Fiscal Responsibility

Chris Swann - Page 3

He still needed to get over the notion that real men don't cook. "What got me by the image of the guy cooking was two things. First of all as an enquiring young man I would come across an occasional Playboy magazine lying around. I'm gonna tell you—I didn't just read the articles. But beside the pictures, I'd see these guys dressed up in tuxedos and they'd have the chafing dish and be serving these good-looking women. I thought these guys know what they're doing." The other influence came from a friend he stayed with one summer in college. "His dad was this big guy who was an all-American mention at Illinois in the 50s as an offensive guard. And he did all the cooking. So it was like, okay, I got this. You can be a macho guy and do all this cooking too. From that time on I really took an interest in food and cooking."

Being raised in an Italian family means that he doesn't mind cooking for a crowd. "My wife's aunt is first generation Italian and she's like ninety now," says Chris. "Well a few years back, over several glasses of wine, we got this idea that we would make homemade stromboli for part of the big Christmas Eve gathering. I think we're up to about fifty people for this thing. So last year we made about eight stromboli in addition to the seafood tray and the ham and all the rest of it."

The other crowd he cooks for is workmates at the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Every summer they have a picnic and Chris volunteers to help out. "It turns out I love to do these parties," laughs Chris. "There was one guy who pretty much coordinated it but I think he was at the end of his rope with it and needed a rest. So they asked me if I would like to coordinate it. I said yes and I decided that my contribution would be to barbeque some chicken. I brought down about one hundred pieces of barbeque chicken from Philadelphia in the back of my Explorer. So that pretty much sealed my fate." With help from his coworkers the picnic was a big success. "This past Christmas the finger of fate pointed in my direction. I decided it was just cheaper and better to get two 30-pound turkeys and roast them. Then I de-boned them and vacuum sealed them at home. Then I brought them down with some sides that I bought. I pretty much catered the event. It was a lot of work but it was a lot of fun."

Chris is also on the board of directors for the National Association of Business Economists (NABE). "I love the organization and I love my profession," says Chris. NABE is a great source of information for business economists whether seasoned or just starting out. They also lobby for adequate funding for data for agencies like the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Census Bureau or the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. "Those are the three big organizations that provide government data and survey work," says Chris. "They rely on the private sector to provide data. If you don't have the surveys, you don't get the data." As important as that data is to all of us, it's not always an easy case to make on Capitol Hill. "It would be nice to have a bake sale to get that funding but that would be hard to pull off," Chris says with a laugh.

To see Chris's writings visit the BEA website, and click on Survey of Current Business. If only getting some of his barbeque chicken was that easy.

Continue >>

Article:
Harry Zeeve: Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3
David Walker: Page 1 - Page 2
Alison Acosta Fraser: Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3
Belle Sawhill: Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3
Chris Swann: Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3
Carl Tannenbaum: Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3

vol3 issue2, 2008

Fiscal Responsibility

Chris Swann - Page 3