In 1996, then Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan sparked an international spectacle by uttering that phrase.

It should have been a dull and forgettable speech. But investors took Greenspan's phrase to mean that the Fed would soon raise interest rates… which they thought would slow the global economy.

Greenspan didn't actually say the Fed would raise rates. Nor did he intend to signal that.

Nonetheless, the reaction was swift and panicky. US markets were closed at the time, but stocks in Japan and Hong Kong dropped 3%. The German stock market fell 4%. When trading started in the US the next day, the market opened down 2%.

Billions of dollars of wealth vanished in 16 hours… all because one man said two words.

That's the absurd level of power the Federal Reserve has over the global economy. However, it also illustrates a disturbing fact…

After the president of the United States, the most powerful person on the planet is the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Ask almost anyone on the street for the US president's name, and you'll get a quick answer. But if you ask the same person what the Federal Reserve is, you'll likely get a blank stare.

They don't know that the Fed is really the third incarnation of the US central bank, partly because of its deliberately obscure name.