Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will appear on 60 Minutes this Sunday to defend his controversial stimulus package, dubbed QE2, of buying $600 billion of Treasury securities.

In the CBS interview, Bernanke explains his intentions with QE2 and defends the notion that this stimulus will not lead to inflation. He also told CBS that he is not ruling out the purchase of more securities.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on 60 Minutes on Sunday with a message that may be disappointing for investors looking for a piece of the red hot social networking site: An IPO this year is "highly unlikely".

Zuckerberg, who is worth a reported $3 billion, says he lives in a one-bedroom apartment with a mattress on the floor, and is CEO of a company with 400 employees.

Last year, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) bought 1.6% of the company for $240 million, but doesn't seem ready to take the next step anytime soon:

"I think what I can announce is that it is highly unlikely that we will go public in 2008. And when going public makes sense to do, we'll do that. And maybe that's two years out. Maybe it's three years out."

In spite of Facebook's huge popularity, there is concern that Zuckerberg and company have not yet found a way to monetize it successfully and turn it into a wildly profitable venture. It may be that Facebook plans to wait to go public until it finds a way to do that and score a higher valuation.

But long-term, I see the company's decision not to rush into an IPO as bullish. If Zuckerberg wants to cash out, he could do it right now and and get a nice bed for his mattress. His decision to keep the company private demonstrates a long-term commitment and optimism that the company will be as highly regarded 2 or 3 years down the road as it is now.

In a move that will relive his ouster as anchor of the CBS Evening News and subsequent acrimonious departure from the network he called home for decades, Dan Rather has filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), according to the New York Times.

The 75-year-old Rather obviously is bitter about how the network handled the investigation into how uncorroborated allegations about President Bush's service in the Air National Guard made it onto the air. In his lawsuit, Rather accuses CBS of committing fraud with its "biased" investigation that "seriously damaged his reputation," the Times says. Named in the suit are CBS president Leslie Moonves and Sumner Redstone, the media mogul who controls the company and its former parent Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA).

Oh brother.

Alan Greenspan, the former Fed chief who some hail as the greatest central banker of all time, tells 60 Minutes that he didn't realize the sloppy mortgage lending practices of recent years could hurt the larger economy until recently, according to the Washington Post today. The 60 Minutes interview with Greenspan is scheduled to run on Sunday evening at 7 (EDT).

Greenspan is back in the public eye as he promotes his new memoir, "Age of Turbulence," which is being released Monday. It's a delicious irony that the man who turned on the liquidity spigot in the first place would come out with a book so titled.

But apart from that chuckle, this revelation is unsettling. I'm not sure how arguably one of the most influential Fed
leaders in history could be so short-sighted about the long-term ramifications of his actions (specifically, lowering the interest rate to the lowest point in a generation). I'd like to think these guys are a lot smarter than the rest of us,
with access to the best financial brains available. How is it possible to not realize that unbridled lending will end in
tears?

Hasn't he ever heard the old tropes about paying the piper or the free lunch? Stay tuned for this and other explanations, coming soon to a bookstore near you.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has given an exclusive interview to CBS's 60 Minutes, scheduled to air nationwide this Sunday. The former chairman has taken on rock star status since his "retirement" a year and a half ago. Mr. Greenspan earns in a week in speaking fees what he earned in a year as the Chairman.

Alan Greenspan is a spry 86-years of age and is probably having the time of his life. During his tenure as Fed Chairman he followed the tenets of speaking softly and carrying a big stick. Now, he can yell, scream, laugh and still carry a big stick.

In the excerpts of the 60 Minutes interview, Mr. Greenspan appears to be glowing over his successor, Ben Bernanke's performance to date. When Greenspan was inevitably questioned about the current interest rate scenario and wouldn't he have lowered rates as he did in 2001, he answered it like the pro he is: "I'm not sure that's true," he told CBS. "We were dealing with an environment back then when inflation was easing. We could have acted without the fear of stoking inflationary pressures. You can't do that anymore... I think (Bernanke) is doing an excellent job."

Maybe former Presidents Clinton and Carter could learn a thing or two from Mr. Greenspan about the old, unwritten rule, "thou shalt not criticize your successor".

Alan Greenspan is in huge demand on the speakers circuit as well as the consulting world. As long as his energy and health hold up, he should be a valuable asset to any company willing to pay the price for his advice. He also has to be careful in commenting about the current state of the Federal Reserve as his comments are instantly taken to heart -- and to markets globally. He is, after all, a rock star ... I wonder if he will join the crowd at the Led Zeppelin re-union concert in November?!!

Georges Yared is the CIO of Yared Investment Research and author of Stop Losing Money Today

Also see: Money Face-Off: Alan Greenspan vs. Ben Bernanke