> A little quiet now and then is kinda nice
Ice,
definitely :-)
Ice, MrB and GM,
In the Business Week dated 14 Jul 97, there is an article about how Alan G. views the economy. His picture is on the cover, with the Heading, "Alan Greenspan's Brave New World, How the Fed Chairman Sees the New Economy" (it starts on Page 45) Here are a few paras that seem to hit the high points.
"As he approaches his 10th anniversary as chairman of the Fed on Aug. 11, Alan Greenspan finds himself in the unlikeliest of positions: The staunch conservative who once personified industrial-era economic thinking has turned into the avant-garde advocate of the New Economy. "He is very open to the possibility that we have entered a new economic age," says Judy Shelton, a conservative scholar who meets with the Fed chief several times a year. "He really believes in the organic nature of the market economy." ...snip...
But the Fed chief argues that while his goals are still the same, the economy is not. In Greenspan's brave new world, heightened global competition is restraining U.S. wage growth and limiting companies' ability to pass along higher costs. Corporate America's massive investment in computers and other labor-saving technologies may be boosting productivity far above the measured rate -- letting the unemployment rate drop without triggering inflation. And while corporate downsizings may be slowing, Greenspan nonetheless believes the aftershocks may be felt a little longer -- as workers continue to value job security more than higher wages. ...snip...
The Fed chief, by contrast, feels freer to change his mind about economic trends because he's influenced less by academic models than empirical data. In fact, Greenspan didn't even get his PhD in economics (from New York University) until 1977, after he had served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Ford.
Instead, Greenspan combines an eclectic approach to economic analysis with a love of statistical minutiae. As a young steel analyst and later as an economic consultant to such clients as Burlington Industries Inc. and Ryder System Inc., he often used a "bottoms up" approach of looking at thousands of pieces of data to draw broader conclusions about the economy. ...snip....
Teri |
