With regard to [seminar participant Angel Ubide], my favorite example — is there an optimal degree of transparency? — relates to a very narrow issue of the Federal Open Market Committee [FOMC]. Once the Federal Open Market Committee started releasing a statement rather than signaling its policy through its type of Open Market operation, the story went from the "C" section of the Wall Street Journal to the "A" section. That the statement wrote the first couple — provided the first couple sentences in Greg’s 1st paragraph of that article [participant Greg Ip is a big-time journalist], and drew more attention. And therefore affected the discussion at the meeting and the interactions with markets. And so that does raise the question: Is there an optimal degree of transparency? – Vincent Reinhart
So here we are in an era when dull boring government economic policy has become dull boring Page One news 
Doom has now reached the end of "Part I" of our under construction transcript VI.C for AEI’s November 9, 2009 event "No Way Out: Government Response to the Financial Crisis."1 The respondents who scrutinized Vince’s discussion draft summary of the whole economic crisis wrapped up their work with a lively panel discussion, and then answered some audience questions.
Both the participants and the audience got positively frisky at times, and respondent Chris Whalen actually garnered a bit of applause with this question-reply.
I have no problem with regulators going to work for banks, but they can’t come back, OK? [laughter] Once they have gone off into the private sector, they have to stay there, and if we pick Treasury Secretaries who don’t have obvious conflicts, then I think we’d be better off.
So now it’s time to take a deep breath, because following a 3/4ths hour lunch break the seminar reconvenes with a second panel of academic experts. Looks like the rest of transcript VI Charlie is going to consist of 3 solid hours of econometric analysis.
Yikes!
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[1]: [uuuA]: "No Way Out: Government Response to the Financial Crisis", AEI event homepage, October 9, 2009.
