What keeps Ben Bernanke awake at night?
Monsters under his bed? Frederic Mishkin behind the curtains? How about Alan Greenspan taking over the world?
Ben might have reason not to like the Maestro. For a start there’s that nickname. Bernanke must know how Salieri feels. Lets face it, “Maestro” trumps “Helicopter” in anyone’s book.
And although Greenspan has taken a fair bit of flak – some might say this whole mess is his fault – he’s still pretty beloved by the press. Bernanke just doesn’t cut the same walk. He’s staid.
In summation, it’s a pretty bad place to be, when at the pinnacle of your career, all people do is compare you to your predecessor – who though born during the prohibition, is still considered “cooler” than you.
How then, might Mr Bernanke react to plans to create a global super banking regulator? Oh – and put Alan Greenspan in charge of it. Such stuff as nightmares are made of.
According to the Daily Telegraph, British politicians in the Treasury are pushing for the move. Sources have told the newspaper that the Chancellor is behind plans to create a “financial watchdog of the world” out of the IMF:
This is about surveillance. At the moment the IMF comes to a country once a year and makes an assessment about the economy and its prospects. That is OK up to a point, but in a global context its value is very limited. It needs to be multi-lateral and not just looking at one country.
From his perch as world financial “surveyor” Mr Greenspan would be free to pontificate on anything he liked: doling out market moving insights and damning with faint praise the continuing humble efforts of his Fed nursery and central bankers the world over.
Oh wait – have they given him the job already?