The fee is falling

Posted By Daniel W. Drezner Friday, March 6, 2009 - 3:37 AM Share

To explain how dire the economic situation is right now, one could mention General Motors, or bring up General Electric, or, hey, there's always the latest jobs report.

The following tidbit of information, however, suggests how serious things really are:

Based on data ~~obtained from dinner chit-chat~~ painstakingly gathered throughout the day, it appears that Thomas Friedman's speaking fees have recently fallen by 25%.

Of course, this could be because his speaker profile is a bit out of date.

EXPLORE:CULTURE, FINANCIAL MELTDOWN, PUBLIC INTELLECTUALS

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LEMON

4:37 AM ET

March 6, 2009

Weddings

According to the site he is available for weddings! "We all know how much the bride and groom love each other and appreciate their parents for their support over the years, so instead of the usual speeches, we've flown in Tom Friedman to lecture you all about your carbon consumption. Mazel tov!"

BLUE13326

8:31 AM ET

March 6, 2009

No worries: Our president

No worries: Our president (quickly proving himself to be the most ignorant person to ever occupy the office) says now there are great bargains in the stock market to be snapped up at a 'good profit to earnings ratio'.

BRETT

8:53 AM ET

March 6, 2009

Ah - I was wondering why the

Ah - I was wondering why the ticket prices for the speech he's giving at the local university here next week are as low as they are.

Man, sucks to be Friedman. Your speaking fees drop, and your wife's more-than-a-billion dollar fortune is worth a lousy few million because of the downturn and the collapse of her family's company. The only bright spot is your latest insta-best-seller.

DON S

4:56 PM ET

March 6, 2009

Perhaps Friedman should do as John Kerry did.....

Trade her in a new model, so to speak.

Probably not. The palatial house is probably paid-for, the speaking fees probably sufficient to cover one's life-style. Even the ever-deteriorating position of his employer (the NY Times) shouldn't be that much of a concern as I suspect any number of thriving entities (WSJ, FT, etc) would be thrilled to add Friedman to their masthead should worse come to worst. USA Today would cream their worsted trousers to have him, I am sure.