* Big Economic Pick Will Be Next Fed Chairman

[paineinthearse]

Greenspan's testimony on Capitol Hill regarding SS reminds me of this article from November.

Nov 28, 2004
Bush's Big Economic Pick Will Be Next Fed Chairman
By Martin Crutsinger
The Associated Press


WASHINGTON (AP) - While President Bush is busy putting together his Cabinet for a second term, the financial world's attention is on a job vacancy 14 months away: Who will succeed Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan? It might seem daunting to follow a legend like Greenspan, now in his 18th year in the job. Yet there seem to be plenty of people who would like to do it.

The list of candidates being talked about in Washington and on Wall Street is half what it was before the Nov. 2 election, when prominent Democrats such as former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin were considered hot prospects had Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry won the White House. With Bush's re-election, the focus is on Republicans. Candidates include Harvard economics professor Martin Feldstein, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Reagan administration; Columbia University professor Glenn Hubbard, who was Bush's first CEA chairman; Treasury Undersecretary John Taylor; and Federal Reserve board member Ben Bernanke.

Handicappers generally put Feldstein, 65, at the top of the list, in part because he is the best known. He has had a distinguished teaching career at Harvard and served from 1982 to 1984 as chairman of the CEA, a post that Greenspan used as a stepping stone to the Fed job.

Some believe Hubbard, at 46 the youngest on the list, might have an inside track because of his strong support for Bush's tax cuts. Also, doubts linger among some conservative GOP supply-siders about Feldstein, given his reputation as a deficit hawk.

Taylor, 57, gained prominence as a monetary expert at Stanford University before coming to Treasury. He developed the "Taylor rule," a formula designed to aid the Fed in setting interest rates. He has had trouble making an impact on administration economic policy in his current job.

Bernanke, 50, is viewed as the dark horse. Little known outside academic circles before coming to the Fed board in August 2002, Bernanke has impressed veteran Fed watchers who have started to read his speeches carefully for insights into Fed thinking on a range of economic issues.

more...

On the Net:

Federal Reserve: http://www.federalreserve.gov/

AP-ES-11-28-04 1338EST

This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB42A5K32E.html

==========

Or maybe Gregory "Outsorucing is good for America" Mankiw?

[necso]

1. I'm putting my money on "toady".

But "flunkey" also has a good chance... And there is the perennial "partisan hack".

And given the circumstances, "lunatic" and "idiot" might have better than expected chances.

[ashmanonar]

2. i think the partisan hack is the best bet.

you don't have to be a bush flunky or toady to be an incompetent bastard.

[necso]

3. Perhaps

they will feel the need to comfort the bamboozled with a partisan hack, but toadies are their especial favorite.

And, of course, it will certainly be someone who will go along with the program. -- So no matter what, partisan hack won't be far off the mark. Still, I expect an essential toadiness in their choice.

Difference of opinion is what makes good horse races.

"Come on, Toady."

[ArmHayseed]

4. It takes a rainbow of qualities

And the Winner IS....

That person who has the exact mixture of all the qualities listed in the previous posts PLUS those two qualities that Greenspan has developed into a fine art: the ability to dissemble and obfuscate while looking you straight in the eye.



Does anyone know of a source that has a brief bio on the previous chairmen of the Fed?