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To: Jack Be Quick who wrote (93161)	8/6/2001 11:30:39 PM
From: terry richardson	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 95453

Stop the press newsmax.com Exclusive: Greenspan Reportedly to Retire Wes Vernon Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2001 WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will announce his retirement by the end of year, administration sources have told NewsMax.com. The longtime head of the world’s most powerful bank has already indicated to administration officials that they should begin a search for a replacement. Greenspan, 75, who has savored the limelight for more than a decade, is now said to be anxious to make the move, and hopes to be in the private sector sometime in the first half next year. Speaking on condition of anonymity, an administration source said that Greenspan may be trying to end his public career on a "high note,” as more evidence mounts that the U.S. is teetering on the edge of a recession. Several Wall Street insiders said that such a move by Greenspan would probably be a smart move, considering he could easily become the fall guy for economic slowdown. Already, top officials in the Treasury Department and the president’s economic advisers have expressed simmering upset with the Fed chairman, though relations between him and President Bush are said to be excellent. Federal Reserve spokeswoman Michelle Smith refused to confirm or deny the report, saying it was Fed policy "not to comment on rumors.” Greenspan, appointed by President Ronald Reagan to replace Chairman Paul Volker on Aug. 11, 1987, has been the most influential and high-profile Fed chairman. He was reappointed to successive four-year terms as chairman by Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Bush appointed him to a full 14-year term as a member of the board in 1993. Role in Clinton's Victory Reportedly, G.H.W. Bush was miffed by Greenspan’s handling of interest rates, which led to a brief economic downturn shortly before the 1992 election, when Bush lost to Clinton. Greenspan’s latest term as the Fed’s top man began June 20, 2000, having been picked again by Clinton. A resignation before the end of this year would come more than two years before his chairmanship expires. Critics and supporters of Greenspan acknowledge that he has presided over the largest economic boom in modern history. That boom is appearing to fizzle, after a stock market technology bubble burst in March 2000. Noted stock investor Sir John Templeton called the 1990s stock market run-up as "the biggest financial insanity ever in any nation in history." The administration has applauded Greenspan for moving to restimulate the economy. He has cut interest rates six times this year, frantically cutting 2.75 points from the Fed rate, which reached a recent peak of 6.5 percent last year. Administration sources have welcomed those steps and anticipate another rate cut in two weeks when the full Federal Reserve Board meets on Aug. 21. Still, sources reveal that administration officials blame Greenspan for the economic morass. Recent corporate earning reports show a fall of 17 percent during the same period last year, with little hope for a quick turnaround. Trying to Help Gore? "Greenspan knew the economy was overheating, and he waited to the last possible moment to raise rates,” the source said, suggesting that the chairman did not want to hurt Al Gore’s chances in the 2000 election, and waited to long to put apply brakes to an economy that was racing too fast. During the 1990s as consumer debt soared, tripling since 1992, Greenspan kept rates low. Late into the Clinton administration, he led the Fed as it raised the Federal Funds Rate six times, beginning in November 1998, to 6.5 percent in May 2000. Greenspan was well aware that interest rate changes have a lag effect of three quarters, meaning his increased effort to cool the economy began having an effect only in the last quarter of 2000, after the presidential election. Cozy With Clinton Other administration sources told NewsMax.com they have been flabbergasted to learn of how cozy the Federal Reserve chairman was with the Clinton White House and Treasury Department officials in coordinating monetary policy. During previous administrations, the White House and the Fed chairman, for their own political reasons, have sought to stay at arm's length. One source noted that when Reagan asked to meet Fed Chairman Volker for the first time, Volker declined to meet him in the Oval Office. The pair agreed to meet on neutral ground at a conference room in the Treasury building next to the White House. Overtures to Bush Greenspan has sought to make friends with the current Bush White House in the most unseemly way. Critics of Greenspan leaked to columnist Robert Novak that Greenspan had engaged in inappropriate politicking at the White House. Novak reported that on the day before an interest rate cut in April, the Fed boss "was roaming corridors of the White House West Wing — shielded from the eyes of inquisitive reporters.” He visited Vice President Dick Cheney and National Economic Adviser Laurence Lindsey and "presumably tipped them off about his unexpected move.” Some Bush administration officials have been privately critical of Greenspan for being too slow in cutting interest rates. Nonetheless, says Novak, they have adhered to a rigid rule against public comment on the Federal Reserve. Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and Greenspan have a friendship that goes back to the days of the Ford presidency. They still meet regularly. Next: Finding a replacement." And now back to lurking. T.