16B – How Many Words Does It Take to Say “Class War”?

These days, America’s top economic officials tend to speak in unintelligible bureaucratic gobbledygook. But, once upon a time, there was a plainspoken White House economist, and he even had a sense of humor. He didn’t last.

Alfred Kahn was chastised by the White House in 1978 for speaking clearly and honestly about the looming possibility of a depression: “Too blunt… use softer words!” So Kahn started calling the downturn a looming “banana.”