Alan Krueger (Chairman of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers)
Tweets:
Krueger implies Stockman’s opinions r not worthy of consideration “…not a serious scholar of the economy.”
Krueger suggests that fixing infrastructure has the highest payoff. Problem: haven’t *ever* done it, & the budget 2 deep in deficit
Krueger spending a lot of time criticizing the sequester, suggests there is a way to do smart cuts. When have we ever done that?
Krueger on Jobs data: “Numbers are very volatile. Too much attention given to monthly jobs number.”
Krueger goes on talking about inequality, has few solutions; education is slow if it works, throwing $$ @ it hasn’t worked recently
Krueger suggests that people have to adjust their definition of fairness. Trouble is there is no fairness, it is all based on trade
Disappointing answers from Krueger on the inflation topic. Seems disconnected from what Main Street is feeling.
“‘Fix it First’ infrastructure program, $40B from winding down wars, will help job growth.”
I would only add that education is no panacea.? We?ve thrown a lot of money at it for years, with little incremental results.? Structural changes are needed to remove substandard teachers, eliminate collective bargaining if needed, move back to a ?basics? curriculum similar to that used in the 50s (with updated science & history), etc.? We have to recognize that we have let fools dictate our curricula, and reverse the damage.
Other Stuff
Thanks to Peter Cook, Tom Keene, and Stephanie Call at Bloomberg for humoring me.? Thanks to Cate Long (bright lady) and other tweeters for covering the conference.
There was a lot of love for Canada, thinking it to be far better run than the US, as its financial economy teeters with too much mortgage debt.
And some more tweets:
Humorous panel w/Harvey Pitt, Robert Engle, and Anthony Scaramucci — Engle is clueless, thinking Fed policy can be easily removed
Pitt: if I were a college professor, I would give Congress an “F” for Dodd-Frank
Federal Reserve less independent since Dodd-Frank, & not in a good way, it supports the US financial sector & government
Gotta give Scaramucci credit for getting on this panel, he has said some notably odd things
Engle correct in noting that the tea party has made Washington a 3-party game, which creates a complex blocked situation
John Rogers of the CFA Institute asks Engle why we should invest in a new bubble created by the Federal Reserve? Engle waffles.
I also got the final question on that panel:
Why should investors be confident when economic policy is unpredictable, and debt levels are higher than that in the Great Depression?
They didn?t have a good answer, though Engle tried.? That said, with valuations so high, it looks like investors are confident, or they ?have learned to stop worrying, and learned to love the Bomb.?
It was a very good conference; I learned a lot.? You can view the videos off of Bloomberg.
Bloomberg “News” has become way too political.
Much like CFA Institute, Bloomberg used to be (historically) a lot more financial market oriented — focused on actual practice and functioning financial markets.
Markets were halted by some unethical bureaucrats — Paulson, Bernanke, Geithner, etc. Its just corruption and politics now.
That is why “they” are still lending money to Stockton, CA.
>>I would only add that education is no panacea. We?ve thrown a lot of money at it for years, with little incremental results.
1) I think we?ve thrown money in the wrong places. My district?s budget is being eaten from one end by special education and from the other by the pension. Both are out of control because of mandates (SpEd) and promises (pension) made by politicians who explicitly refused to pay for them- so now the local taxpayers are squashed.
>>Structural changes are needed to remove substandard teachers,
2) I?d welcome that, as it?d make my job easier (?But Mr. ___?s class does ____ and they all get A?s?). But I haven?t yet thought of a good way to set that up where I?m not also more at risk for getting clobbered by an administrator with a vendetta.
>>eliminate collective bargaining if needed,
3) As CB isn?t the cause of school district budgetary-woes in PA (see #1), I don?t think that would help anything here. It?d just help convince other young, capable people that being a teacher is a fool?s errand if you removed the veneer of union safety.
>>move back to a ?basics? curriculum similar to that used in the 50s (with updated science & history), etc.
4) I?d welcome that too. Unfortunately, ?basics? are loudly being rejected in favor of ?The Arts? by parents because it feels good to have an art festival and choral concert for the elementary school kids even though it will hurt their academic prospects later because retiring science and math teachers aren?t being replaced.
>>We have to recognize that we have let fools dictate our curricula, and reverse the damage.
5) Don?t count on it. The Fools are in charge of a lot more than our curricula- they hold the purse strings (see #1), protect poor teachers (see #2), and will cower before any parent who sneezes (see #4).