Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

The hiring of former FED chairman Alan Greenspan in an advisory role by Deutsche bank is really interesting. The bank says Greenspan will "speak at conferences, attend meetings and take part in conference calls with bank clients, analysts and traders."

Why it's interesting to me is his reign at the FED was one of monetary expansion. This was one of the primary instruments in moving the stock market up during those years. The problem though was it also led to the housing bubble. How? With short-term interest rates being held low, it motivated businesses to grow and consumers to borrow and spend.

For the most part, those consumers were also employees. The result was the economy grew and those consumers bought larger, nicer homes. We know what has happened with that, and we also know the credit load carried by consumers today. Consumers started doing these things because they believed the boom would go on indefinitely.

The reason this is interesting is because Bernanke is implementing the opposite strategy. He's tightening the money supply and trying to get the economy to grow at about a 2 percent rate. Again, the opposite of what Greenspan did. He also is fighting to keep the interest rates at about 5.25 percent.

So why hire Greenspan who is now 81, even though he does have his own consulting firm, but operated under completely different conditions?

I think it's a symbolic move to calm the jitters of people across the world. Greenspan was definitely a world figure in the international financial community. And those markets are starting to realize the exposure they have to the subprime problems in the United States.

Deutsche Bank's Josef Ackermann, chairman of the management board gave this as the reason: "Dr. Greenspan's position as one of the architects of the modern financial system gives him a unique perspective from which to help our clients make critical risk management decisions."

It is also said he will stay away from Deutsche's asset-managemement arm to avoid any conflicts with the existing managememt company.

So he's not going to offer anything in the asset-management area. So the question then becomes: who is he going to advise? What's the risk management they're talking about if it's not assets?

Other than a symbol of safety to calm everyone down, it's probably connected to the idea of loosening up the money supply again if that's needed to get the market going again. They also probably want his perspective on lowering rates and its impact, something Bernanke doesn't want to do.

If nothing else, Greenspan is a brand. And as a brand, Deutsche bank needs him to stand as the brand he represented in the past: economic growth through money expansion. It could even be a subtle message to Bernanke that he needs to look at the way Greenspan ran the FED.

Underneath this all is a real concern about real potential problems. The hiring of Greenspan, in whatever capacity it really is, shows how serious Deutsche bank is taking the problem.