Haven't you heard the famous story from '93 where Clinton refers, in effect, to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman's celebrated "golden straightjacket"? The following quote is from a Slate article on Bob Woodward's new book on Greenspan:
_The Agenda_, for instance, was memorable less for its analysis of Bill Clinton than for dishing on Clinton's temper, with tidbits like the president's epiphany that the future of his economic programs and his administration depended on "the Federal Reserve and a bunch of fucking bond traders."
http://slate.msn.com/code/Moneybox/Moneybox.asp?Show=11/22/2000&idMessage=65 45
>Of course, those initiatives were not enough and the wealthy made out like
>bandits, but the gains for the non-rich are real and, on the ideological
>front, may be a key part of why this boom has been so long. But the cult
>of Greenspan just narrows the debate and avoids any discussion of private
>wage policies as a reason for growth.
>
>-- Nathan Newman
You pay short shrift to the economic conditions of the rest of the world and what effect they have on the U.S. economy. There is no "Cult of Greenspan" on the left, just a recognition of who really runs economic policy: the Fed and investors (the market) - or the "electronic herd" as Friedman likes to call them. The gains for the non-rich are real, but we should be able to do a lot better and I doubt we will unless the system is challenged in thorough manner. I know it looks utopian, but we have no choice.
Peter