There's a growth industry in epithets for the guardian of the US economy. His ramified rhetoric is known as "Greenspeak", and he is anything but plain-spoken.

Harking back to his infamous "irrational exuberance" speech, Greenspan again said stock prices may be "excessive." But he added the best way to deal with a possible bubble is to pursue price stability.

In typical Greenspeak, he said price stability can "induce investors to take on more risk and drive asset prices to unsustainable levels."

For someone whose every word on the economy is scrutinized by the markets, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan seems to say the same thing a lot.