Respected Economist Wanted For Impartial Study

Only respected economists with sterling reputations need apply:

The US Chamber of Commerce, one of the leading opponents of both health care reform and climate change legislation, is soliciting for donations to hire a "respected economist" to study how health care legislation will affect jobs and the economy -- but the chamber apparently already knows what the results will be.

An email sent from the chamber to supporters last week, and obtained by the Washington Post, states that the group -- which bills itself as the US's largest business advocacy organization -- needs $50,000 to hire an economist to study the impact of the proposed health care reform legislation on jobs and the economy as a whole.

Then, the email states, "the economist will ... circulate a sign-on letter to hundreds of other economists saying that the bill will kill jobs and hurt the economy. We will then be able to use this open letter to produce advertisements, and as a powerful lobbying and grass-roots document."