Monday PM

3's comment on 4's entry gave a peek at why men stay home when ever the term "shopping" is mentioned by a female.

There are two items of major news in the business press today. The first is the frenzied debate (that has been boiling for weeks) as to whether the Federal Reserve Board will raise the Fed Funds rate tomorrow, and if so, by how much. I swear, the commentators on the business channels have been micro-analyzing this thing to the nanoith-degree. I've had to "mute" the TV sound almost the entire day as very smart men (and women) espouse their theories, which, as the media commonly does, are, at any given time, exactly opposite those expressed in the immediately preceding segment of the broadcast.

The second story in the news is the book released today by former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan. Greenspan remains a highly respected financial/economics guru with an impressive curriculum vitae. But this tidal wave of media coverage in the last twenty-four hours (60 Minutes, Today, and all over CNBC) has a movie star's promotional tour taint to it. I suppose that he'll be on Leno or Letterman before the week's out. Release of the book the day before the highly anticipated Fed meeting also smacks of commercialism.

So what is the shelf-life for the importance (or relevance) of a retired government official? Interestingly, retired politicians can go away and never be missed. Until they find a new place to provide utility, a former governor, congressman or President might be a curiosity for a guest list, but their influence is thin. Think Al Gore. But a non-elected official in the government bureaucracy, like Greenspan, can potentially have longer-lasting influence in monetary and fiscal matters since the politicians neither understand nor control many things economic.

One of my favorite economics jokes relates to my first undergraduate econ course. Even back then the books were expensive, and you were always looking for a used alternative. The text for the course in question was written by another highly regarded economist, Milton Friedman. The trail of tears was pretty specific, for my year the text was a new edition and the professor was not going to use the old ones. The explanation as to why the author would need to republish a book on standard guns 'n butter Econ 101 was that while the questions at the end of the chapters had remained the same, the answers had changed. Yuk. Yuk.

Speaking of shelf-life, or lack there of, way to go OJ!

Have a great evening.

BCOT