Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan Would Accept Fifth Term

[sassa]

this is scary...he should NOT be allowed to run for the next term...fucker should retire, he's not doing anything beneficial...

Business: Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan would accept fifth term

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (April 24, 2003 12:20 a.m. EDT) - Alan Greenspan, expressing appreciation for President Bush's vote of confidence, says he is ready to serve a fifth term as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

In a brief statement Wednesday, Greenspan, 77, said he would accept Bush's nomination for another term as chairman, a position he has held since August 1987.

"The president and I have not discussed this, but I greatly appreciate his confidence," Greenspan said. "If President Bush nominates me and the Senate confirms me, I would have every intention of serving."

Bush's announcement Tuesday that he believed Greenspan was doing a good job and deserved another term came a few hours before the Fed chairman underwent surgery to correct a non-cancerous enlarged prostate.

The Fed said that Greenspan, who was treated for the same condition in 1994, had returned home Wednesday after an overnight hospital stay and planned to be back at work later this week.

Economists said that Bush's announcement, 14 months before Greenspan's current term was to end, and Greenspan's quick acceptance were aimed at easing financial market concerns over Greenspan's future.

"This was an astute step to try to take one uncertainty off the table," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com. "In a very uncertain world, the fewer things that financial markets have to worry about the better."

There had been growing speculation that Greenspan might not be renominated by Bush. Conservative Republicans had been miffed in February when Greenspan, who had lent vital support to Bush's first tax cut in 2001, threw cold water on Bush's proposed second round of tax cuts.

Greenspan said the $726 billion package probably would not be needed as an economic stimulus measure because he the economy would probably rebound once uncertainty over the Iraq war was lifted. He also said any new tax cuts should be seen in light of rising government budget deficits.

While unnamed White House officials were quoted as saying that Greenspan should be dumped, the administration publicly played down any talk of a rift once the Iraq war began.

Bush made a point of being photographed with Greenspan last month and the Fed chairman was invited to participate in meetings of the president's National Economic Council on how the war was affecting the economy and financial markets.

In his statement, Greenspan said it has been his privilege to serve five presidents in various positions. He was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Gerald Ford from 1974 to 1977. He was tapped to be Fed chairman by Ronald Reagan in 1987 and then renominated by Bush's father and twice by Bill Clinton.

Greenspan's statement did not mention whether he planned to serve a full four-year term. A new term as chairman would expire in June 2008.

Greenspan would have to deal with a complicating factor were he to serve a full chairman's term - his current term as a member of the seven-member Fed board expires in January 2006.

Under law, a board member who has completed a full 14-year term, as Greenspan will have done, cannot be reappointed for another Fed term. However, a Fed board member can continue to serve once his term has ended until the president nominates and the Senate confirms a successor.

That would mean Greenspan could continue to serve on the board and complete another full term as chairman if the president at that time wished him to do so.

Many analysts believe that Greenspan might decide to stay on the Fed only until January 2006 when his board term will end and when he will be approaching his 80th birthday.

That would allow the president to nominate a new Fed chief in the middle of the next presidential term, well away from a presidential election year.

"It's logical to think Greenspan might want to step down in 2006," Zandi said. "That would give President Bush, if he is re-elected, or whoever is in office, plenty of time to select Greenspan's successor. But you never know, by all accounts, Greenspan remains very interested in his job."