Conclusion About Inflation Is Wrong

James Risen’s “Fed’s Greenspan Waging a Battle That Doesn’t Need to Be Fought” (View From Washington, Nov. 12) suggests that Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues are foolishly waging a battle that doesn’t need to be fought.

I agree with Risen’s theory that Greenspan should back off his war on inflation and start lowering the Fed’s discount rate. The reason being there is no inflation in our current economy, there hasn’t been any for two years, and none can be seen on the horizon for the near future.

I have a different postulation as to why Greenspan is keeping the discount rate so high: Greenspan is currying favor with foreign investors who look for higher interest rates when they buy our Treasury notes. The biggest player in the Fed’s game are the Japanese, who take the dollars they accrue in trade surpluses and buy our worthless paper.

In the meantime, the American public must pay a cruel tax via higher interest rates.

How much longer this grand Ponzi scheme can last is anyone’s best guess.

THOMAS P. LOGAN

Fountain Valley