Alan Greenspan is expected to retire as chairman of the Federal Reserve on January 31st next year. If so, the speeches he gave on July aoth and 21st (the second after The Economist went to press) will be the last of his so-called "Humphrey-Hawkins" testimonies to Congress. These, by tradition though no longer by statute, take place in February and July. The speeches are named for Senator Hubert Humphrey and Representative Augustus Hawkins, lawmakers who thought that the American people had a right to hear what the man who minds their money is thinking. What did they hear this time?
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