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Caroline Baum has some questions for Alan Greenspan. Here are a few:

4. In that same vein, you write you were "struck by how relatively easy it was to bring inflation down." When you assumed the Fed chairmanship in August 1987, the consumer price index was rising at an annual rate of 4.3 percent. In January 2006, the month you left, the CPI was rising 4 percent.

You inherited a core CPI, which excludes food and energy, of 4.2 percent and cut it in half. That computes to a decline of 0.1 percentage point a year. If lowering inflation was such a chip shot, why don't you have more to show for your effort?

5. When you were Fed chairman, you wondered out loud about "irrational exuberance" in the stock market, even though Bob Rubin, whom you call one of your "foxhole buddies" (the other was Larry Summers), said such comments were inappropriate for a government official.

When Leslie Stahl asked you about your personal investments, you refused to comment on the stock market. Aren't you confusing your role as a public servant and private citizen?

6. You say it's improper for a president to comment on monetary policy, yet you actively tried to influence fiscal policy. You told Leslie Stahl you were an "economic consultant" to Bill Clinton, that you are "very knowledgeable about lots of different subjects." And no one else is?

You told Al Hunt you "give advice because they ask me." Your successor, Ben Bernanke, has made a point of not offering pronouncements on fiscal policy. What part of "no comment" don't you understand?

Posted by edelfenbein at September 21, 2007 10:28 AM