The Recession's Economist Playboy

Nouriel Roubini, the star economist who was one of the few to forecast the current economic disaster, conducts himself with an almost Noam Chomsky-esque air of superiority. Roubini is enjoying a moment in the spotlight, as his economic doomsday prophecies turned out to be all too true. A profile in The New Republic reveals that Roubini is finding that celebrity isn't all it's cracked up to be, as his image as an academic playboy, "a partying pessimist," annoys him to no end. This new status,along with his own humble past as a Jew with roots in Iran, have helped him maintain a bunker mentality in which he is still a genius who "no one listens to until it is too late." Nevertheless, just judging by the names that in the list of his former colleagues—Larry Summers and Tim Geithner—there is no doubt that his influence is widespread.