Alan Greenspan was appointed Fed chairman by Ronald Reagan in August 1987, he was reappointed by Bush and Clinton, at successive four-year intervals until retiring after a record-setting tenure on January 31, 2006. During that time period he was one of the most powerful men in the world. The stock markets literally hung on his every word.  People made it their full time job to try and decipher what cryptic meaning might be obtained from his press releases. At times his words boosted the market as he dealt with issues like the Black Monday stock market crash that occurred shortly after he first became chairman. At other times he tried to talk the market down and he referred to the  … [Read more...]