Tuesday morning headlines

Greenspan on the defensive: He's been blamed for the current housing and credit mess by keeping rates too low and not keeping tabs on Wall Street banks. Now, the former Federal Reserve chairman is on a PR blitz, calling those criticisms unfair. "I was praised for things I didn't do," he told the WSJ. "I am now being blamed for things that I didn't do."

Mr. Greenspan says he doesn't regret a single decision. In his view, many critics are ignoring evidence in his favor and failing to assess the process by which he made decisions. To prove his point, he draws on texts of old speeches and news clippings and even a letter, written by a now-deceased colleague, downplaying a policy disagreement the two once had. His tone modulates between earnest, bemused and dismayed. No stranger to controversy, he easily brushes off the comments of longtime antagonists. He chuckles at political cartoons, such as one likening his recent memoir, "The Age of Turbulence," to O.J. Simpson's "If I Did It."

The criticisms that get under his skin are those from friends and former colleagues, many of them respected economists who backed his policies at the time but now say, in hindsight, that the calls were wrong. "I do take it seriously if my peers think I have misstated the facts," he says. "But where's the evidence? Too many people make accusations by assertion. I think it's improper."

Will Tribune resort to credit lines?: There's probably no other choice, since the company (parent of the LAT) is among the many that won't have enough cash to cover debt repayments over the next two years. Credit lines become the last-ditch alternative. But even if Tribune taps its entire $750 million credit line, it still may not be able to pay back debt that matures in the next two years. By the way, Tribune bonds due in 2015 have fallen to 37 cents on the dollar. (Bloomberg)

NBC sues producers: The network is trying to prevent "Project Runway," its popular show on Bravo, from moving to Lifetime. The suit alleges that Weinstein CEO Harvey Weinstein promised NBC Universal that it would have an opportunity to match any offer to purchase the rights to the show. Weinstein's lawyer, David Boies, denies that NBC Universal had any such rights. From the NYT:

NBC Universal’s suit argues that the company had a clause in its original contract with Weinstein that would have prevented any future network that acquired the show from putting it on the air for a year, a so-called hold-back agreement. In exchange for dropping that condition, NBC Universal’s suit says, it won from the Weinstein Company the promise of the right of first refusal, which meant NBC Universal could have tried to match another network’s bid for the show. NBC Universal also contends that the Weinstein Company improperly bundled the renewal of “Project Runway” with a package of unsuccessful movies that company has produced and failed to sell elsewhere. (The titles include “I Could Never Be Your Woman,” “Death Defying Acts” and “The Girl in the Park.” )

SEC files complaints: Five former San Diego city officials were accused of failing to disclose to municipal bond buyers that problems with pension and retiree health care were jeopardizing the city’s finances. According to the complaint, the officials knew that the city’s unfunded liability to its pension system was projected to jump from $284 million at the beginning of fiscal year 2002 to an estimated $2 billion by 2009. (Reuters)

Rating airlines: Low-cost carriers AirTran, JetBlue and Southwest took the top three spots in a national survey of airline quality. At the bottom of the list were Comair, American Eagle and Atlantic Southeast. The overall "quality score" the researchers gave the industry was the lowest in the nearly two decades they've been studying the airlines. Lots of bags lost, passengers bumped and flights delayed. (AP)

Suit over DVDs: Video distributor Image Entertainment accused movie producer Relativity Media of reneging on a deal to provide dozens of films for the DVD market. Image says the agreement called for Relativity to provide three films in 2007 and as many as 20 a year in 2008 and beyond. A Relativity attorney called the case "ridiculous and without merit," saying the companies resolved the issue in 2007 in a binding settlement. (LAT)

No radio today: My weekly business chat on KPCC is being preempted for the Petraeus testimony in Washington. I'll be on tomorrow morning at 7:05 for this week only.