More reasons to doubt economists have done the world much good in recent years comes via this fascinating look at the testimony of Columbia Business School Dean and Mitt Romney “go-to” economist (and likely Treasury Secretary had Romney won) Glenn Hubbard who followed up his disastrous appearance on the Academy Award winning documentary Inside Job with a less flexible interchange with lawyers as part of the lawsuit against the former Countrywide Financial, all recounted in this story at Rolling Stone by Matt Tiabbi.
So how much does it cost to get the Dean of Columbia Business School to say that Countrywide customers weren’t injured by fraud? Well, MBIA’s lawyer, Phillipe Selendy of Quinn Emmanuel, asked Hubbard that very question:
Q. How are you being compensated?
A. I’m being compensated at an hourly rate for my work.
Q. Do you know your hourly rate?
A. Yes, it’s $1200 an hour.
Reading the entire Taibbi report is highly recommended – there’s lots more there, highlighted by details of the less-than-vigorous approach that Hubbard took in concluding that Countrywide was not to blame.
I just watched that clip from Inside Job – the one where Hubbard and then-Goldman Sachs Chief Economist William Dudley (now New York Fed Chairman) both praised credit derivatives for improving capital allocation, enhancing financial stability, and reducing risk. I think I’m going to be sick…