Gigot for Governor, II

When these columns last suggested the editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page, Paul Gigot, for a public office, it was for governor of New York. Those were the days when Attorney General Eliot Spitzer seemed to be obsessed with the Wall Street Journal. Our thought was that the Republicans could put up Mr. Gigot and the two of them could have it out at the polls. In the event, it didn't work out, but another opportunity is presenting itself. Why not install Mr. Gigot in a different governorship, that of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve? Rupert Murdoch could keep him at his post at the Journal, and monetary policy could be run out of its editorial page.

The page certainly seems, based on its editorial yesterday, to be ahead of the Open Market Committee, which meets tomorrow and was yesterday given blunt advice by the Journal to stop cutting interest rates. One can only guess here, but it wouldn't surprise us were the Fed to take Mr. Gigot's advice. Nor would we be surprised if the markets, rather than plunging on news of such an action, were to soar, interpreting the decision as a sign of confidence both in the economy and in the free market, as well as a sign of hawkishness on inflation and a willingness to defend the dollar. Why not cut out the middleman, we say, and let Mr. Gigot run monetary policy directly?

Of course, that leaves the problem of what to do about James Grant. He's the sage who edits Grant's Interest Rate Observer, whose views are broadly consonant with the concern over easy money and a plunging dollar. Our own view would be to give Mr. Grant Alexander Hamilton's old job. He would have more credibility than Henry Paulson. But were the chairmanship of the Fed to go to Mr. Gigot and the treasury secretaryship to Mr. Grant, we'd be faced with what to do about Steve Forbes, another of the sages. To which we can only say that in terms of policy, he's the best presidential candidate not in the race. Lawrence Kudlow we'd put in Charlie Rangel's seat at Ways and Means, while Mr. Rangel himself could run the Selective Service. All of which is our way of saying — no sarcasm intended — that we're rather enjoying the spectacle of so many great journalists so far ahead of the government.