WASHINGTON: Alan Greenspan, who was chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve for nearly two decades, in a long-awaited memoir is harshly critical of President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the Republican-controlled Congress, as abandoning their partys principles on spending and deficits.

In the 500-page book, “The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World,” Greenspan describes the Bush administration as so captive to its own political operation that it paid little attention to fiscal discipline, and he described Bushs first two Treasury secretaries, Paul ONeill and John Snow, as essentially powerless.

Bush, he writes, was never willing to contain spending or veto bills that drove the country into deeper and deeper deficits, as Congress abandoned rules that required that the cost of tax cuts be offset by savings elsewhere. “The Republicans in Congress lost their way,” wrote Greenspan, a self-described “libertarian Republican.”

“They swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose” in the 2006 election, when they lost control of the House and Senate.

As officials leave the Bush administration, there is no shortage of criticism of this White House. Disenchanted hawks are writing that Bush has abandoned the certainties of the first term and taken too soft a line on North Korea and Iran. From the other side of the spectrum, former officials are telling tales about how the administration bent rules on torture or domestic spying.

But Greenspan, now 81, is in a different class, because of his fame, his economic authority and his service across party lines. His critiques are likely to have more resonance among Bushs base.

His book was provided to The New York Times by his publisher, Penguin Press, under an agreement that nothing would be reported until its publication date, on Monday. But The Wall Street Journal, saying it had purchased a copy from a retailer, published excerpts on its Web site on Friday night, freeing other news organizations to do the same.

Much of the book concerns Greenspans reflections on markets, globalization, and the medias fascination with the thickness of his briefcase on the way to meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates.

He praises Bush for letting the Fed stay independent of political pressure, saying he was scrupulous in not trying to interfere with monetary policy - which he contrasts sharply with the pressure exerted by his father, George H.W. Bush, in the early 1990s. For years the first President Bush has blamed Greenspan for contributing to his defeat in 1992 by failing to prevent a recession by cutting interest rates.

Of the presidents he worked with, Greenspan reserves his highest praise for Bill Clinton, whom he described in his book as a sponge for economic data who maintained “a consistent, disciplined focus on long-term economic growth.”

It was a presidency marred by the Monica Lewinsky scandal, he writes, but he fondly describes his alliance with two of Clintons Treasury secretaries, Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers, in battling financial crises in Latin America and then Asia.

By contrast, Greenspan paints a picture of Bush as a man driven more by ideology and the desire to fulfill campaign promises made in 2000, incurious about the effects of his own economic policy, and an administration incapable of executing policy.

The White House is clearly not eager to get into a public argument with Greenspan, whom Bush reappointed to a fifth term in May 2004. But they pushed back at Greenspans central themes.

“The Republican leadership in the House and Senate kept to our top number,” Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, said. Veto threats worked to keep spending within caps set by the White House, he said.

“Were not going to apologize for standing up the Department of Homeland Security and fighting terror.”

Greenspan described his own emotional journey in dealing with Bush, from an initial elation about the return of his old friends from the Ford White House, including Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense, to astonishment and then disappointment at how much they had changed.

“I indulged in a bit of fantasy, envisioning this as the government that might have existed had Gerald Ford garnered the extra 1 percent of the vote hed needed to edge past Jimmy Carter,” Greenspan wrote in his memoir. “I thought we had a golden opportunity to advance the ideals of effective, fiscally conservative government and free markets.”

Instead, Greenspan continued, “I was soon to see my old friends veer off in unexpected directions.” He expected Bush to veto spending bills, he writes, but was told that the president believed he could better control Dennis Hastert of Illinois, the Republican speaker of the House, by signing them.

Beyond Cookies: Girl Scouts at 95 Finding a Way to ‘Be Prepared’ Against Declining Membership By MOLLY FRANCES NORRIS

There was more than just crinkled song booklets and the smell of sunscreen unifying the 120,000 Girl Scouts gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Saturday. Ninety-five years of history bound them together.

The not-quite-centennial anniversary coincides with a revamp of the all-American organization, which is facing declining membership.

Today’s girls are increasingly opting out of participation in the Girl Scouts. Over the last five years, the Girl Scouts say they have lost about 4 percent of their 2.7 million membership nationwide.

American girls are an expanding group thanks to population growth, but 125,000 fewer scouts have hit the nature trail since 2001. Many leave as they enter their teenage years, making retention a major problem. Without these young women involved in the program, the image of Girl Scouts as “cool” becomes a harder sell to the younger generation.

In 1912, Juliette Gordon Low launched the inaugural troop of 18 girls in Savannah, Ga. Since then, more than 50 million girls have passed through the ranks, dealing cookies since almost the beginning.

Ask a room full of women today how many were once Girl Scouts and the figures become real, said Patricia Diaz Dennis, chair of the Girl Scout’s National Board of Directors. The challenge, she said, is keeping the organization as relevant now as it was to the lives of the those who came before them.

“We’ve always been about leadership. We’ve been known as cookies and crafts and camping,” said Dennis. “We are going to start touting more that we’re really a great leadership program. It’s not about leadership as in the president of a company, but it’s also about leading your own life so that you’re the best mom, or the best firefighter you can be because you’ve been through the Girl Scout experience.”

But if young girls want to be CEOs, that’s fine, too, Diaz Dennis said. The group’s research shows that Girl Scout alumnae represent 53 percent of female business owners and 70 percent of women serving in Congress.

The Girl Scouts organization leadership knows it has to reach the next generation in a new way and not simply rest on tradition.

“We also have to shift so that we can capture the demographic market in our country, which is Latinas and Hispanics,” said Dennis, a Latina herself who speaks Spanish.

At the Mall singalong Saturday, the actress who voices the cartoon character Dora the Explorer belted out lyrics in her signature high-pitched Spanish.

The competitive market for children’s time creates scout dropouts. Rasheeda Smith, 13, from Philadelphia, has been a Girl Scout for five years, but now she also has student government, chess club and double-dutch team commitments. Troop leaders are encouraged to be flexible with scheduling the weekly meetings instead of insisting on the scouts’ traditional 4 p.m. on Tuesday’s format.

“On certain days it gives me something to do instead of going out in the streets,” said Smith.

And in keeping with American girls’ growing interest in fashion at younger and younger ages, the official scout uniform also has been reduced to a tiny pin, though full regalia are still available.

Most of the 120,000 Girl Scouts came to the D.C. weekend event decked out in coordinated troop outfits that can only be described as all out cute warfare — polka dot bandanas, floral bucket hats, and T-shirts tie-dyed, cut and beaded to perfection. A folksy guitarist onstage described the crowd as colorful jellybeans filling the slopes of the Washington Monument.

Lexi Botts, 13, fiddles with a cell phone sparkling with pink and diamond rhinestones that form a princess crown across the cover. Her most memorable Girl Scout perk remains horseback riding, while she points out scholarships and camp as other payoffs.

Botts points to character traits as the top lesson from Girl Scouts — not the hodgepodge of skills learned through the wide ranging activities troops can pursue.

“The main thing is how to really respect people,” said Botts. The members of Troop 2285 from Arlington Heights, Ill., have been together since kindergarten. Over time, the troop’s finances and internal dynamics have become more complicated — like the Girl Scout organization itself, which is now trying to downsize the number of administrative regional councils nationwide.

Troop Mom Janet Gianelli said, “Even within girls they don’t all get along, but they’ve learned so many good qualities that help them. As the troop grows up, they have to make decisions about how to spend their money and that responsibility affects how they treat each other.”

Earlier, Botts responded to a question about scout values and teen popularity contests. “If people are mean to you, be nice to them even if they’re not nice. We won’t be like that.”

The official Girl Scout Promise, which is chanted at meetings, vows to “serve God and country.” It has spurred the formation of alternative, but similar social groups. The phrase triggered a lawsuit almost two decades ago that now allows girls to substitute “God” for whatever word applies to their beliefs.

Some parents still find the group too exclusive of different religions, and others think it too secular. The American Heritage Girls, formed 12 years ago in Ohio, appeals to conservative families by emphasizing faith. The fledgling Spiral Scouts, founded in Washington State in 2001, draws on nature spirituality with druid-like collars as part of their dress uniforms. Many alternatives exist, but their total numbers represent a sliver of a sliver of the Girl Scouts’ total active membership.

Last years movie sensation, The Queen, about Queen Elizabeth II, captured the monarchs lavish lifestyle with footage of her opulent castles and many servants. Not a bad life, but she comes in a mere 11th on our ranking of the worlds richest royalty, worth an estimated $600 million. She can take some comfort in the fact that shes the worlds wealthiest female ruler and just one of two women to make our list.

In the top spot is the Sultan of Brunei, worth $22 billion, 36 times more than the Queen of England. The Sultan who inherited the riches of an unbroken 600-year-old Muslim dynasty recently celebrated his 40th anniversary as ruler of the oil-rich land. The only other Asian monarch to make the cut is the worlds longest-reigning living monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the deity-revered king of Thailand, who we estimate is worth $5 billion.

«www.forbes.com»

More than a third of the rulers, six to be precise, preside over oil-rich territories in the Middle East including the Emir of Qatar who funded Al Jazeera, the King of Saudi Arabia who is building a $26 billion city named in his honor and the ruler of Dubai, whose government bought stakes in HSBC and Deutsche Bank this year. The regions richest is Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, ranked No. 2 overall, who rules over the tiny emirate of Abu Dhabi, home to one-tenth of the worlds oil reserves.

We estimate his net worth to be $21 billion. He is promoting the territory as the cultural hub of the Middle East and plans to open a Frank Gehry-designed branch of the Guggenheim Museum in 2011. Seventy-eight-year-old Sheikh Sabah Al Sabah took over as emir of Kuwait last year after the crown prince was deemed too ill to ascend the throne; he wasted no time in voting for a significant raise in the royal family stipend.

The lists youngest member and the only one from sub-Saharan Africa is 39-year-old King Mswati III of Swaziland, with a net worth of $200 million. Almost every year, he chooses a new bride from among 20,000 naked bare-breasted virgins; so far, he has 13 wives and is building a palace for each. The lists only bachelor is Prince Albert II of Monaco. Best known as a playboy who fathered two children out of wedlock, he inherited the tiny principality that is just about the size of New York Citys Central Park in 2005, after his father died.

Prince Alberts title, and much of his fortune, has been in his family for 700 years. But thats not unusual for these dynasties. Prince Hans-Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein, for instance, resides over a $4.5 billion fortune that stretches back 900 years and encompasses a 400-year-old art collection with 1,600 paintings, including 33 Rubens, the largest such collection in private hands.

The collective worth of the lists 15 rulers is $95 billion, about the size of the gross domestic product of Chile or New Zealand. The only ruler who doesnt preside over a geographic territory is the Aga Kahn. Rather, he is the spiritual leader of the worlds dispersed 15 million Ismaili Muslims. A suave businessman, hes been in the press recently because he is divorcing his second wife; his first ex-wife reportedly received a $20 million payout.

Keep in mind that the wealth of the royals is often shared with extended families and often represents money that is controlled by them in trust for their nation or territory. Therefore none of them would qualify for our list of the worlds billionaires, regardless of their net worth.

Another note: While we have tracked the fortunes of a few high-profile royals like the Queen of England and Sultan of Brunei for years, this is the first time we scoured the globe in search of a truly definitive list. Monarchs of such countries as Spain and Japan failed to make the cut.

«www.forbes.com»