While not so many of our leaders have taken the path to direct truthiness, Greenspan somewhat shocks a Botox'd and babbling Bartiromo when he admits "the stock market is the key player in the game of economic growth."

Bartiromo shifts uncomfortably in her seat, strokes her imaginary beard and stares blankly as Greenspan explains that while the sequester will have a real effect on the real economy, "if the stock market can hold up through this, then the effect will be rather minor."

He ends with a couple of wonderful truthisms - data shows that not only are stock markets a leading indicator of economic activity, they are a major cause of it - 6% of the change in the growth in GDP results from changes in the value of stocks and homes. So there it is - if we didn't already know, straight from an old horse's mouth - it's all about stocks!