Reference: Greenspan's lament, Bangkok Post, September 18, 2007

Americans are now crying foul that Alan Greenspan, their high priest of Finance, had led them astray by supporting the Bush tax cuts while serving as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, because they now realize that those tax cuts for wealthy Americans were the seeds of fiscal disaster. Yet, the American system of government and its intricate mechanism of checks and balances, do not include a high priest of Finance; and as Chairman of the Fed, Greenspan had no official role to play in fiscal policy. The real question is not why Greenspan was so wrong on this issue but why he was even being consulted on this issue and why America needed to invent a financial version of the Wizard of Oz. Superstition takes many forms. We have fortune tellers and Jatukarm good luck pendants. They have high priests of Finance.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand