ECONOMY

MC Alan Gee

Greenspan Blasts Bernanke In Online Rap Video

NEW YORK (CAP) - For the second time this week, a celebrity rap video has become the medium of choice for a gloating superstar. This time it's former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, who can be seen blasting current chairman Ben Bernanke during a freestyle session posted on the TMZ website last night.

Greenspan is shown taking over the mic at a Manhattan night club and ripping Bernanke for his failure to achieve the prosperity he oversaw during his unprecedented five-term reign as chairman, which ended when Bernanke took over in 2006.

In the profanity-laced four-minute video, the surprisingly West Coast-tinged hip-hop style of the Washington Heights native flows almost effortlessly as he rips through rhymes about Bernanke's recent handling of the sub-prime housing loan crisis and the bailout of Bear Stearns, Inc.

Most virulent, however, were the lyrics he dropped for what many financial advisors have been predicting for months: a slip from recession into a period of inflation.

"Bennie can't do it without me // Your weak-ass rate cuts and refusal to adjust the benchmark interest rate from 2% means a visit from inflation, you see. Bitch."

It is at this point in the video that Greenspan gets the crowd to repeat, "Bennie, tell me how that next depression tastes!"

The release of the video follows a two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve, in which the central bank decided to leave rates unchanged, ending a streak of cuts that dates back 10 months.

It's another example of Greenspan's trademark, well-calculated timing, and much like his rate cuts this move will likely be more effective than initially thought, according to Robert Moullha, CAP's senior financial analyst.

"Apparently, if it's good enough for the National Basketball Association, it's good enough for these two giants of the financial sector," said Moullha. "It will really be interesting to see if it changes anything. It's actually a terrible freestyle.

"Plus, I think he is reading off index cards in the video, which I don't think is really allowed," noted Moullha.

Greenspan's attorney did not return our calls to his office, but rumors were circulating late last night that the freestyle will appear on a mixtape, which will be available on Canal Street later this summer.