Reappoint Greenspan

President Myron Zorger: "Who said that super growth is good? Who said no growth is bad? Walking that fine line is no easy task. I think minimal growth has a better chance to heal the economy than the gangbuster approach that Wall Street would like us to believe."

President Greg Fullmer: "...The average worker wants stability, wants predictability. We bemoan the end of the era in which a person can have the stability of working in the same economy for years. That stability is more likely in an economy with steady growth than one which cycles through boom and bust. In the long run, slow growth, low inflation brings what people want. It takes a longer view to see that. Greenspan has the courage and vision to see beyond short-run gratification and do what is right for the country over the long haul."

President Laura Wise: "...I don't associate low interest rates with sound economic growth. It seems to go hand-in-hand with manias such as conglomerates, leveraged buyouts, real-estate bubbles and other frenzies that have come back to bite us."

Ditch Greenspan

President Ethan Fremen: "Growth or no growth, while an important issue, was not a part of my decision to nominate new members to the Federal Reserve Board. The FRB, through its control over the Prime rate, has attempted to control the pace of the American economy. This attempt is inherently flawed. The economy is not some fantastically complex machine with a "growth-o-meter" called the prime rate. It is a complex ecosystem of transactions influenced by a near-infinite number of factors, from the cost of copper in Chile to the weather in Dayton, Ohio. By nominating individuals who will select a low prime rate and stick with it, I help allow the market to adjust itself to whatever level of growth is feasible."

Hedge Bets

President Paul Kirsch: "This is the kind of political decision that is relatively easy to make. Greenspan is worth re-appointment for three reasons: first, he has not been doing such a bad job and the point can be made that his effort has been exemplary; second, the Republican majority in the Senate will certainly vote for the re-appointment (whereas appointing a Democrat will come in for heavy fire, not needed in this election year); third, the other two appointments will ride in on Greenspan's coattails. It becomes kind of a win-win for a President who has not had a solid record of such win-win opportunities."

President Julia Buttermore: "Greenspan's hard-line anti-inflation policy is yet another tool of the wealthy capitalists on Wall Street looking out for their interests over those of the common people who need economic growth. However, those same people have such a tight grip on our political system that a drastic move like a refusal to reappoint Greenspan would cause reverberations throughout the economy. Instead, by reappointing Greenspan now, you can appease Wall Street while at the same time providing for more progressive administrators in the future."

President Scott Reynolds: "It appears that I--the President--am in a difficult position. I feel that a compromise is necessary in such circumstances. I'm sure I'll be hit from both sides--and of course the media will see me as "waffling" yet again, but our economy is a sensitive subject and I feel strongly that this decision is the most rational choice."

President Ralph Melcher: "Keep Greenspan...He plays a mean saxophone. Balance him with his opposites to ignite an honest debate. Debate is, after all, what we need, and in the long run is a winning Presidential strategy. Remember the words of Carville: 'We're Right, They're Wrong.'"

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