But given his masterfully pragmatic handling of increasingly complex economic data and his stature among other Fed members, Greenspan today is irreplaceable. The Fed is a less doctrinaire, better institution today because its members have had a chance to watch an artist at work. Yet, that's not the same as being able to forge his paintings. A Wall Street Journal editorial on Monday even pleaded with Greenspan to try to codify his thinking, which has come to look merely like highly informed intuition. That would be a start, but just a start.
Examples are everywhere.
Although Jeff Vinik is arguably a great stock picker, he's a nervous trader better suited to run his own hedge fund than the nation's largest mutual fund. Vinik could not begin to replace Fidelity Magellan's Peter Lynch, and that led to several years of serious troubles at Fidelity. Jacob surely can't yet be compared to a Lynch. But his fund has outperformed others focused on the Web, so his departure has rightly led investors to ask whether it's really the same fund without him. Yes, Wall Street loves current CFO and future chief strategy officer Joy Covey, but Bezos is the man with the ever-evolving vision and infectious laugh.