H. C. Wainwrigth & Co. Economics Inc.
Richard Rawlins, Missouri Southern State University
Martin A. Regalia, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Barrie Richardson, Centenary College
Christine P. Ries, Georgia Institute of Technology
Aldona Robbins, Fiscal Associates
Gary Robbins, Fiscal Associates
Kenneth Rogoff, Harvard University
Richard Roll, UCLA
Harvey Rosen, Princeton University
Larry L. Ross, University of Alaska, Anchorage
Robert Rossana, Wayne State University
Timothy P. Roth, The University of Texas at El Paso
Charles Rowley, George Mason University
Paul H. Rubin, Emory University
Roy Ruffin, University of Houston
Gary J. Santoni, Ball State University
T.R. Saving, Texas A&M University
Mike Schuyler, Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation
Anna Schwartz, National B ureau of Economic Research
Loren C. Scott, Louisiana State University
Robert Haney Scott, California State University, Chico
Carlos Seiglie, Rutgers University
Richard Selden, University of Virginia
John Semmens, Laissez Faire Institute
Sol S. Shalit, University of Wisconsin
Alan Shapiro, University of Southern California
Judy Shelton
William F. Shughart II, The University of Mississippi
George Shultz, Hoover Institution
Jerome Siebert, University of California, Berkeley
John Silvia, Wachovia
Chuck Skipton, University of Tampa
Scott B. Smart, Indiana University
Amy Smith, Former OMB Chief Economist
James F. Smith, The University of North Carolina
Vernon Smith, Chapman University
Sean M. Snaith, University of Central Florida
Douglas Southgate, Ohio State University
Frank Spreng, McKendree University
Beryl W. Sprinkel, Retired
Stan Spurlock, Mississippi State University
George J. Staller, Cornell University
Craig A. Stephenson, Babson College
Houston Stokes, University of Illinois at Chicago
Courtenay C. Stone, Ball State University
Scott Sumner , Bentley College
James Sweeney, Stanford University
Richard Sweeney, Georgetown University
Robert Tamura, Clemson University
Clifford Tan, Stanford Center for International Development
John A. Tatom, Indiana State University
John Taylor, Stanford University
Paul Taylor, Vienna, VA
Teresa Tharp, Valencia Community College
Clifford F. Thies, Shenandoah University
Henry Thompson, Auburn University
Walter N. Thurman, North Carolina State University
Jerry G. Thursby, Georgia Institute of Technology
Robert D Tollison, Clemson University
William N. Trumbull, West Virginia University
Kamal Upadhyaya, University of New Haven
Charles W. Upton, Kent State University
Peter J Van Blokland, University of Florida
T. Norman Van Cott, Ball State University
Richard Vedder, American Enterprise Institute
George J. Viksnins, Georgetown University
J. Antonio Villamil, The Washington Economics Group
Richard E. Wagner, George Mason University
William B. Walstad, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Murray Weidenbaum, Washington University in St. Louis
Marc D. Weidenmier, Claremont McKenna College
Finis We lch, Texas A&M University
James B. Whitaker, Centreville, VA
John Wicks, University of Montana
Wayne H. Winegarden, Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics
Gary Wolfram, Hillsdale College
DeVo L. Yoho, Ball State University
Nancy A. Yonge, Smith Center for Private Enterprise
Paul J. Zak, Claremont Graduate University
Mokhlis Y. Zaki, Northern Michigan University
Mark Zandi, Malvern, PA
Arnold Zellner, University of Chicago
Kate Zhou, University of Hawaii
Joseph Zoric, Franciscan University of Steubenville
Benjamin Zycher, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
Academia for sale? Tell me it aint so Joe......
Taraph @ 13:
Obviously couldn't see the forest for the trees out his ivory tower and stock market investments. He's in for a rough time, no doubt. Sorry I can't seem to muster much pity for the guy. He may be brilliant, but he appears to be the sort that can't look past his short term gains to comprehend the big picture and how it will ultimately effect his own self interest.
Yay, I file the 1040-EZ every year, it's the best. Anyone who doesn't, has nothing to complain about in my eyes. They're making much more than me, so cry me a river.
Commentator @ 15:
fantastic catch
This is standard procedure in the lobbying world.
1) Create an innocuous statement.
2) Ask authorities in the field to endorse this bit of fluff.
3) Then bundle their support for the puffery with your product.
I would contact these economists ASAP and find out what they signed. Often, those who are duped into such an endorsement are angry about it, and willing to specify what they signed for the sake of their reputation.
Contact news media en masse to point out that the McCain asked these economists to sign x, and then told the public that they endorsed x+y+z.
If you can get this sort of counterargument packaged properly, it has the potential to be a bigger story than the endorsement itself. It's a pretty clear cut case of lying, so the trick is to get the media to notice. But I guess this is what blogs are good at.
Why would you sign an endorsement that left out the two biggest parts of McCain's plan? It looks like the 300 perfessers want to ride McCain's vintage coattails if he wins, but also want the option to say "I didn't technically endorse that specific plan" when it inevitably fails.
McCain was right about not trusting economists. Too bad he changed positions on that, too.
300 poorly paid college professor's hoping to kiss the right ass and land that good paying job with Corporate America.
All I can say is, thank goodness we're having passionate arguments about the TAX CODE instead of f-ing FLAG PINS for a change.
I'm no economist, but when I count on all my fingers and toes, I get the idea that we're 9.5 trillion dollars in debt, meaning that at an average interest rate of about 7% we'd have to pay about 700 billion dollars per year just to service the interest on the debt. Then, if we somehow managed to raise an additional 100 billion a year, so that we're actually collecting 800 billion dollars per year MORE than we're spending it would still take almost a CENTURY to pay off the national debt. Is that right?
I can see why people don't sweat much about this. The idea of our great great great grandchildren paying the bill for our greed and hedonism is too abstract. But that's what's going to happen.
Comrade Rou @ 19:
when were they NOT for sale.
Bush's "Nobel Prize Winning Economists" from 2000.
Milton Friedman
Robert E. Lucas Jr.
James M. Buchanan
Myron S. Scholes
Gary S. Becker
Robert A. Mundell
Economists who appear on McCain's list of endorsements from today.
Gary Becker, University of Chicago
James Buchanan, George Mason University
Robert Lucas, University of Chicago
Robert Mundell, Columbia University
I guess McCain could only get 4 out 6. Jesus, 2 "Economists" who endorsed Bush won't even sign on to McCain's plans.
The damage done by the republicans, during their unchecked reign in Congress, was so complete, it is almost impossible to put into perspective. Fortunately, John Dean's trilogy deals with this in great detail. It is truly grim reading. Dean states unequivocally that , even though the Republicans have lost control, they are far from capitulating. They are regrouping. They will mount a comeback.
Never before, in modern American history, has their been such wholesale corruption by a political party. They went to Congress, not to serve the public, or faithfully discharge the responsibilities of their office. They went to line their pockets. And boy did they ever succeed. Even now, with all the previous scandals, many believe the full extent, is still not known. They have no plans to abandon this money machine. Even as I write this, republicans are engaged in using obstructionism, to prevent Congress from conducting the doing its job. Naturally, they blame everything on the Democrats, making no attempt to breakdown the polarization, which is strangling the Democrats from doing their jobs.
The state of the economy, is the product of republican rule. They own it, period.
Comrade Rou @ 19:
>Academia for sale? Tell me it aint so Joe……
>when were they NOT for sale.
True but in the age of Bush a new standard for brown nosing has been established. Fuck I know a business ethics professor who 's a hard core moonie supplicant. Another acqaintance, a professor in comparative religion, shills for scientology. What a country.
Um, where are the forks?!
The whole point is not to have a plan that economists endorse, or even to have a plan at all. It's to create a passing blurb, "300 economists signed it," where it is whatever John McCain ever said anywhere was about anything economic. So there.
This will be plumped around, pointed at, exclaimed over, just like some mysterious blimp in the sky. Three hundred economists, mind you. Three hundred economists! Land sakes a-mercy, Martha, let's git registered and vote agin.
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Democratic Party Victory Over SCLM and DIEBOLD! @ 22:
I honestly wonder if mccain's camp is simply just making this up, and that he and/or his staff has had absolutely no contact with the gang of 300... Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
Great list of profs to not bother taking any classes from, I would say....
Huffman ain't no economist...he's a right winged lawyer who has spent all but a couple of years in academia, not the real world. See his vita here http://www.lclark.edu/dept/lawadmss/huffman.html and http://www.lclark.edu/dept/lawadmss/objects/huffmanCV2007.pdf
Does he honestly think the 'trust me I'm a politician' will work... he's a fool; an old fool...
America, the world implores you - it's time for a change; the globe cannot cope with another rabid republican at the helm of the most powerful nation in the free world.
A commemorative poster... or is this too obvious?
Its a McBush/Rove/Cheney attempt to offer a "proof source" when your hard-selling and trying to close for the order. Forgive my arrogarance, but I can get 100 economist to endorse most anything I wanted just to have their names tied to me and my corporations. Like the evangelicals, these economist are selling out for a few minutes of fame.
What about the total irresponsibility of the tax cuts Senator McCain is proposing? They can't seriously be proposing those are good economic policy, are they?
The article neglected to mention they were waterboarding the economists' children to make them sign. Kind of like forced confessions- the ordeal.
[2. ancient trial: a trial in the past that involved subjecting a defendant to life-threatening danger, for example, from fire or water, with the outcome regarded as reflecting divine judgment
Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2003. ⓒ 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.]
This is exactly like James "wish I had a brain" Inhofe's (R-Exxon/OK) "400" 'scientists' list...
89 of which were lifelong economists with no scientific background whatsoever
57 of which were weathermen (meteorologists - you...the guys that are wrong and still get paid...oh and they don't study climate...that's what climatologists & climate scientists do)
28 of which hadn't published a paper since the 1970s before computers, satellites, & technology had proven the effects of climate change...
So lets see where are we at...89+57+28 = 174 so lets take that number down to 226. Now..how many of those guys are legit? Depends on your 'definition'. About half of those 'scientists' belong to PO Box 'climate'/'science' institutes, etc, etc. I even looked up one of the institutes...their address was a parking garage (no $hit). So...lets say even 100+ are 'legit' (didn't take the $20,000 Exxon & CEI were throwing at any 'scientist' who went on the public record against climate change being real)....they're going up against 2500 world wide life dedicating scientist who study it for a living, the Pentagon, the White House (finally), about 57% of Republicans, NASA, the insurance industry, the majority of the Forbes 500 CEOs, and common sense. I don't like their odds...do you?
So...if McCain has '300' 'economists' I'd be very skeptical about their credentials, because so far...only Fox Noise, Saudi Arabia, Senate Republicans & House Republicans believe its a 'good idea'....even Dick Cheney thinks its a bad idea http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/cheney-opposes-gas-tax-holiday.php
Commentator @ 28:
the 2 missing are still alive??
i thought friedman died or i am wrong??
Face it, the American economy (and the world economy, too) is nothing but a big Ponzi scheme controlled by the FED and other large global financial interests.
McCain has no clue how any of that works and no idea whatsoever how to contain a system that is teetering on the brink of disaster. The dollar is soon to be a non-entity and the folks who own our so-called "national debt" will soon own everything else in the good ol' US of A.
As the President, both of the candidates, and all of Congress are beholden to these finanacial interests, I fail to see how any of them can turn the tide in the favor of the American citizenry. We were sold out decades ago.....
We are heading into an economic depression. No one's economic plan is going to work.
The Great Depression lasted throughout the 1930's.
The last 300 grads from the Chicago School of Economics. The rest are on Obama’s team.
---------
An economic depression is not going to care what economist is on anyones team.
all booms end in a bust.
all bubbles burst and deflate.
No economist can prevent that from occurring, no matter how brilliant they think they are.
Neither Obama nor McCain are talking about a record credit bubble that has to and will deflate, and what the consequences of that are.
Both talk about how they are going to get the economy moving again, when in fact we are facing an economic depression, which is going to cause economic decline, not growth.
Mike @ 42:
You're right, he's dead, thus no endorsement, though I'm still surprised they didn't just stick his name on there anyway along with Zombie Reagan. Scholes is still alive.
Just under half (139) of McCain's 300 are from Bush's 2004 list.
These guys endorsed Bush's economics in 00 and 04 and now McCain's in 08. Apparently these guys join the Right Wing in Baghdad Bob mode "There is no Recession, it's all in your head."
BTW, anyone else notice they've got politicians listed as "economists" on this list like: Phil Gramm, Former U.S. Senator
Or this guy - they must have been struggling for names: Douglas Holtz-Eakin, John McCain 2008
One of the names on the list is from my University. I'll e-mail him and see if he really endorsed it or if they just stuck his name on it.
If Obama is "Dr No"....... McCain is "Mr McGoo" and Mr McGoo has a plan.
At least fourteen of those guys died in the 60s.
As someone with a Ph.D. in Economics and 40+ years of teaching experience, this list is not at all surprising. At sometime in the late 60s and continuing into the 80s, the subject of Economics turned very political, first through the (now discredited) Chicago School "monetarism" and later through the notion of "supply side economics" (which has NEVER been subscribed to by most of the economics profession, and has little empirical support).
Deep pockets funding was provided to such "think-tanks" as The American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation (which actively promulgated the monetarist and supply-side rhetoric and sought to give it respectability). Aided by politicians and the press, they have been largely successful.
Of the 300 persons on this list, I can count several whom I am ashamed to admit I know. Someday the economics profession will no longer carry the taint of these ideologies.
Feh: Reminds me of the list of evolution-denying "scientists" that creationists cobble together and/or fabricate every so often. What's needed is something equivalent to the National Center for Science Education's "Project Steve" to smack down McCain's shills.
Did his economists fight against the Persians in a phalanx and then later dine in hell?
American Free Party @ 51:
See #37.
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