Fed Chairman Greenspan Turns 75
March 6 -- From Wall Street to Main Street, Americans can rest assured that on the occasion of his 75th birthday today, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan should have no trouble blowing out all of the candles on his cake.
As he has for the past decade, Greenspan was celebrating over lunch in Washington, D.C., with three friends also born on March 6 — Bill Webster, the former head of the CIA and the FBI; Tom Foley, the U.S. ambassador to Japan and former House speaker; and Sen. Christopher Bond, the Missouri Republican.
Despite a cold, Greenspan also showed up to work at the central bank's offices in the nation's capital, but the illness prompted him to cancel a flight Wednesday to Las Vegas to address a banking group.
Greenspan will address the Independent Community Bankers ofAmerica via a satellite hook-up, according to a Fed spokesman.
‘Nobody Knows But Alan Greenspan’
Cold or no cold, few doubt that Greenspan brings a zestful approach to the task of revitalizing the U.S. economy, faltering of late after a record-breaking 10 years of expansion.
But does Greenspan ever think of walking away from the blizzard of data on everything from factory orders to wholesale prices to intraday bank lendng rates in order to do something else with his life?
"Nobody is going to know that but Alan Greenspan," said Susan Phillips, a former Federal Reserve board governor who is now dean of the School of Business and Public Management at George Washington University. "He's very vigorous, an amazing person. He really enjoys what he's doing."
Greenspan, sometimes called the second most powerful man in America, was appointed Fed chief by President Reagan in 1987 and is now serving his fourth president, a testament to his political acumen and his reputation as a financial oracle.
He was appointed to a fourth term last year by President Clinton. That term expires in 2004.
Term Expires in Election Year
Phillips said that the chairman is bothered by the fact that because of delays in earlier reappointments, his current term expires in a national election year. It's possible Greenspan "might resign [early] to get out of the election cycle," Phillips said.
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