the real irony is keating actually cared about the economy.. howard couldn’t give a stuff unless it gets him votes. unfortunately, economic literacy is still shocking (eg, any newspaper letters page) but the increased attention given to interest rates (media, borrowing) has made a lot of people think that interest rates cause economic progress, not the other way round. (There was even some clown that wrote “it matters little whether inflation is 3% or 6%, so the reserve shouldn’t raise interest rates and give people on mortgages a break”… thankfully, they (CT) printed my demolishment of it… but a lot of people seriously think that! it’s scary).