LEADER: Exit economists
The news that the two leading contenders for the presidency of the New York Federal Reserve have withdrawn from the running is troubling. It seems neither Stanley Fischer, formerly number two at the International Monetary Fund and now at Citigroup, nor Peter Fisher, Treasury under- secretary for domestic finance and a former New York Fed man, could be persuaded to take over the second most powerful position in the Federal Reserve system.
Doubtless both men had understandable personal reasons for their polite refusals. But their reluctance fits something of a disturbing pattern these days. Serious economic policymaking has been so downgraded in George W. Bush's America that it is becoming harder to persuade anyone to do it.
All the members of the president's first economic policy team have left in the past six months - the secretary and deputy secretary of the Treasury, the head of the National Economic Council, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
This is mostly good news. Though an eclectic bunch, they all shared one thing - a fatal flaw. It was either ideological inflexibility, political ineptitude or just plain policymaking incompetence. Or, in at least one case, a remarkable combination of all three. Several of these positions remain vacant - the White House is still searching for a deputy Treasury secretary four months after Kenneth Dam announced his departure.
But even where new brooms have been found, it is clear that changing the economic team has had no impact on the outcome of policy discussions. Fiscal policy is still irresponsible, international economic policy is still chaotic. Trade policy is still an adjunct. We know why. Economic policy comes a distant third in the Bush administration's priorities - behind national security and re-election politics.
In case anyone still doubted this, it was reported earlier this month that the White House Council of Economic Advisers, now under the amiable leadership of Harvard's Gregory Mankiw, is moving out of the - er - White House. Its new home will be a nice suite of offices somewhere near the Starbucks and the mobile phone shop on G Street, a comfortable 400 yards from anyone in a position of political power.
From there Mr Bush will not be able to hear the howls of economic anguish when he proposes his next tax cut or import tariff or agricultural subsidy. One day, as the dollar slides further and the fiscal deficit expands, Mr Bush will need some serious economic thinkers around him. But by then, there will be none left.
There is only one answer. It is time to put Donald Rumsfeld in charge of economics. It would not necessarily do much for economic policy. But it would work wonders for foreign policy.