{"id":278361,"date":"2010-02-04T16:24:24","date_gmt":"2010-02-04T21:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"tag:business.theatlantic.com,2010:\/\/3.35375"},"modified":"2010-02-04T16:17:17","modified_gmt":"2010-02-04T21:17:17","slug":"nouriel-roubini-battles-dr-doom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/278361","title":{"rendered":"Nouriel Roubini Battles “Dr Doom”"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you predict global financial catastrophe and are proven right,
\nsometimes you have to pay the price in the form of an ominous moniker.
\nEconomist Nouriel Roubini, widely credited with anticipating the recent
\nfinancial crisis, was christened “Dr. Doom”<\/a>
\nby no less an authority than the New York Times. The notorious nickname
\nhas helped Roubini become a global economic rockstar, recently seen
\npartying with models in St Barts<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But now the good doctor is looking for a change. He recently expressed displeasure<\/a> with “Dr. Doom,” and proposed<\/a> an outlandishly terrible alternative: Dr. Realism. <\/p>\n

Roubini may understand financial meltdowns, but he doesn’t seem
\nto get the simple economics of nicknames: They have to be earned, and
\ncan’t be discarded on a whim, especially when they’re good. The name of the original Dr Doom<\/a>,
\na Marvel Comics supervillain, was described by creator Stan Lee as
\n“eloquent in its simplicity — magnificent in its implied menace.”<\/p>\n

Putting Roubini’s meddling aside
\n– and assigning yourself a nickname is a major faux pas – if he wants
\nto rebrand himself, he shouldn’t do a half-baked job. No one is
\never going to mention Dr. Realism outside of the sentence “This
\neconomist known Dr. Doom is trying to call himself Dr. Realism.” His
\nchoice is a veritable lesson in nickname don’ts. To wit:<\/p>\n

— Do not choose something boring. You don’t want your nickname to
\nquietly sum you up; you want bling. And Dr. Realism is the nickname
\nequivalent of a tweed jacket with a matching sweater vest. Roubini
\nmight as well call himself Dr. I-Told-You-So. (Actually, that’s not
\nbad.)<\/p>\n

— Do not think small. Even “The Realist” is definitely an
\nimprovement, or “The Pragmatist.” A mere Ph.D. isn’t going to cut it,
\nespecially compared with the vivid original.<\/p>\n

—Do not take nickname advice from CNBC viewers<\/a>.This should be self-explanatory. Ask Maria Bartiromo how much she likes being called “Money Honey.”<\/p>\n

It’s easy to see where Roubini is coming from: Who wants to be
\nperpetually known as the bearer of bad news? But nicknames are not to
\nbe trifled with by their bearers, and attempts to do so will inevitably
\nbackfire. And as much as Roubini may detest the handle Dr. Doom, I’m
\nsure he won’t consider “The Doctor Formerly Known as Doom” an
\nimprovement.


\n

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If you predict global financial catastrophe and are proven right, sometimes you have to pay the price in the form of an ominous moniker. Economist Nouriel Roubini, widely credited with anticipating the recent financial crisis, was christened “Dr. Doom” by no less an authority than the New York Times. The notorious nickname has helped Roubini […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4833,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-278361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4833"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278361\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}