Master of Our Money Robert D. Novak  
Why would Alan Greenspan, observing an American economy that in the eyes of most investors seems almost too good to be true, consciously cause a loss of more tjian 150 points and more than $100 billion in the stock market?</br></br>The answer appears to be that Chairman Greenspan and the other members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors look askance at a buoyant stock market. Consultant Jude Wanniski, long an admirer of the chairman, told his clients last week: Tor all his qualities, Alan Greenspan still has embedded in him strands of.thinking that are oddly elitist in their distrust of markets.Û</br></br>That distrust does not seem shared by elected representatives of the people either on Capitol Hill or in the White House. But Greenspan need not answer to anybody or even disclose what he is thinking. He is truly a master of the universe, with ultimate economic power over millions of people around the globe.</br></br>Greenspan is unmatched throughout Fed history in popularity and untouch-ability. Named to head the central bank by the last three presidents (two Republicans and one Democrat), he gets credit for the current stable economy. Mistakes in his long tenure there (including an unfortunate comment about dollar devaluation immediately preceding the 1987 stock market crash) have been erased from the public consciousness.</br></br>Greenspan effectively is immune not only from systemic checks and balances under the Federal Reserve Act but from political restraints imposed on past chairmen, even his powerful and imperious predecessor, Paul Volcker. A bipartisan congressional coalition, led by the unlikely combination of Republican Rep. Jack Kemp and Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, challenged VolckerÛªs tight-monev regimen. Volcker ultimately was forced Û¢to change policy when four Republican-appointed Fed governors rebelled.