Sorry, but after downloading the transcript(.pdf) for the January 31st, 2006 FOMC meeting with the intention of looking at all the praise heaped on Alan Greenspan on his last day as Fed Chairman in order to relay selected misguided quotes in this post, the 78 page length of the document proved too daunting, especially after all the joking around in the beginning of the document at a time that the central bank could actually have done something to prevent or mitigate the financial market disaster that followed a few years later.

Instead, relying on the many poor souls in the financial media who had to slog through transcripts for all eight meeting that year, we find that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (New York Fed President at the time) appears to have been the most misguided as to the legacy of the outgoing Fed chief when he noted:

I’d like the record to show that I think you’re pretty terrific, too. [Laughter] And thinking in terms of probabilities, I think the risk that we decide in the future that you’re even better than we think is higher than the alternative. [Laughter]

Surely you can understand better now…

More confirmation of the Peter Principle and that economists are particularly ill-suited to run an economy were provided in this assessment of the Greenspan tenure at the Fed by San Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen who, since, has been promoted to Fed Vice Chair:

Needless to say, it’s fitting for Chairman Greenspan to leave office with the economy in such solid shape. And if I might torture a simile, I would say, Mr. Chairman, that the situation you’re handing off to your successor is a lot like a tennis racquet with a gigantic sweet spot. [Laughter]

Again with the laughter.

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