Prophet Taking

02/04/1998

The Wall Street Journal

Page A23

Prophet Taking

Conventional wisdom from prophets of doom:

no such thing as eternal boom.

Store not your treasure in stocks, but park it

in Treasury bonds and money market.

Bulls pronounce a millennial mystery --

the end of economic history.

Productivity growth, they trust,

will square the cycle of boom and bust.

Shall we offer up cash and prayer

at the altar of Bull or Bear?

The more I read the less I learn --

where can a noninitiate turn?

Greenspan! Sphinx!

Inscrutable Scrooge!

(Apres lui, le deluge?)

Pronounces rarely, implicitly states:

Don't watch me, watch my interest rates.

Andrew Sprung

South Orange, N.J.