Did you ever have one of those, "What the heck was that about?" moments? It happened to me while I was out last week and heard that President Bush wants to reappoint Alan Greenspan for yet another term as head of the Fed.
For the life of me, I cannot see the fixation with this guy.
Don't get me wrong, he seems nice enough and god knows, Wall Street reveres him, which is why the president is going to reappoint him. Which is really weird when you stop to consider Greenspan's no fan of his and even less of a fan of his father's.
But that's another issue. Here's my issue: Why is the world still kowtowing to this guy? Everyone calls him Nostradamus.
Well, if he's so smart, why is the economy still so bumpy? If he's so clairvoyant, why was he "raising" interest rates in 1999 and 2000 to pierce an inflation bubble no one said then and no one says now, existed? If he's so savvy, why did he wait so long to "cut" interest rates in 1992, when the economy needed the boost? And if he's so saintly, why was he so miserly and so damn late to cut interest rates a couple of years ago?
Look, if we're going to make a deity out of a guy -- news flash -- make sure he's a deity. He's not and it's time to wake up. This financial emperor has no clothes and it's not pretty.
The economy staggers, yet Congress worships him.
Company earnings sputter, yet Wall Street adores him.
And he knocks the president's tax plan, yet the commander and chief won't say boo to him.
Everybody, wake the hell up! He is an economist. He's not a god. And he's an economist who has made awful bets, not a deity who has made only good moves.
And besides, the French love him. What does that tell you? They liked Jerry Lewis too. Who, by the way, would make just as an effective Fed boss as Alan, but with a lot more laughs.
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