[2682] in Humor
Fwd: HUMOR: Greenspan Scandal!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sharalee M. Field)
Tue Feb 23 15:56:56 1999
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 15:53:18 -0500
To: humor@MIT.EDU, mowu@MIT.EDU, "MEGallagh@aol.com" <MEGallagh@aol.com>,
"kris.m.kelly@us.pwcglobal.com" <kris.m.kelly@us.pwcglobal.com>,
jbran18610@aol.com, dunbar@MIT.EDU, dahv@MIT.EDU, mtsai@bqa.com,
immer@MIT.EDU, jack.gingras@ae.ge.com, tlawlor@palmerdodge.com,
nkahn@gph.com, GDeVoe@rimco.com,
"Jean, Marc (GEAE)" <marc.jean@ae.ge.com>, celia_kent@harvard.edu,
Maryellen Fitzgibbon <mfitzgib@fas.harvard.edu>,
cjwells@fas.harvard.edu,
Cheryl Guarino Buccelli <c_buccelli@harvard.edu>,
leite@fas.harvard.edu, Courtney Nichols <crnichol@fas.harvard.edu>
From: "Sharalee M. Field" <sharalee_field@harvard.edu>
>Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 22:31:23 -0800
>From: Connie Kleinjans <connie@misosoup.com>
>X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.06 [en] (Win95; U)
>To: connie@misosoup.com
>Subject: HUMOR: Greenspan Scandal!
>
>From: Alan Gleason <gleason@well.com>
>
>Greenspan, Entourage Demolish Hotel Room
>
>LOS ANGELES--Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan once again found
>himself in legal trouble Monday, when he and several members of his
>extensive entourage were arrested for allegedly destroying a penthouse
>suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
>
>Hotel officials say Greenspan, in town to address an annual convention
>of Federal Reserve District Bank presidents, caused an estimated $8,500
>in damages to the room, the surrounding hallway and the swimming-pool
>area.
>
>Said Beverly Hills Hotel manager Giles Laurent: "The television screen
>and cabinet had apparently been kicked in. Two chairs were thrown out
>the window. The mattress was ripped and its stuffing was flung all over
>the room, as well as into the hallway." Laurent added that minutes
>before police arrived, Greenspan, with the help of Deputy Treasury
>Secretary Larry Summers, pushed a vending machine off the balcony
>overlooking the hotel's swimming pool.
>
>During his two-day stay at the posh hotel, Greenspan also accumulated a
>$781.55 room-service bill, which he has refused to pay until March 1,
>when he says interest rates on Deutsche Bundesbank bonds will rise to a
>more favorable 4.64 percent.
>
>Witnesses to Greenspan's behavior during the days leading up to Monday's
>arrest said the 72-year-old head of the Federal Open Market Committee
>was in an unusually volatile mood.
>
>"Upon arriving Friday, Mr. Greenspan demanded that four large bowls
>of M&Ms be delivered to his room, with all the orange ones removed,"
>Beverly Hills Hotel concierge Alexander Poole said. "Then, when he got
>to his room and saw the bowls, he flew into a rage, knocking over lamps
>and screaming that he wanted the green M&Ms taken out, not the orange
>ones."
>
>Greenspan got into more trouble Saturday night, when he, Fed Vice-Chair
>Alice Rivlin and several other members of his inner circle visited the
>trendy L.A. night spot The Viper Room. Clubgoers reported seeing
>Greenspan, still high off the dollar's late rally against the yen Friday
>afternoon, shout obscenities and throw ashtrays at the club's DJ. When
>security personnel attempted to restrain him, Greenspan became
>belligerent, yelling, "I'm Alan Fucking Greenspan," and vowing to put
>bouncer Frank Rizzo in a "hurt bracket." The incident is already being
>compared to his infamous July 1997 fistfight with John Kenneth Galbraith
>at New York's China Club.
>
>According to Federal Reserve Board insiders, Greenspan, buoyed by the
>U.S. economy's robust 5 percent growth rate in 1998, as well as
>flattering cover stories in Barron's, Forbes and Time, has grown
>increasingly megalomaniacal in recent months.
>
>"He'll spend hours talking about how he's the greatest economist who
>ever lived, how he's 'bigger than Keynes,'" said one member of the Fed
>Board of Governors who wished to remain anonymous. "Every time he
>prevents economic disaster in Brazil or Indonesia by manipulating
>interest rates, his bloated ego just swells even more. It's just the
>sort of irrational exuberance he himself once warned against."
>
>Monday's arrest is only the latest in a long string of legal troubles
>for the controversial Greenspan, who has had 22 court dates since
>becoming Fed chief in 1987. Economists recall his drunken 1994
>appearance on CNN's Moneyline, during which he unleashed a
>profanity-laden tirade against Bureau of Engraving & Printing director
>Larry Rolufs and punched host Lou Dobbs when he challenged Greenspan's
>reluctance to lower interest rates. In November 1993, he was arrested
>after running shirtless through D.C. traffic while waving a gun. And
>some world-market watchers believe the international gold standard has
>still not recovered from a May 1998 incident in which he allegedly
>exposed his genitals on the floor of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
>
>The Tokyo case is still pending.
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sharalee M. Field, Planning Analyst
Faculty of Arts and Sciences Planning Office
Harvard University
Ph: 617.495.8257 Fax: 617.495.7881
