The discussion at Free Exchange talks about the role of humanities PhDs in a recession. Humanities PhDs are apparently luxury goods, as people choose more easily marketable degrees. On the other hand, it is argued that a diverse economy is better for long term growth. Is it possible to teach ethics to adults anyways? It may be possible, but I think it's unlikely.
Catherine Rampell asks whether economics forecasts from top officials are too optimistic. A lot of people seem to think so. I don't think those forecasts are coming out of just the officials, which I think is an important point.
Felix Salmon is worried that the Department of the Treasury doesn't have assistant secretaries and undersecretaries yet--considering we're going through the worst recession in decades, this is an important time to be fully staffed. For reference, the Department of the Treasury has nine offices, each of which is supposed to have an assistant secretary and an undersecretary. Geithner is the only official listed (in looking at some of the offices, I saw one 'acting assistant secretary' listed... sounds like a very temporary thing, though).
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