Word: feldstein
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Generally considered a free-market economist, Feldstein has criticized supply-side extremists who promised that the 1981 tax cuts would trigger sudden growth in the economy. In practical terms, he is also keenly concerned about the widening size of the federal budget deficit, and favors a cutback in Social Security cost of living increases as a way to combat it. He also suggests that federal policies have diverted too much of the nation's capital into housing, a stance that brought him opposition from the national homebuilders' lobby...
...policy quarrels in coming months will focus on such complex questions as the economic impact of further budget cuts, the probable effect of additional tax increases, and even what to do about bringing the runaway growth of Social Security spending under control. In all those areas, at least, Feldstein will be right at home. At 42, the Harvard-and Oxford-trained economist is widely regarded as one of the half a dozen or so brightest and most prolific economic analysts in the U.S. In 1977 the sum total of his work, on everything from the effects of unemployment insurance...
...Feldstein has already moved to bolster the influence of the CEA and reassert its in dependence from OMB and the Treasury. Even before his confirmation hearings, Feldstein was busy staking out turf for himself in the interdepartmental policy group known as T-l (for Economic Troika One), which consists of Treasury Secretary Donald Regan, Budget Director David Stockman and the chairman of the CEA. In weekly break fast meetings of the group, Feldstein has managed to hold his own in even the most esoteric of budget debates with Stockman, who possessesa daunting reputation for his deft handling of twelve-digit...
...Feldstein's biggest challenge will be winning the ear of the President. The backgrounds of the two men - one a Bronx-born intellectual, the other an outdoorsy, instinctive Westerner - could not be more different. Reagan too has strongly held opinions on economics, and some Administration policymakers have quit because they were unable to influence the President's self-taught views...
Lacking any kind of power base in Washington, Feldstein will have to make the most of his analytical skills to win le verage in the Oval Office. Said one Ad ministration official last week: "Marty is building his inside credibility very quickly." Even so, the hearing rooms of Congress and the back halls of the White House require far different talents from the classrooms and think tanks to which Feldstein is accustomed. He will have to work hard indeed to translate his considerable expertise into concrete achievements...