BY SAM CHANDAN

Economists rejoice.

In selecting Representative Paul Ryan as his running mate, Gov. Mitt Romney has framed the 2012 election squarely in terms of jobs, the economy and the need for budget reform. He has also sharpened the contrast between our choices come November.

If elected officials were ideologues as bold as their candidate personas, a Ryan vice presidency would enact a more radical revision of American government than we have yet seen. It is a less intrusive government, at least in terms of dollars and economic distortions, and one that makes divisive distinctions between perceived dependence and the virtues of self-reliance.

At the helm of the House Budget Committee, Mr. Ryan has been forced to marry ideological positions with concrete proposals. This has earned him a nominal role as the Republican Party’s intellectual torchbearer. Among today’s most outspoken politicians, qualified candidates for such a title are embarrassingly rare. No hockey mom, Mr. Ryan is refreshing in an entirely different way: his tough talk is rather specific, it offers some gauges of its real costs, and it necessarily estranges some independent voters.

That’s not to say his policy proposals will always pass muster with the intelligentsia or the party faithful. In the denouement of Saturday’s announcement, the Onion’s warning of the “Nation’s Economists Quietly Evacuating Their Families” is undoubtedly true somewhere.

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BY ADELAIDE POLSINELLI

Have you ever noticed how some real estate sales brokers seem effortlessly to have listings at all times, pumping out sales like a fired-up ATM machine squirting out dollars, while other brokers struggle just to get 10 seconds on the phone with an owner?

Well, the first thing you should know is that almost every broker started out with nothing. For the purpose of this article, we will assume a clean and level playing field.

The tried-and-true, traditional method of acquiring listings or product is to canvass or cold call. It sounds simple, but it can be one of the most difficult elements of being a broker. If you cant get past cold-calling 101, this is not your career. Not everyone is cut out for this.

Cold calling requires balls of steel. If you have a fragile ego, move on. Cold calling will be discouraging for the faint of heart. But once you gain momentum, it should get easier.

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BY DANIEL EDWARD ROSEN

Ipsos North America, a global market research firm, has renewed its sublease at 360 Park Avenue for another 10 years, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The firm, which has been subleasing the space from Reed Elsevier, will continue to occupy the entire 5th floor in the building at a footprint sized at 22,500 square feet.

Asking rent was $50-a-square-foot.

Mark Ravesloot and Sam Seiler, both of CBRE, represented Ipsos North America in the deal. Cushman & Wakefield's Kevin Daly and Clark Finney represented Reed Elsevier in the lease transaction.

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BY DANIEL GEIGER

A Cushman & Wakefield team led by executives Bruce Mosler and Andrew Peretz has picked up the leasing agency assignment for 60 Wall Street, The Commercial Observer has learned. The roughly 1.6 million square foot office tower is owned by the real estate investment company Paramount Group, which purchased the tower in 2007 for a whopping $1.2 billion.

The property may have to face upcoming vacancy if Deutsche Bank, which sold the building to Paramount and occupies nearly the entire building, decides to shrink its footprint there as rumors among brokers have suggested.

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