The Economist Endorses Don Kohn

The Economist endorses Don Kohn for Federal Reserve Chair. It would be a good choice. Given who George W. Bush is, however, we're more likely to get don Rumsfeld:

The Federal Reserve | A hard act to follow | Economist.com : [W]e believe the best choice would be Don Kohn, a governor on the Federal Reserve Board, who is not affiliated to any party. Mr Kohn has another big advantage. As a staff member before being promoted to governor in 2002 on Mr Greenspan's recommendation, Mr Kohn has been attending the Fed's policy-making meetings for almost 24 years, even longer than Mr Greenspan. His vast experience of monetary-policy decisions and financial crises would be invaluable in troubled times. He is highly regarded by economists in the Fed and on Wall Street, and having worked with Mr Greenspan for so long, his thinking on interest-rate policy and financial markets is also close to the chairman's. He would offer continuity and a safe pair of hands....

Whether central banks should respond to asset-price bubbles is one of the hottest debates in monetary policy. The Fed's failure to curb bubbles, while aggressively easing policy when they burst, is partly to blame for America's imbalances, which could give the next Fed chairman a lot of grief. Mr Kohn's experience within the Fed makes him the best man to cope with this. Mr Greenspan could help him immeasurably and enhance his own legacy by going much further, and explicitly supporting the view of many other central banks that sometimes policymakers should act to restrain asset-price booms. When you are the world's greatest central banker, after all, you should be able to admit the odd mistake.