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When Geithner praised Greenspan
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan (2nd R) chairs his final Federal Open Market Committee meeting on January 31, 2006 in Washington, D.C. at the Federal Reserve Building with Timothy F. Geithner, seen on the far left.
This final note today, which comes with the acknowledgment that very few of us would like to hear our words from five years ago read back to us. But then again, very few of us were the president of the New York Federal Reserve back then, much less Secretary of the Treasury right now.
Yes, the unlucky quote-ee is Timothy Geithner. And we know what he said five years ago because the minutes of Alan Greenspan's last meeting as chairman of the Federal Reserve were released today.
There are tributes galore to the outgoing chairman in the minutes, including this from Geither: "I'd like the record to show," he told Greenspan, "that I think you're pretty terrific." And he goes on, "I think the risk that we decide in the future that you're even better than we think is higher than the alternative."
In the caption to photo accompanying this entry, Tim Geithner is described as "seen on the far left." HA HA! Rich choice of words. The Obama administration's cabinet of financial wizards *cough* are anything but "far left," based on what we've seen so far. Okay, so maybe it's a relativity issue: he just might be a teensy bit more left than Greenspan, but only barely.
