George Bush will have to pick a new Federal Reserve chief in the next nine months. The reputable Fed boss Alan Greenspan will retire in January 2006 from the post he has occupied since 1987. The main requirements for Greenspan’s successor will be appeal with the markets, reliability in the eyes of the analysts, and besides, this does not have to be a person likely to swoop down on Bush’s economic policy with fierce criticism.

The main objective of the Fed chairman is to influence the rate-setting policy. But there is also another aspect that has come to the fore under Greenspan’s leadership: the Fed chairman evaluates and comments upon the government’s policies in the economic realm.

So far three main candidates for the post have been named. The first is Martin Feldstein, 65, former Ronald Reagan’s advisor and a Harvard economist. Another is Glenn Habbard, 46, who at the moment leads Columbia Business School, and Ben Bernanke, 51, one of Fed directors. Feldstein and Habbard have taken part in the preparation of Bush’s economic programs, however, they can hardly be expected to keep the rate at a low level to support the president’s popularity.

Feldstein has often criticized swelling budget deficits in the early 1980s, the problem that has surged to unprecedented levels under the incumbent president. However, even the choice of the lost loyal Fed chairman does not guarantee that the newly selected official will not start to show his independence.