Mankiw's Advice

A Harvard professor of econ  
Told the President: "Fix what you're weak on;
Since you took a shellacking,
You've got to start tracking
The mind of the av'rage House Neocon."    

Harvard economics professor Greg Mankiw, in his own words "a sometime advisor to Republicans" (including President George W. Bush as the chairman of his Council of Economic Advisors), wrote a New York Times piece advising President Barack Obama "how to break bread" with the new House majority.  Professor Mankiw advised the President to mind the incentives created by marginal tax rates; to spread opportunity rather than "spreading the wealth;" and to avoid making the opposition his enemy.

This space finds much of the professor's reasoning and assumptions flawed, and will spend the rest of the week attempting to rebut them in five-line verses of anapestic meter.  Following that, we are pleased to share the stage with Professor Mankiw as he moderates a panel of economic humorists, this Saturday night at 8:00 PM MST at the American Economic Association annual meeting.