All Clear on the Bernanke Front

If Alan Greenspan thought he was the Chosen One, then his successor Ben Bernanke hopes to be Everyman.

The soon-to-be Federal Reserve chairman wants us to relate to him. His mission is to reach the average American, and he has made it very clear that when he takes over as chairman on Feb. 1, we can expect more transparency in his federal policy making.

Does that mean a stock market crash by Valentine's Day?

Hardly. Just because his policy making will be transparent doesn't necessarily mean it will be any different. "The current expectation is that he'll pick up the baton where Greenspan left it off," says Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH Associates of Pompton Plains, N.J., which tracks a variety of loan products. Don't expect to see any abrupt changes in the beginning.

Besides, Bernanke will need time to cozy up to the rest of the board before he can truly spread his wings. So odds are good that he'll continue Greenspan's work in the short term.

But what should be noticeably different from the get-go is that you and I might actually start to understand what goes on in those Fed meetings.

This clarity might be most evident through Bernanke's inflation policy. Sure, Greenspan's team had an inflation target. We just didn't know about it, and he didn't want us to, lest he be held accountable for reaching a certain number. Greenspan's inflation forecasting was written in the Fed's reports to Congress. But have you ever tried to read one of those reports? You're better off translating Russian into German. The only people slogging through those Federal Reserve testimonies are financial market pros with lots of time on their hands.

Quite frankly, Greenspan never really cared if Joe America understood what he was saying.