Czar vs. Commissar

I still think "commissar" makes more sense than "czar" in referring to various government grandees in charge of various parts of our economy. See an earlier blog for more on this. Professor Mankiw of Harvard is the guy that first suggested this more accurate use of terms, pointing out that "czar" was a term in use before the Revolution, whereas "commissar" came into use after the Bolsheviks came into power. Perhaps the major question will be whether we should have Four Year Plans, as in Germany, or Five Year Plans as in the rest of the socialist world. I wonder why Lenin and Stalin thought you had to use force. By the way, I hear the hardware store down the street is having a special on rope.