"What are they waiting for? Does it mean that something's up?" asks William Dudley, senior economist at Goldman Sachs &amp; Co.; Delaying reappointment, say some analysts, is the Bush administration's way of keeping Greenspan on tenterhooks and making sure the central bank doesn't assert its independence too strongly.; Dudley says the fact that Greenspan hasn't been reappointed with six weeks left in his term "does raise legitimate questions" about the Bush administration's intentions.; Bush and his advisers have often criticized Greenspan's Fed and have implied that the central bank waited too long to cut interest rates at the start of the recession last summer. And, in recent weeks, there have been vague rumors in the financial markets that the administration may seek to replace Greenspan.; One name that has popped up as a prospective candidate is Martin Feldstein, the former chairman of President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers. He is rumored to be interested in the Fed chairmanship and supposedly has some backing from within the Bush administration.; Feldstein didn't return several telephone calls to his office in Cambridge, Mass., where he is president of the National Bureau of Economic Research.; However, David Jones, economist at Aubrey G. Lanston &amp; Co., says the idea of Feldstein as Fed chairman is "a little far-fetched."; "There's nobody in the wings, in the way that Greenspan was in the wings" when former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker was being considered for reappointment, says Jones.; Volcker was reappointed June 18, 1983, after considerable public debate. Then-President Reagan's Treasury secretary, Donald Regan, opposed Volcker's reappointment, but Volcker's popularity in the financial community pushed Reagan into giving him four more years.; Greenspan also holds the confidence of the financial community.; "It's hard to fault his performance, in terms of his pushing for an ease, while maintaining the credibility of the Fed," says Goldman's Dudley.; Even so, the June 18 date Volcker was reappointed was viewed late and that date has long since passed for Greenspan. Some analysts note, too, that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Colin Powell, whose term wasn't up until October, has already been reappointed.; "There are reasons to ask questions" about whether a Fed chairman should be retained, says Carol Stone, senior economist at Nomura Securities International Inc. "After all, we've had a recession."; Indeed, the U.S. economy has been locked in a recession since July 1990.; But few economists lay the recession at the Fed's doorstep and, Stone says, "The level of satisfaction (with Greenspan) is certainly sufficient to keep him on."; Jones of Lanston, a firm noted for its Fed connections, says his "sources inside the Fed say nobody feels anything other than that Greenspan will be reappointed."; If reappointed, Greenspan would have to go through another round of confirmation hearings before the Senate Banking Committee.; But a Fed spokesman in Washington says those hearings could be scheduled for a date after the Aug. 11 end of the chairman's first term, provided the president said he wanted Greenspan to carry on.; Technically, that means Greenspan could be kept in limbo until after his mid-July Humphrey-Hawkins testimony, where he will give the central bank's economic outlook for the rest of the year. No date has been set as yet for the semi-annual Humphrey-Hawkins hearing.; A reappointment delay would sustain the administration's pressure on the Fed chairman not to say or do anything particularly depressing in regard to economic growth.; "By delaying the reappointment, the administration is able to put considerable political heat on Greenspan," says Jones. "They can lean on him a little more strongly."; Certainly, there's been heat on the Fed in the last few months from the administration and from private analysts.
The expected reappointment of Alan Greenspan at Fed Chairman has not occurred. His current appointment ends on July 1990 , creating a very tight schedule. Alan Greenspan and his advisers have often criticized the Fed but no acceptable candidate has surfaced. Alan Greenspan holds the confidence of the financial community and few economists blame the recession, underway since July 1990 , on him. The announcement of the appointment could be delayed until after he testifies on the central bank's economic outlook for the rest of the year at the Fed hearing. If reappointed Greenspan would have another round of confirmation hearings before the Senate Banking Committee , but these also could be delayed.