Recession: "the worst banana you ever saw" ... Alfred Kahn

Ilsa

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Wed Jan-23-08 12:12 PM
Original message

Recession: "the worst banana you ever saw" ... Alfred Kahn

Edited on Wed Jan-23-08 12:19 PM by Ilsa

ON LANGUAGE; What's So Funny About Bananas?

Economists know it's funny, too. When Alfred Kahn, Jimmy Carter's anti-inflation czar, was told by his political superiors never to use the word recession , he agreed to substitute the word banana ; he was soon heard muttering about "the worst banana you ever saw."

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7D61F3FF93AA35756C0A965958260

I bet Bush's Cabinet and staff are wandering around the WH muttering about bananas.

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zanne

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Wed Jan-23-08 12:14 PM
Response to Original message

1. I love it!

From now on, we should all use the "banana" word!

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Ilsa

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Wed Jan-23-08 12:18 PM
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2. My nonposting DUer friend told me this story yesterday when

Edited on Wed Jan-23-08 12:18 PM by Ilsa

I mentioned that the WH is still saying it isn't a recession. He said Carter's Chief of Staff (I think that's who it was) called Khan when Khan mentioned the R word to an obscure media person. Jordan asked him not to use THAT WORD anymore, so Alfred Khan said, okay, can I call it a "banana"? Jordan reportedly said "sure", but then Khan started actually using it!

Co-inky-dink: This article appeared in today's NYT!

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radfringe

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Wed Jan-23-08 12:20 PM
Response to Original message

3. does that mean commander cuckoo banana is really

commander cuckoo recession?

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