Bush said to pick Bernanke as Fed chief

[NoAmericanTaliban]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush was expected to announce on Monday that he has picked top economic adviser Ben Bernanke to succeed Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, a knowledgeable source said.

An announcement was to come at 1 p.m. EDT. Bush told reporters there would be "an announcement soon" on his choice to replace Greenspan, whose 18-year tenure at the Fed runs out on January 31.

Bernanke is chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. He served on the Fed's Board of Governors for nearly three years before moving to the White House in June.

His move to the White House was watched with interest on Wall Street because of the belief that he was on the fast track to replace Greenspan.

Bernanke, a highly regarded monetary economist, has advocated steps toward greater policy transparency at the Fed and is a long-time advocate of inflation targets.

At the Fed, he argued the central bank could help cement its inflation-fighting credibility by putting a number on its definition of price stability.


http://money.iwon.com/ht/nw/bus/20051024/hl_bus-rob453881.html?PG=home&SEC=news

[louis-t]

1. Oh great, he will continue raising rates.

Chasing after phantom inflation. The only inflation we have is related to energy. Raising interest rates will not affect energy costs. Merely rewards bankers, puts more people into foreclosure.

[kostya]

12. Show me a banker who prefers foreclosure to a well-performing

loan, please. Rising rates don't help the bankers necessarily. For one thing their current loan portfolios drop in value. - K

[On the Road]

18. Actually, It Appears He May Do the Opposite

This was written a year and ten months ago, but the philosophy still holds.

"...Bernanke, Fed watchers say, has added a new emphasis on the equal danger of deflation, a factor that may strengthen the bank's reluctance to raise its benchmark interest rate from its 45-year low even if the economy maintains its recent fast growth. Continuing the easy money, which some say flirts with inflation, would reflect Bernanke's view that it's a lot harder to stop deflation once it takes hold than to deal with a bit of inflation. Even more than in the 1990s, the Fed, which traditionally felt the need to steal the punch bowl just as the party was getting started, now seems happy to spike the punch."

Whereas Greenspan and especially Volcker really preferred zero inflation, Bernanke is famously most concerned with preventing another great depression.

I have to admit, I'm thrilled with this pick. I was convinced Bush would pick an incompetent loyalist.

[ClintonTyree]

20. "Preventing another great depression"........

I hope this guy can work and learn on the run. We're not that far away from that second great depression now, in my opinion. If the housing bubble bursts and interest rates continue to rise....... see you at the george w. bush soup kitchen.

[On the Road]

22. He's Been a Regional Board Member of the Fed

and the one most often picked as a rising chairman. He really doesn't have much of a learning curve.

Bernanke's philosophy is probably the most likely to prevent a depression without being financially irresponsible. I'm amazed that Bush nominated Bernanke, but I actually think he's the ideal candidate. Maybe it's a sign of weakness that he chose someone respected by Wall Street and economists rather than a loyalist crony.

[FighttheFuture]

56. At this point, I do not think Bush cold get away with a loyal croney...

The astounding incompetence and criminality that is finally coming to light, with Miers being the cherry on the top has pissed off many cons. They see Bu$hitCo's actions as damaging their movement, not realizing that their very movement creates abortions like Bush in the first place--i.e. they can't get their philosophy off the ground without subverting Democracy in the first place!

For this, anyone less that seemingly competent would unlikely make it through to such a powerful position.

[lagged_variable]

24. depression

He doesn't really need to "learn on the run" in this regard. He's actually a top (economic) scholar on the Great Depression.

Perhaps Bush knows exactly what he's doing to the economy and wants to hire a clean-up crew...

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

39. I agree. This is like...

...bringing a new captain on board the Titanic who specializes in not crashing into stuff after they've already hit the iceberg and are sinking---good luck.

[HR_Pufnstuf]

37. Continue raising rates on more printed paper.

Someday America will realize what happened in 1913.


JFK did.

http://www.wealth4freedom.com/truth/EO11110.htm

[mike_c]

2. nice catch-- anyone with economy background care to comment....

Economic theory is kind of a black box to me, I'm afraid. I hate to fall back on the tried and true principle that if Bush nominated him, he must suck, but in my ignorance, there it is.

[IChing]

7. The national Review doesn't like him

http://www.nationalreview.com/nrof_comment/tamny200508110924.asp

The Scary Side of Ben Bernanke

[Mist]

33. Just came across that a few minutes ago--

I'm not much of an economist, but knowing the Nat'l Review doesn't like him comforts me a bit. He sounds too intelligent to have actually been picked by *. Sounds like someone somewhere thinks we have to get serious about our out-of-whack economy.

[ClintonTyree]

46. Well, he's NOT a "supply-sider"........

which makes me think the man has at least half a brain. The Cons don't like him because he won't drink from the "supply-side kool-aid cup". "Voodoo economics" is what the much smarter and hard working Bush 41 called "supply-side economics", and he was right. His much more ignorant and slothful son, bush 43, supposedly believes in the voodoo but his policies (except for multitudinous tax-cuts for the rich) don't bear this out.
In any event I'm willing to give the guy a chance. He's obviously one of the most qualified people bush has ever appointed. It's obvious that bush didn't pick Beranke himself or we would have ended up with another Harriet Miers in charge of the Fed, he must have the confidence of someone who knows shit from shinola.

[liberal N proud]

3. Barnacle Ben

[Orrin_73]

38. I like that

:rofl:

[highplainsdem]

4. Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Bernanke

[highplainsdem]

6. "Bernanke says cut spending before raising taxes" - link to 10/20 article:

http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/20/news/economy/bernanke.reut/

[maxsolomon]

23. if you stop killing iraqis you could cut a lot of spending...

not :sarcasm:

[Rose Siding]

5. Krugman mentioned him in a Jan piece

No trashing, just a sort of warning to him about not becoming a fawner...

snip>
The last name one often hears is Ben Bernanke, currently a member of the Fed's Board of Governors. (Before going to the Fed, Mr. Bernanke was chairman of the Princeton economics department, where I'm on the faculty.) If Mr. Bernanke were appointed directly from his current Fed position to the chairmanship, there would be general acclaim. But he may soon move to the Council of Economic Advisers. Why?

Surely it's not because this administration, with its disdain for technical expertise in all fields, wants his advice. I hope I'm wrong, but my guess is that what's intended for Mr. Bernanke is a form of hazing: he will be expected to prove his loyalty by defending the indefensible and saying things he knows aren't true.

That might seem a tolerable price to pay for the Fed chairmanship - but a year of it might well make Mr. Bernanke damaged goods from the point of view of the markets.

It's a dilemma. I don't have any sympathy for the administration's perplexity. But I do wish Mr. Bernanke the best of luck, and hope he knows what he's doing.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/012605C.shtml

[Inland]

13. The position on "Economic Advisors" says lackey, lackey, lackey

Their job is to spin the news. That's all.

Bush doesn't take "economic advice" any more than he takes national security advice or hurricane relief advice. He has a set of fixed ideas built around a faux free market ideology that masks a crony capitalism.

[shantipriya]

17. Bush & Ideas

No, I don't think Bush has IDEAS of any sort. He is a puppet dancing to the tune of conservative anti-american think tanks.

[ThoughtCriminal]

41. Nice phrase

"faux free market ideology that masks a crony capitalism"

:thumbsup:

[Carolab]

69. This is what I fear, too.

but my guess is that what's intended for Mr. Bernanke is a form of hazing: he will be expected to prove his loyalty by defending the indefensible and saying things he knows aren't true.

*********
Like privatizing social security is a great idea.

[acmejack]

8. At least the National Review doesn't like him...

He can't be all bad. Then again...

[highplainsdem]

9. US News profile of Bernanke (12/29/03):

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/031229/29bernanke.htm

Three page article. He was already considered one of the top candidates to replace Greenspan then.

[IndianaGreen]

10. Interview with Ben S. Bernanke

Interview with Ben S. Bernanke

INFLATION TARGETING

Rolnick: For several years now, you've argued that inflation targeting will improve monetary policymaking by anchoring the public's inflation expectations and by improving Fed accountability. Some of us would argue that we're already practicing something like that de facto, with our public commitment to price stability. In what sense is your proposal a substantive change in policy? If we did move to an explicit target, what would be the benefits?

Bernanke: It's true that the Federal Reserve is already practicing something close to de facto inflation targeting, and I think we've seen many benefits from that. My main suggestion is to take the natural next step and to give an explicit objective, that is, to provide the public with a working definition of price stability in the form of a number or a numerical range for inflation. I believe that that step, though incremental, would have significant marginal benefits relative to current practice.

First and very importantly, such a step would increase the coherence of policy. Currently, the FOMC makes its decisions without an agreed-upon definition of price stability or of the inflation objective, and one wonders how oarsmen pulling in different directions can get the boat to go in a straight line. I think the FOMC's decision-making process would be improved if members shared a collective view of where we want the inflation rate to be once the economy is on a steady expansion path.

Second, there's a great deal of evidence now that tightly anchored public expectations of inflation are very beneficial, not only for stabilizing inflation but also in reducing the volatility of output and giving the Federal Reserve more ability in the short run to respond flexibly to shocks that may hit the economy.

http://minneapolisfed.org/pubs/region/04-06/bernanke.cfm

[highplainsdem]

11. National Bureau of Economic Research working papers:

http://www.nber.org/cgi-bin/author_papers.pl?author=ben_bernanke

Index of papers he wrote or cowrote between 1980 and 2004. The links just take you to abstracts of the papers, but if you don't want to buy the full paper, you could probably use the title to search for a free copy or excerpts online.

[IndianaGreen]

14. Okay, so what's the verdict on this guy?

He has strong egghead credentials and I am not an economist.

[lagged_variable]

26. the verdict

I think the consensus among "we egghead economists" is that he's a great choice. He's experienced in the job he's being appointed to, has impeccable academic credentials (PhD at MIT, Chairman of the econ dept at Princeton, editor of the AER - only a Nobel could really improve THAT resume) and has really only been working directly for the administration for a few months.

He's a classic Macrofinance econ geek. It's what the job calls for.

[trogdor]

42. I don't think Bush wants to put an idiot in charge of the Fed.

Stealing large amounts of money doesn't mean anything if the money you're stealing is worthless.

[Demeter]

54. Oh, the Irony!

Bush must have actually asked someone with competence (and I don't mean Greenspan).

He is rational enough to realize that he can't Bork, Brown or Meirs the Federal Reserve--this means he's an excellent candidate for the International Criminal Courts. No claims of insanity to fall back on!

[0rganism]

45. What's the catch then? There has to be something...

Ties to Honduran cocaine smuggling?
Heavily invested in Halliburton?
Insider trading of energy stocks?

I can't believe that bush would nominate someone acceptable for anything, especially anything involved with money. At the very least, he must be a 2004 bush Pioneer.

[brainshrub]

51. Oh yeah? If he's so qualified then why is Bush going to promote him?

A qualified person in the Bush administration is like a mouse among hungry cats: They don't last.

ON EDIT: It's not that I disagree with you, it's just that he sounds to good to be true.

[lagged_variable]

53. The problem

The problem is, there are only a very, very select few people who REALLY know how the hell to do this job. And Bernanke is one of them. That's all I can honestly say. Maybe he's less qualified than others in this group, maybe more. I don't personally know many MIT macroeconomists who run the various Fed branches.

But in the end, if you choose anyone outside from this small group and the whole economy will plunge into the shitter. And no one wants that. I won't stand up for Bernanke aside from to say: I doubt he will do any better or worse than Greenspan. You can extrapolate that into your opinion about current monetary policy.

But like I said, his resume couldn't be tighter and he's one of the most accomplished academic economists in Macro and Public Finance today. I can say that with all my professional confidence.

[norml]

15. Guy on CNBC just called him "a salesman for Bush economic policies...

without Greenspan's credibility".

[Vinca]

19. OMG . . . and here I was being thankful it wasn't

Bush's private accountant.

[ClintonTyree]

21. Yikes.........

does bush HAVE economic policies? :shrug: Oh yeah, tax cuts for the rich, how could I forget.
So it looks like we can look forward to permanent tax cuts for the rich, perhaps even one more round and cuts in spending for social programs that are already on life support. He's the perfect Ralph Reed neo-con,"drown government in the bathtub" kinda' guy. WONDERFUL!

Get ready to "pull yourself up by the boot-straps" freeps, your hero is stuffing up your ass again!

[Pachamama]

40. Considering most Bush nominations, thats a compliment! n/t

[kostya]

16. The Fed really has less power than most people think...

Many of the decisions are based on real guesswork and don't necessarily have their intended effect in the financial markets. They mostly set reserve policy for the banks, but the banks respond to market forces more strongly than what the Fed tells them. Case in point: http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/options/futuresshocktsc/10244509.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

B-)

[democracy eh]

25. nugget from ABC News piece

"However, announcing Greenspan's successor also provided a diversion for a White House reeling under congressional criticism of the Harriet Miers' Supreme Court nomination and a federal investigation into whether top officials leaked the name of a CIA operative for political purposes. "
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=1245059

Note to world: the emperor has no clothes

[tgnyc]

27. Hey, all that matters is: is he a good Christian? Does Bush know

his heart?

[Inland]

28. Damn straight. Like law, in economics it is a pure heart that counts. nt

[MaineDem]

29. Bush just called him a "kind and decent man"

Based on Bush's scale of measurement?

I really don't care how kind he is. Is he going to be a good Fed Chief? That's the issue!

[CantGetFooledAgain]

30. At least he didn't appoint "a guy he met at the mall"!

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9665550/site/newsweek/

:rofl:

[On the Road]

36. Well, In That Case, He Could Have Been Like This Guy

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29626

[ClintonTyree]

48. More truth than fiction here I think......

"But Davis Logsdon, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota, has a different theory about Bush's recent appointments: "He may be surrounding himself with lousy people in the hopes that he'll be graded on a curve.""

I believe bush DOES pick people with lousy credentials. He applies the same logic to others that was applied to him; lower the bar to a point where it's impossible for them screw up any worse than people already expect. Harriet Miers certainly fills the bill. As someone said ( I can't give appropriate credit here)"if she can do more than write her own name with a stick in the dirt she'll probably be confirmed". The bar has been set so low for her it's almost impossible for her to fail.

Many times things said in jest prove to be all too true.

[swag]

31. Bernanke recruited Krugman for MIT

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/10/24/124623/03

Right-wingers aren't going to be happy about the choice of Council of Economic Advisers chairman Ben Bernanke to take over for Alan Greenspan at the Fed. One reason is that Bernanke insisted over the summer that Social Security privatization be coupled with changes to make the program solvent, undercutting the free-lunch crowd's efforts to try to maximize damage to the system without any tax increases or benefit cuts. They also won't be happy that finalist and tax cut fetishist Glenn Hubbard was passed over. But most of all, they will be much chagrined to learn that, wait for it... as chairman of the economics department at Princeton, Bernanke recruited Paul Krugman from MIT.

[swag]

32. "non-ideological, could have worked with Clinton admin," etc.

via Mark Thoma at Economist's view:

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2005/10/nomination_for_.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/business/17bernanke.html?

Mr. Bernanke built a sterling reputation while at Princeton, and has won widespread praise for his cogent analyses while at the Fed. But he has studiously avoided partisan political issues, at least in public. He has said little about issues at the top of Mr. Bush's agenda, like Social Security and tax cuts, and his economic writing betrays few hints of political ideology. "If you read anything he's written, you can't figure out which political party he's associated with," said Mark L. Gertler, a professor of economics at New York University who has written more than a dozen papers with Mr. Bernanke. Mr. Gertler, who said he did not know his close friend's political affiliation until relatively recently, added: "He's not ideological. I could imagine Ben working with economists in the Clinton administration." Alan S. Blinder, a longtime colleague at Princeton who has advised numerous Democratic presidential candidates, also said he had worked alongside Mr. Bernanke for years without having any sense of his political views. "We wrote articles together and sat at the same lunch table thousands of times before I knew he was a Republican," Mr. Blinder recalled. "We never talked politics." Mr. Bernanke enjoys enormous credibility among economists in academia as well as on Wall Street - an advantage for him that may also pay off for Mr. Bush.

[mslawstudent]

34. Bernanke is just what was needed.

He's a dove on inflation.
Our best chance to irresponsibly inflate away all of Bush's budgetary ineptness.

In this Case Bush looks like he's come through with just was what was needed. An irresponsible crony.

Sorta the stopped clock theory of governing.

[hiabrill]

35. "on the fast track to replace Greenspan"

....... a sure sign he's another damn crony.

[Strawman]

43. "Bernanke? Bernanke? He still owes me money!"

[fhqwhgads]

44. all things considered...

ben bernanke's actually a pretty good pick.

yes, he is conservative, no question, but it's not like they were going to nominate someone who wasn't. we should be happy they didn't nominate a supply-sider, or someone on grover norquist's short list (e.g. glenn hubbard).

bernanke is extremely well-qualified for the job, and the right wing is suspicious of him (maybe because he's well-qualified).

this is one area the bush admin could not afford to screw around with...at the end of the day, they could care less about civil liberties and due process and all that, but they know they can't cause the markets to go haywire.

of course, i'm a krugman-style free trader, which i suspect puts me to the right of many other du'ers.

[daveskilt]

47. like him or not - He is qualified. a rarity for a bush pick n/t

[SharonRB]

49. At least he finally picked someone who appears to be

qualified for the job.

[madmark]

50. That's what I thought

[Zynx]

55. He's qualified alright. However, I'm not sure he's the best guy for the

task at hand. Since he is such a firm believer in inflation targets, he may seek to raise interest rates when there is only a small problem with inflation regardless of what the actual circumstances are. Making arbitrary goals for inflation and employment has never been a good strategy.

[On the Road]

72. "Inflation Targets" May Actually Mean Loosening the Controls

because the targets replace a system which theoretically valued zero inflation. Bernancke is just as concerned with a deflationary depression as with runaway inflation. I think he will be more accommodating than Greenspan without letting things get out of control.

[Zynx]

74. We shall see. This is one of those concepts that has fascinated academics

, but the ECB has not proven it to be a truly good policy as of yet.

[NobleCynic]

52. He's not the worst candidate for certain

Bush considers appointing someone competent? The laws of probability do state it was bound to happen eventually...

[FighttheFuture]

57. Let's face it, Greenspan sucked and will be judged harshly...

There's a good book called "Greenspan's Fraud" that goes into all the details. Just a few off the top:

Raised Social Security alarm back in 80's. So congress increased tax and caps. Good, but SS is a regressive tax.

With that going on, he told Reagan he could hid his mounting deficits with his piss on everyone economics by raiding the SS surplus. Bad, bad, bad. Delaying people asking the question of WTF with the deficits!

Going onward, Greenspan kept raising rates under CLinton until the economy stalled in late 2000. Then Bu$hitCo steals the election and he starts lowering rates. Hmmmm... how convenient.

A couple of years ago I recall Greenspan encouraging people to take money out of their homes. All Greenie was doing was trying to fund a trainwreck economy for another couple of years.

Then last year he comes out in favor of the neo-con SS plans. Keep in mind, he is the one who said tax the sheeple even more so it would be secure! Ol' Greenie was looking for another source of revenue to keep the trainwreck going a couple of more years.

That failed, and he's outa here!! The shit is starting to hit the fan.

Oh, finally, he's an Ayn "The Virtue of Selfishness" Rand Objectivist. Big danger signal with that cult there!!


I am sure the new guy wants to keep the economy working, but I do not think he will want to do it on the backs of the Rich, who really have the most loose so should be the most to give. So... competent, it appears so, but at what cost to 95% of this country's people? We shall see.

[On the Road]

73. While All That May be True About Greenspan

Political opinions are not the most important responsibility of the Fed Chairman.

Greenspan interpreted economic statistics very well and made appropriate adjustments in interest rates. He was much better than, say, Arthur Burns, and probably better than Paul Volcker. That's what's needed in the Fed. I suspect Bernancke will do the same, but loosen the reins a bit.

[FighttheFuture]

75. I disagree... Greenspans "pronouncement" and "support" for ...

various policies carry quite a lot of weight. They are every bit as critical as the machinations he does as Fed Chairman. Greenie has shown that he really could care less about the majority of the people in this country, the workers.

The real point here is not whether the economy is working "well", but whom is it working well for? Given his past statements on certain issues, especially on taking equity out of their homes and SS sabotage over the decades show him to simply be another shill for squeezing the blood out of those who have least to give. That's the real problem, the incredible imbalances his policies and, more importantly, suggestions have created to the entire society.

[CONN]

58. His fix for Katrina funding - Make Tax Cut for Rich Permanent

He's Bush's economic advisor. He'll make sure the American economy benefits those blessed by god.

[xray s]

59. One thing's for sure. Bush did not pick this guy.

The Fed Chairman is one Bush doesn't get to touch. Oh no. Someone told little W who it was going to be and that was that.

W is like a spoiled teenager. His dad lets him drive the family car knowing he is going to screw around and beat the hell out of it. But when the kid comes to dad and asks for the keys to dad's Mercedes...dad tells the kid to get lost.

[Carolab]

60. Ben's "outlook" on the economy (9/15/05)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/outlook-20050915.html

Pushing social security privatization and health savings accounts.

Great, just great.

[sandnsea]

67. Thanks for that

Oblivious, yes? Productivity is up, that's the one that got me. Uhm, maybe because people are required to work longer hours at the same pay. That's not an econonic growth indicator. Not for working people anyway. Flexibile labor markets??? Oh yeah, this guy is gonna suck.

[IronLionZion]

61. Bernanke is no fool

but is still a Republican. He'll keep America from going belly up but he'll do it like a Republican.

This man is militantly against deflation. Deflation is one of those things that in theory is good for the people and bad for the government. It would increase the value of our national debt. Since Bush Inc. has let the debt go so badly out of control, deflation now would shoot America in both feet, both hands, and in the head. Especially since much of our debt is owed to China, Japan, and the EU. Bernanke won't let that happen.

But he does support the tax cuts for the wealthy (which the legendary Greenspan warned against) but also wants to cut spending.

There's not much he can do to keep the dollar from sinking even further but as we are a consumer economy we are so intertwined with the rest of the world that it is a bit of a safety net.

Just my two bits. I only have a minor in Economics. Someone more qualified should weigh in. And Bernanke's middle name is Shalom if it means anything to you.

[leesa]

62. Which criminal is this?

[Nye Bevan]

63. An excellent choice

I will be very surprised if he doesn't get confirmed by the senate almost unanimously.

You can tell chimpy is feeling the heat. He actually appointed someone with real qualifications as opposed to another inexperienced incompetent suck-up crony.

[chappaquadem]

64. Surprising

I had heard he was going to pick his bank teller for this position; his massage therapist for Surgeon General, his old Boy Scout leader for Sec. of Interior, his attorney for the Supreme Court...

[TheWatcher]

65. I'm Amazed at the positive response to "Helicopter Ben"

He's nothing more than a lackey that will keep the Ponzi Scheme formerly known as the Financial Markets going.

His approach is going to be pretty "transparent", at least to traders who know what his game is.

It won't be much different from Greenspan's Solution.

Print Money like it's Monopoly Money and Drop it from Helicopters (Metaphricaly, Of Course) to keep the Markets Propped, the Public Ignorant, and keep the way paved for the Top 5% to continue looting and plundering anything that isn't nailed down.

He isn't going to fix anything. He isn't going to solve anything.

What he is going to do is stave off the inevitable for as long as possible.

We don't have financial Markets in this country anymore.

What we do have is very High Profile, Well Managed Casinos.

And 95% of us are going to be holding the Bag while the House Steals It All.

I'd love to hear unlawflcombtnt's (sp?) take on this.

A lot of people are in for a big surprise.

[Carolab]

68. In the words of Rita Cosby....

"YOU BET".

[Rosco T.]

66. Thom Hartmann actually said positive things about him...

.. said his economic position was 180 away from Greenspan and was apparently well qualified from the job.

Hell, Chimp has to has something right for when hell breaks loose tomorrow...

[Stockholm]

70. Bush names Bernanke to succeed Greenspan

Ben Bernanke, chief economic adviser to President George Bush, was named yesterday to succeed Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve in Washington.

The appointment of Mr Bernanke, 51, to what is seen as the world's most powerful banking job, had been widely anticipated. He is regarded as a highly qualified and safe pair of hands - a sound choice at a time when the White House is under fire not least for Mr Bush's controversial nomination for the supreme court, Harriet Miers.

Mr Greenspan, 79, who took over as chairman in 1987, is due to step down at the end of January.

"The most important thing is that there is no shock value here," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York. "He is well-respected, the market wanted him - he was somewhat anticipated."

more http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1599760,00.html#article_continue

Crony or competent, what says DU?

[bananas]

71. Previous thread

A few dissenters, but this sums up the DU response,
personally I have my doubts ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1873194&mesg_id=1873428

lagged_variable (55 posts)
Mon Oct-24-05 09:55 AM
Response to Reply #14

26. the verdict

I think the consensus among "we egghead economists" is that he's a great choice. He's experienced in the job he's being appointed to, has impeccable academic credentials (PhD at MIT, Chairman of the econ dept at Princeton, editor of the AER - only a Nobel could really improve THAT resume) and has really only been working directly for the administration for a few months.

He's a classic Macrofinance econ geek. It's what the job calls for.