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That big sucking sound was not, as presidential candidate Ross Perot once famously said, the sound of American jobs going to other countries. The big sucking sound was the collective sigh of relief as the National Football League lockout of referees ended.
Apparently, one big mistake in the Green Bay-Seattle game the previous Monday propelled the NFL into bargaining action. Suddenly, the full-time refs, normally bums, became heros.
One wonders why we put up with so many mistakes by central bankers...who don’t seem to understand or follow the rules they are presumably supposed to enforce. Ironically, it was a banker whose ruling brought down the wrath of NFL-fandom and an end to the impasses. According to the Wall Street Journal: “Before Monday night, Lance Easley was a mostly anonymous full-time banker for Bank of America Corp. And part-time high-school football referee blowing whistles in a Christian league in California.”
“By Tuesday morning, he was the toast of Seattle, the scourge of Green Bay, Wis., the owner of his own Wikipedia entry and now maybe the man most influential in the campaign to bring back regular referees to the National Football League.
A clearly decent man, Easley made what many observers saw as a clear mistake – one that cost Green Bay the game. Football is not as forgiving as religion. Mistakes matter. They cannot be tolerated on the gridiron.
A satirical feature in the New York Times demonstrated ten fictitious poses “From the Replacement Official’s Handbook. Figure 10 was entitled: “Here, you try if you think you can do better” as the official stretched out an open right arm as if to invite someone to take his spot.
What a concept. Perhaps one of the world’s central bankers might try the Figure 10 play and invite someone else to do better. There is a clear need to do better.
Most folks acknowledge that our current approach to fiscal problems in Washington is dysfunctional. But what is even more dysfunctional is our monetary policy.
Everyone is worrying about the fiscal cliff we’re facing. What about the monetary cliff we’re facing. The world’s central bankers may think they’re pros...but they are sure muffing a lot of plays.
Send in the gold team.
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