Present At the Collapse
HERE WAS a SIGHT to behold; Ati some point during the recession! of 1973, Alan Greenspan. President Gerald FordÛªs chief economist at the time, collapsed in the middle of: Pennsylvania Avenue from a combination of nervous exhaustion and back pain. The fall; precipitated a hom-honking traffic jam Û¢ L William Seidman, who chaired FordÛªsj Economic Policy Board, didnÛªt think the pres-l ident would be well served if the press corps! spotted Greenspan blocking traffic in front of the White House. So, instead of hailing an ' ambulance, the short, stocky, dome-headed political appointee slung the future Federal! Reserve chairman over his shoulder and carried him into the Old Executive Building.</br></br>SeidmanÛªs fast-paced reminiscence of his remarkable political career with presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George Bush gurgles with such belly laughs. I found ; this particular slapstick memorable for another reason, however It is rich in unintended irony that tells us a great deal about the playfully boastful author, one of the most unforgettable bureaucrats of this century.</br></br>The fact is that Greenspan repaid Seidman 18 years later by rescuing him from an embarrassment far worse than a simple fainting spell. In 1991 when Seidman (pronounced Seedman) was in his final year as; the nationÛªs most influential bank regulator ' and the industry was perilously close to breakdown, Greenspan and the Fed began ratcheting down interest rates. Hundreds of banks that had flirted with failure began making money again. This dramatic reversal allowed Seidman to leave office not as the bum who had let the banking system down but as the hero who had guided it through its worse crisis in 50 years.</br></br>That he failed to acknowledge this debt anywhere in this galloping narrative is not so much ingratitude as it is Bill Seidman being himselfÛÓa black belt in hardball politics, a man prepared to claim all the credit when maybe three-<]uarters is due.</br></br>Grouse as they might, the other public servants who helped keep the financial system from falling off the cliff canÛªt deny Seidman the bragging rights. In a city of cowards, as other politicians were looking for a xvay to distance themselves from the financial crisis, this man of action stuck out hisj neck and agreed to take charge of the Bush! iadministrationÛªs Rube Goldberg-style res-i cue effort, the Resolution Trust Corp' (RTQ. It was a huge gamble. Had the economic cycle that crippled the banks been longer and deeper, he would have been castigated by Congress and run out of town like some of his less formidable colleagues. As it was, he took plenty of barbs for modeling, the RTCÛªs sales efforts after a Boston dis-i count store and moving out buildings and other assets from failed thrifts in bulk and at cut-rate prices.	ÛÓCmtinnM	on	page	10