Greenspan Criticized In New Book As Fed Chair And As Lover

Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan became the target of criticism for both his role as director of the U.S. economy and also as a romantic individual, according to Jacqueline Andrews, a high level Fed official who claimed a "special relationship" with Greenspan that lasted throughout his 19 years in office.

"Sometimes he pushed too hard, and sometimes he didn't push hard enough," Andrews told a hastily assembled Washington, D.C. news conference. "I'm referring both to his setting of interest rates and also in terms of his performance in the boudoir."

Greenspan, long credited with expanding the American economy, today is accused of policy choices that led to the overheating and then the crash of both the stock market in 2001 and the housing market in the last two years.

"He gets things overheated," Andrews said, "and then, yes, things crash. I'm talking about in the Federal Open Market Committee, where Alan set interest rates, and in our suite at the Hay-Adams Hotel. He always means well, but he gets that irrational exuberance going, and the letdown is always pretty severe."

Andrews called the news conference to announce the publication of her memoir, "What Goes Up Must Come Down, And Usually Way Too Soon," the story of her affair with the bespectacled Fed chair.

"I don't want to tell you what to do with your money," Andrews told a reporter, asking for Greenspan's current economic outlook. "But Alan's big on commodities like gold and silver. He's a nice guy, but I'm afraid he gives new meaning to the term 'going short.' You dig?"