A few words from Alan Greenspan can plunge the markets into chaos or propel them to new highs. In public pronouncements, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is famously judicious. In private, however, Greenspan often takes contentious positions. In a memo written March 4, 2002, Greenspan mounts a scathing critique of corporate governance in America, using simple declarative sentences the public almost never hears from the chairman. "Absent a fundamental change in the perception of the duty to disclose, firms will continue to have incentives to continue to game the accounting system," he wrote. "Changes in critical areas of governance to align CEO interests more closely with those of shareholders in our judgment are essential and, indeed, overdue."