Reply #48: info on the Has-Been Partisan Hack "meetings" with *Co WH [View All]

[UpInArms]

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2004/05/fed_chiefs_cale.html

excerpt:

Mr. Greenspan had 149 political meetings in 2001 - 2.9 per week. This grew to 161 (3.1 per week) in 2002 and 170 (3.3 per week) in 2003.

Thus, the most recent three-year period of 2001-2003 averaged 160 meetings, or 3.1 weekly, compared with just 96, or 1.8 weekly, during 1996-98. This can be interpreted to mean that Mr. Greenspan has become 67% "more political" over this period.

This is a significant finding.

In the 1996-2000 period it was apparently necessary for the chairman to visit the White House about 12 times per year, or once per month. For no apparent reason, Mr. Greenspan's visits to the White House tripled from just 12 in 2000 to 37 in 2001, when Bush took office. Starting in January 2001, the same month Mr. Greenspan began cutting rates and flip-flopped on the Bush tax cuts, he visited the White House at least three times per month, with the only slowdown in June and July of that year.

What were previously monthly meetings continued to skyrocket to over one per week in both 2002 (55 meetings) and 2003 (68 meetings).

These White House meetings since 2001 were with officials at the highest level, something Mr. Greenspan did not do in 2000 or apparently since 1996 based on his monthly meetings there. For example, in 2003 he met with the President once, Vice President Cheney seven times, Condoleezza Rice six times, and Chief of Staff Andy Card three times. In March 2003 he had 14 White House meetings, and in July 2003 he met with six members of the Cabinet, including Colin Powell.

Such increasingly frequent meetings at the most senior level, including the Oval Office, are appropriate for a politician but not a central banker, whose political independence is paramount. The noteworthy increase in these meetings since 2001 is puzzling and problematic.

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