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Kevin Phillips, author and former Republican political theorist, sees Greenspan as "sort of the financial equivalent of an operative instead of a statesman. He may know all the players, but he has a strain of intertwined parochialisms -- Republican strategist; Ayn Rand devotee; Wall Street forecaster; writer of letters for special pleaders like Keating. It isn't the background of a great economic statesman. It's the profile of an Austro- Hungarian court figure."
Greenspan will continue to have more influence over interest rates than anyone else, at least until his term expires in March 1996. For now, Fed watchers expect the board to avoid any more rate increases until May at the earliest, to give the jittery markets a chance to calm down. The former jazz player who chairs the Fed hardly wants to provoke investors into another round of blowing their cool.
CHART: NOT AVAILABLE
CREDIT: CREDIT: From a telephone poll of 800 Adult Americans taken for TIME/ CNN on April 6-7 by Yankelovich Partners Inc. Sampling error is plus or minus 3-5% Not Sures omitted
CAPTION: How would you describe economic conditions in the country today?
Has the recession ended in the area where you live?