Talk is cheap. Supply exceeds Demand. 
Not His Favorite Clown What follows are a few “Economist Jokes”. Not wanting to shock anyone but all of these were written and were being told when David Lereah was still in grade school. Here is a news flash – people who are finding themselves being “victimized” by the pronouncements of an economist have to be looking for ways to be a victim. I’m not defending Lereah, I’ve never bothered to pay any attention to anything he (or any other economist) had to say about anything.
NO major economist accurately predicted, in advance, the phenomenal run up in prices that started two years ago. Every last one of them was asleep at the switch. The switch was turned on and they – along with everyone else – THEN could make pronouncements about it. That is observation of effect, after the fact. That is not “predicting” anything.
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Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.
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“I’m thinking of leaving my husband,” complained the economist’s wife.
“All he ever does is stand at the end of the bed and tell me how good things are going to be.”
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There is also a joke about the last Mayday parade in the Soviet Union. After the tanks and the troops and the planes and the missiles rolled by there came ten men dressed in black.
“Are they Spies?” Asked Gorby?
“They are economists,” replies the KGB director, “imagine the havoc they will wreak when we set them loose on the Americans”
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Economists don’t answer to questions others make because they know what the answer is. They answer because they are asked.
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The only thing more dangerous than an amateur economist is a professional economist.
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Economics is the only field in which two people can get a Nobel Prize for saying exactly the opposite thing.
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An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn’t happen today.
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An Economist is someone who didn’t have enough personality to become an accountant.
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Q. What’s the difference between an economist and a befuddled old man with Alzheimer’s?
A. The economist is the one with the calculator.
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The last severe depression and banking crisis could not have been achieved by normal civil servants and politicians, it required economists involvement.
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Forecasting is like trying to drive a car blindfolded and following directions given by a person who is looking out of the back window
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Given 1000 economists, there will be 10 theoretical economists with different theories on how to change the light bulb and 990 empirical economists laboring to determine which theory is the *correct* one, and everyone will still be in the dark.
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Q: What do you get when you cross the Godfather with an economist?
A: An offer you can’t understand.
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Q: Why has astrology been invented? A: So that economy could be an accurate science.
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If an economist and an IRS agent were both drowning and you could only save one of them, would you go to lunch or read the paper?
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I asked an economist for her phone number….and she gave me an estimate.
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The First Law of Economists: For every economist, there exists an equal and opposite economist.
The Second Law of Economists: They’re both wrong.
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Q. What does an economist do?
A. A lot in the short run, which amounts to nothing in the long run.
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Economists are people who are too smart for their own good and not smart enough for anyone else’s.
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Q:Why did God create economists ?
A:In order to make weather forecasters look good.
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The experience of being proved completely wrong is salutory. No economist should be denied it, and none are.
– J K Galbraith
mike says:
No major economist accurately predicted, in advance, the phenomenal run up in prices that started two years ago.
While that may be true, it’s not the issue for which Lereah and the NAR are being excoriated.
It’s the lying – from both the NAR and Mr. Lereah – that’s troubling people.
In March 2005, just as the bubble was about to pop, Mr. Lereah published his book: “Are You Missing the Real Estate Boom?: The Boom Will Not Bust and Why Property Values Will Continue to Climb Through the End of the Decade.”
See that? “Property values will climb through the end of the decade.” It’s right there in the title.
Mr. Lereah was clearly wrong, but rather then admit it, we have press releases like this new one from the NAR, trying to rewrite history: “[Robert] Shiller contended that rising home prices weren’t based in the fundamentals of population growth and supply and demand; they were bubbles, destined to pop. To the contrary, NAR economists predicted that market slowdowns would largely be gradual — a trend that’s playing out today.
Slowdowns? What slowdowns? The NAR’s Chief Economist predicted values would rise through 2010.
You see, that’s not just an honest lack of prescience or a bad prediction.
That’s a lie.
And there are many more examples.
December 22, 2006 — 1:01 am
Russell Shaw says:
**Slowdowns? What slowdowns? The NAR’s Chief Economist predicted values would rise through 2010.
You see, that’s not just an honest lack of prescience or a bad prediction.
That’s a lie.**
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By your standard, Greenspan was also a non-stop liar, as was Paul Volker. Read through the jokes again. See if you can find one or two that at least make you smile. The random droppings of any economist (who isn’t with the FED)aren’t ever anything to get worked up over.
If you are one of the I-hate-all-things-NAR group, then skip the smile and enjoy the hate.
December 22, 2006 — 2:48 am
Doug Quance says:
I sense that many of the so-called “victims” of the economists probably also visit the local palm reader, as well. They probably purchase the local paper just to read their horoscopes.
No one can predict the future. Even a fool should know that.
December 22, 2006 — 6:17 am
mike says:
By your standard, Greenspan was also a non-stop liar, as was Paul Volker.
No; Neither Greenspan nor Volker ever tried to revise history. They never once tried to alter or deny their prior public statements.
December 22, 2006 — 8:24 am
mike says:
No one can predict the future. Even a fool should know that.
Maybe I wasn’t clear – the issue isn’t a wrong prediction it’s not telling the truth about past predictions.
Even the statement anent the “gradual slowdown” is misleading. The last quarter was the worst drop in 30 years.
The Center For Responsible Lending estimates that 2.2 million homeowners will lose their homes to foreclosure in the next couple of years, in large part to realtors and lenders discarding the traditional metrics of affordability and putting them into houses they couldn’t afford.
Go ahead and crack jokes while lives and families are being ruined. I don’t find this funny at all.
December 22, 2006 — 8:59 am
Jeff Brown says:
If all the world’s economists were laid end to end……it would be a great idea.
December 22, 2006 — 10:38 am
Jim says:
“Mike”: get a life and a girlfriend. You’re in desperate need of some action.
December 22, 2006 — 12:27 pm
John says:
Once again, NAR has shown itself to be a foolish and despicable outfit more inclined to attempt to malign the reputation of a legitimate “thought leader” than to ever challenge itself to address its own obvious failings.
http://paper-money.blogspot.com/2006/12/shillers-failed-bubble-scenario.html
December 22, 2006 — 7:04 pm
Galen says:
One more, which is a little more obtuse:
Two economists are walking down the street. One sees a $20 bill at his feet and says “hey, there’s a $20 bill on the ground!” The other economist says “That’s impossible, if $20 was lying on the ground, someone would have picked it up already.”
December 27, 2006 — 4:33 pm
Russell Shaw says:
To Galen: LOL! VERY FUNNY!
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To “John”: Do you EVER have anything positive to say? Or is it always negative, all the time?
December 27, 2006 — 11:29 pm
Osman says:
For the record, my post wasn’t about anyone being victimized. It was about the need for NAR to replace the chief spokesperson with someone who has more credibility.
Certain bubble bloggers have highlighted his contradictions and double talk on current market conditions. Yes, many of their posts are outlandish and some border on inappropriate. Although I don’t always condone their satire, one thing is clear. They have a point. His spinning is transparent.
It’s time for more credibility and higher standards of professionalism throughout the real estate business. If David Lereah is widely perceived as a double talking clown whose statements are only spin, and I believe that’s how he is being perceived now, it’s time for NAR to get somebody who has better standing.
Pretty simple.
-O
December 29, 2006 — 2:33 am