John Law Checks In

And not from a Venice gambling hall, apparently:

There is more than a 50 percent chance the United States could go into recession, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan told El Pais newspaper in an interview published on Sunday. However, the U.S. has not yet entered recessionary state marked by sharp falls in orders, strong rises in unemployment and intensive weakening of the economy, he said. "We would have to see signs of this intensification: there are some, but not many yet," he said. "Therefore ... I would not describe the situation we are in as a recession, although the chances that we'll have one are more than 50 percent."

It's an ongoing national scandal that Greenspan hasn't been dragged away from his lucrative speaking tour and put under some hot lights in front of Congress. But that would remind people of the obsequious treatment he enjoyed from politicians as Fed chairman, wouldn't it? And it might also remind a once happily deluded public of its own gullibility and lost innocence. If we're ever going to put this chapter of wayward economic policy behind us, there needs to be a DeGreenspanification -- a complete discrediting of some monetary policymakers and their political and media enablers. Despite some encouraging signs recently like this, we're not there yet.

More:

Greenspan, the U.S. Fed chairman from 1987 to 2006, endorsed the Republican presidential candidate John McCain in the interview. "I'm Republican and I support John McCain, who I know very well and who I respect a lot," he said.

The person who oversaw the two largest financial bubbles in history endorses a candidate who admits he doesn't understand the economy as well as he should. Perfect.