First, we want to offer a sincere congratulations to Alan Greenspan, for proving that in spite of his retirement and status as an octogenarian, the value of his opinions haven’t yet been placed somewhere between those of a house plant and Jim Cramer (in descending order). In fact, some people—okay, traders—even take his words to mean something. On the heels of Greenspan’s optimistic call that the credit crisis is “about to be over,” investors rallied the Dow past its July peaks, to a high of 14,087.55, up 191.92 (1.4 percent). So that’s nice. Good for the economy and good for Greenspan.
So why, then, does the guy have to be sort of a prick toward his successor? It’s not enough that he insists on remaining in the spotlight instead of going to Florida to die like all good retirees do. Greenspan’s made it his “post-work, I need something to do all day besides putter around the house” hobby to undermine the Beard of Irrelevancy (that's what AG calls him) and the Federal Reserve (and central banks in general), saying in Amsterdam that “The Fed, ECB, BOE, and BOJ are all losing their ability to influence longer-term rates,” and suggesting that Ben Bernanke be fitted for dentures and get an Rx for Cialis. It’s almost as though he wants to see them fail. But why?
a. So he can be called in at the 11th hour to save the day.
b. His thinly-veiled hatred of Bernanke masks a deep-seated bitterness over never having been able to grow facial hair.
c. He’s an asshole
d. He’s bored
e. He…knows what he’s talking about?
What Recession? [New York Post]
C. banks less able to move long term rates-Greenspan [Reuters]
Posted by , Oct 02, 2007 1:28PM
B.