Policy Statement

We applaud Alan Greenspan for his 18 years as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, leading its successful disinflationary monetary and its more orderly conduct of policy and transparency. Ben Bernanke is an outstanding monetary scholar who has long advocated the pursuit of low inflation and will be an excellent replacement. His experience as a member of the Board of Governors showed him to be a thoughtful and clear communicator with the correct objective of zero inflation, and he garnered tremendous respect within the Federal Reserve and he global financial community. We congratulate him and wish him well. The fundamentals for sustained economic growth in the U.S. remain sound despite the effects of hurricane Katrina and a spike in oil prices. The resiliency of the economy continues to confound the skeptics. The Fed?s inflation-fighting credibility has been a key reason why the economy continued to expand rapidly in the face of the sharp rise in energy prices. Consumption and business investment continue to grow solidly.