It's more difficult for a governor to have anything resembling a common touch if their personal finances are in a different solar system.
Bush has done a good job of using his free hand to break from a narrow group of selections in terms of background.
What the long-term effect that has on the Fed as a political institution is one of those things we'll be watching closely. It's hard to tell where it is going to lead.
Greenspan is an orthodox thinker in most ways, but you have give him credit for questioning consensus thinking.
It's certainly unpredictable as to how long this is going to go, and how deep it is going to be and what the impact will be.
People got thrown for a loop by the stock market crash at beginning of the decade. It doesn't seem impossible that local housing bubbles bursting would have an effect on people's views of savings. Obviously consumption would take a hit if people save at the historic rate.
It will come at a really interesting time because the Fed has been so much more successful in recent years than central banks in countries that favored a more rule-oriented approach. One has to wonder why the Fed would abandon the approach that has worked so well.
The Federal Open Market Committee does not appear from any of its official statements or from the speeches and testimony of its members, to be concerned about excessively strong labor markets or the prospect of wage inflation,
At a basic and obvious level, it ties into gut level concern of ordinary people.
He's Alan Greenspan all purpose sage, ... He seldom has anyone tell him, 'Why don't you be more like Fed chairman of the past?'
