Who can we trust?

Dear Freakwenter,

Should I give any merit to Gregory Mankiw's economic ideas? As the former chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisors just before the economic collapse, isn't he responsible for developing and supporting failed policies?

Apart from the meticulous economic ideas that he occasionally voices, Mankiw's biggest service to humanity is his blog, which serves as a hub for the latest in economic commentary from a diverse group of economists in language that is at least moderately understandable for half of the general public.

But to get to the heart of your question, who can we trust? Let's take a look at a potential candidates. Alan Greenspan, once an economic icon, has admitted that his pre-turmoil understanding of our economy was dangerously misguided. The Obama campaign's widely respected right-hand economist, Austin Goolsbee, openly advocated the issuance of sub-prime mortgages as recently as March 29, 2007. Obama's Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner and current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke were both in excellent positions of power to institute regulations that may have moderated the crisis had they acted sooner. Martin Feldstein, considered one of the top ten economists in the world, has been serving for many years on the board of directors of AIG, the second major recipient of a Federal Reserve bailout. You get my waft: the failure of Mankiw to show Bush how to prevent the crisis is hardly a mark of intellectual inferiority. The financial morass is giving the reputations of all economists (with the possible exception of Dr. Doom) a good kick in the colon.

So, who can you trust? Hmmm... Got nothing. Take this one to the Lord in prayer.