Princeton economist Krueger appointed top economic adviser

Krueger who is a noted labor expert and is currently a professor at the Princeton University replaces Austan Goolsbee, who left early August to return to the University of Chicago.

Officials state that Krueger is the ideal candidate to implement and oversee the new jobs agenda likely to be unveiled soon.

Best choice
The 50-year-old Krueger has served as the chief economist at the Treasury Department during the first two years of the Obama administration.

During that stint the immensely respected Krueger worked on the highly successful ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program that propelled auto sales.

“You’re going to have to design something micro targeted and much less costly in the budgetary dollars. These are the kinds of things that labor economists, and Alan Krueger in particular, have a lot of insight on.” --Alan Blinder, a fellow Princeton economist

While introducing Krueger, the president assured that he would rely on the economist for advice that is "not based on politics, not based on narrow interests, but based on the best evidence" on what is ideal for the economy.

“Alan understands the difficult challenges our country faces, and I have confidence that he will help us meet those challenges as one of the leaders on my economic team,” noted Obama.

With barely 15 months to go for elections, the immediate challenge for the president is to craft a plan that boosts jobs and help people get rid of effects of economic slowdown.

The way forward
Stating his intentions, Obama said, “I will be laying out a series of steps that Congress can take immediately to put more money in the pockets of working families and middle-class families, to make it easier for small businesses to hire people, to put construction crews to work rebuilding our nation’s roads and railways and airports, and all the other measures that can help to grow this economy.”

Sources familiar with the matter aver that generating long-term unemployment is on the agenda. The administration may look at revising a Georgia unemployment insurance program that pays employers to hire unemployed workers.

In addition to introducing clean-energy tax cuts, a two-percentage-point cut in the payroll tax is also expected.

Alan Blinder, a fellow Princeton economist, said, “You’re going to have to design something micro targeted and much less costly in the budgetary dollars. These are the kinds of things that labor economists, and Alan Krueger in particular, have a lot of insight on."