Wikinvest Wire

Another "Greenspan mess" sighting

Thursday, February 28, 2008

A number of readers have alerted me to another "Greenspan mess" sighting that deserves special recognition for the cartoon that accompanies it - thanks to all of you.

Though Ben Bernanke may no longer be chuckling at this image, that is, with the former Fed chairman's weekly recession prediction updates and calls for oil-exporters to unhitch their currency from the U.S. dollar, it is one of the funnier caricatures of the two.

Note the oversize shoes.

In today's Market Comment, ETF Digest founder Dave Fry notes the following:

The previous Fed chairman formerly known as the Maestro has handed Ben trouble. Bernanke made his mark writing academic studies about mistakes during the depression and similar events. All he thought the Fed needed to do was flood the market with money [the “helicopter” deal], lower interest rates quickly and things would be just fine. Inflation is the lesser evil if deflation the alternative. [Hat tip to posters who reminded me of that yesterday.] But he’s in a box now putting his theories to work in real time. Sure, he’s cleaning up Greenspan’s mess but he didn’t write any thesis covering current conditions either. Nevertheless, he’s got the ball.
Any word on when Bob Woodward is going to start working on the follow-up to his January 2000 tome "Maestro: Greenspan's Fed and the American Boom"? If the three-part series on the Bush Presidency is any example, the tone of the next book will be decidedly different than that of the first.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tim,

Any predictions on when Bernanke will be forced to choose between a complete dollar crash or sending Fed rates into the stratosphere?

Tim said...

Don't know - new all-time lows for the dollar don't seem to be a big deal anymore.

Anonymous said...

vespucian,

The dollar has lost about half of its value in the past 7 years, so I can only assume by "complete dollar crash" you mean the point at which it is worth nothing?

Tim,

I know you have done well for yourself and you're in a comfortable place financially right now, but I can assure you all-time lows for the dollar are quite a big deal to the middle class working folk. Were getting killed out here and the bad news is that we are just getting started.

Tim said...

I didn't mean to trivialize the issue - that comment was more a reflection of the view of the Fed who seem to care less about the dollar.

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