At the end of January Alan Greenspan ends 18 years as Fed chairman, the second longest term in office. It was an extremely eventful epoch, marked by a host of crises. The Fed strategy developed by Greenspan as we know it today can be described as a triad of transparency, activist stabilization policy and gradualism in the setting of key rates. However, the fundamental problems, which had led to the 2001 recession, have not been solved. They still exist, payment day has merely been deferred.