All the President's men of silence...

WITH the US dollar knocked from its seven-year perch, a dozen corporations engulfed in scandal and the accounting system casting a dark shadow over Wall Street, now would be the time for America's top economic officials to show leadership. Instead, the silence from Washington's highest economic echelon is palpable.

The President's closest economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey, once a consultant to Enron, has kept a lower public profile since the energy giant imploded. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt, who peformed admirably in the wake of 11 September, now faces calls for his resignation. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill is all but ignored by a White House that once trumpeted his pragmatism and experience.

Only Alan Greenspan, the master at the Federal Reserve who controls the nation's monetary policy, has survived the current turmoil with his reputation relatively untarnished, analysts say. 'The whole Enronitis-issue is weighing on financial markets,' said Tim Rogers, chief economist of briefing.com. 'Every time one opens the paper there is another scandal brewing. It would be nice to have some leadership at government agencies, but it's not there.'

Lawrence Lindsey: The only economic policymaker who regularly has the President's ear. A former Federal Reserve governor, Lindsey is responsible for the White House's current view that the economy has a hangover after a decade of excess rather than any systemic flaw that needs major fixing. The President's 10-point plan to address the financial breakdown has been derided as too weak but it is consistent with Lindsey's belief that during a boom, free capital sometimes is wasted.

As long ago as 1996 Lindsey said the stock market was 'suffering from a 'gambler's curse' - we have won this long, let us keep the money on the table,' recently released transcripts of Federal Reserve policy meetings show. He could not have predicted the hangover would bring him such headaches. Lindsey made $50,000 (£33,000) as an Enron consultant and he also reviewed the company's financial woes last autumn but did not take any action prior to the collapse.

Harvey Pitt: The SEC chairman's reputation soared post-11 September when he reassured a rattled financial world and helped Wall Street return to operation. Since then, it has been downhill. The SEC chief's close ties with the big accounting firms have led to charges that he has not responded forcefully enough to rein in the industry that contributed to the scandals rocking Wall Street.

'Normally when we have a market crisis, the SEC becomes the drum major who leads the parade toward reform,' said Columbia University business ethicist John Coffee. 'In this case the band has marched over the drum major and he is struggling to catch up.'

The SEC is expected to detail further regulatory reforms, but they are unlikely to go far enough to assuage critics.

Paul O'Neill: After a rocky start with ill-timed dollar comments and bungled handling of the suspension of 30-year bond sales, O'Neill has been shunted to the policy sidings. 'You don't want to surprise markets in an environment when investors are primed and O'Neill has done that several times,' said one Wall Street critic. 'He lacks the experience of his predecessors.'

In the most obvious slap to O'Neill, Congress called former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin to discuss the economy in the wake of 11 September. In recent weeks, O'Neill, former chief executive of Alcoa, has disdained unethical corporate conduct, proposing strong action to hold executives accountable. The White House instead suggested modest remedies. O'Neill's most important task now is heading a panel to carve up America's foreign aid.

On a recent trip to Africa with rock star Bono, he grabbed more attention by donning Bono-style sunglasses and African clothing than with policy prescriptions.

Old master Greenspan still a star

ALAN Greenspan, now 76, is widely expected to retire within a year after steering the world through several destabilising crises. However, whether his reputation will remain untarnished by the fall in the economy remains in question. The US has just been through its first recession in a decade - held to one quarter of negative growth.

He presided over the birth of the new economy, bringing high productivity, high growth and low inflation, but may be judged to have done too little to deflate a dotcom and telecoms bubble.

Unlike many others, Greenspan at least acknowledged the irrational exuberance of the markets at that time, and is easily the star turn of the front-line US economic team. 'When Greenspan retires it is going to seem like Armageddon,' said Jonathan Basile of CSFB.