Stormin' Norm

At first I wondered how I missed the news of Greenspan's replacement, then I laughed out loud in class. But I have a substitute teacher today, so it was fine.

In a move that stunned the international financial community, President George W. Bush today announced that Stanley A. Weinberg was his choice to replace Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Weinberg is Mr. Bush's longtime personal financial advisor at Morgan Stanley. "He's like a member of the family," Bush said.

The president dismissed as "predictable" the criticisms that Weinberg had never served on a regional federal reserve bank, never participated in discussions about international banking, had never run a company, and was not an economist. "I trust him," the president said. "I know what is in his heart."