Title: Chief economist

Claim to fame: Wrote the book on the financial crisis -- two of them, in fact.

Recovery plan in brief: Extend the payroll tax holiday

In his words: Extending the current payroll tax holiday through 2012 is the most immediate step policymakers need to take to ensure that the economic recovery continues in 2012. Without quick action by Congress and the administration, everyone’s tax bill will increase on January 1. Workers will pay close to $120 billion more in taxes in 2012 than they did in 2011.

In a well-functioning economy, this would not be a problem. But in the currently very fragile economy beset by a range of threats, from the European debt crisis to the foreclosure crisis, this could be too much to bear. Extending the payroll tax holiday for another year won’t add to economic growth, but it is key to ensuring that the economy continues to grow.

Of course, this is not a long-term policy response to our significant economic problems. Policymakers need to address our byzantine tax code, immigration policy and, most importantly, our daunting fiscal challenges. But all of these problems will quickly become intractable if the economy backtracks into recession next year.