It seems that he has no enemies, at least among the press and financial markets.  Has Bush finally listened to voices (other than the ones in his head) and made a good choice?  I'd half expected him to pick a college buddy, or some other crony.

I don't know shit from shinola in this realm, but what do you think of this column?

after reading a couple of his articles, I now know why.  I think Greenspan's record speaks for itself.  Being the Chairman of The Federal Reserve is not the easiest job in the world, and Greenspan has been there since 1987 and has received kudos worldwide for his performance.

-- Modified on 10/25/2005 6:45:13 PM

But the author of that article seems really full of himself.

Shrub has had kudos for his performance, too.  Very few records "speaks for itself"...especially in government.  Can you give me specifics as to why his outlook is flawed?

long periods of uninterrupted economic growth, low inflation and low interest rates.  Indeed, the best economic performance in decades.  I could easily go into excruciating detail, but since you said that you "don't know shit from shinola in this realm," it would likely make your eyes glaze over.  Why don't I just say this:  if you compare growth rates and inflation rates under Greenspan to virtually any other period of equal length since WWII, his record looks mighty impressive.

Bill Fleckenstein was one of the few stock analysts who predicted (in advance, as it turns out) that the DOW, and particularly the NASDAQ, were in a bubble circa ~2000.

In 2000 when the 'responsible' analysts were looking forward to a DOW going from 12,000 to 35,000 and a NASDAQ from 5,000 10,000, Fleckenstein used his valuation models to assert that the U.S. stock market was vastly overpriced.

Fast forward to the year 2005, the Dow is at ~10,400 and NASDAQ at ~2100. Many people lost their shirts in the stock market 'bubble' of 2000, created in no small part by the liquidity provided by Alan Greenspan.

Fleckenstein, among others such as Paul Krugman, feel that Greenspan did everything he could to reflate another bubble from 2000-2005, namely real estate. This was supercharged, both by the liquidity and artificially-low short-term interest rates provided by the Fed, and the new George W. tax benefits for real estate sales and mortgage deductions.

One of the more interesting questions that the new Fed Chief Bernanke will be facing is simply this: "What happens to the U.S. economy when the domestic real estate market comes back down to earth?"

A second question focusses on the Chinese and Japanese, who hold between them nearly a trillion dollars of U.S. treasuries. What happens to the U.S. economy when they decide to sell those debt instruments and/or buy U.S. corporate assets?

Until those questions are answered, please spare me the premature huzzahs for Alan Greenspan.

I haven't yet, but when I went to his "website" you had to be a subscriber to access. That's not a great point.

If his fund doesn't perform, I'd say he's probably not worth his opinion.

I tend to wonder about some of Greenspan's decisions, but one point the author made was BS-the Fed does not respond to "applause" or we would have seen a drop off in the interest rate rises a while back. I do think that under Greenspan, the really low interest rates will lead to a serious problem with housing, the rising rates are going to seriously cramp people who bought too much house.

In San Diego MSD, you should know that housing is going to be a serious problem within the next 5-10 years. The values are seriously inflated and out of reach of most people to purchase.

The San Diego housing market redefines obscene, especially in relation to the income levels.

& he has a much better understanding of the powers & limitations of the FED than yr newsletter guy.  

If it makes u feel better, a lot of liberal economists think he is a good choice (as well as many conservative economists).

Harry

The Real Estate bubble... good grief. In 2001, I helped a friend buy a house in the San Pornando Valley. It went for $232,000. The house next door to him just sold for $749,000, and it was the same basic layout as my friends, except it had nicer landscaping.

Now THAT'S a bubble.

And honestly had forgotten about it.  I took a bit of poetic license when commenting about Mr. B's popularity, because it's gotten so much less flack than any of the wingnuts that Shrubby has picked.

So for once, it would behoove the crony-driven selection procedure to choose the best person for the job regardless of their affiliation. This is one position that really does require economic sense and brilliance.
Unlike the Presidency, where the last 5 years have shown we can get by with a cretin in the Oval Office.

Wouldn't it have been nice if somebody had thought that about FEMA as well?  Turns out that was kind of important too.

situation is a bomb that will go off soon and blow away great amounts of "paper" wealth. It will also induce poverty for people that have never known that state of living.