Eighteen years of excellence has earned Greenspan the benefit of the doubt when blame is being allocated.

This is definitely very bad news. Until now, we had given the company's management the benefit of the doubt with respect to certain franchise-acquisition activities. We believe that the SEC's decision indicates that, for some reason, cooperation between the company and the agency in the preceding informal investigation broke down, leading the commission to seek the greater legal powers of a formal investigation.

When in doubt about who's to blame. Blame the English.

Give everyone the benefit of the doubt, until there is no doubt.

Two recessions in more than eighteen years is not a bad E.R.A. -- earned recession average. The bottom line is he did a very good job as Fed chairman.

We've given the auto industry steroids, and we might be looking at a period of withdrawal as auto companies wean themselves from these stimulants,