|
It is now 2008 and unfortunately we are currently in the midst of one of the biggest economic crisises in our nation's history. Greenspan had direct and indirect influence on this. I have a fairly limited understanding of economics; however, I found this book very easy to read and understand. It was a really good economics refresher. Since that time, I have read nearly every book on that list with a few exceptions. Near the end of Clinton's administration there was steady economic growth, low inflation, unemployment at an unheard of 4% and the Dow was above 11,000. The US was truly in an "economic boom". There is an ominous paragraph on the last page of the book.
At the end of the nineties, Greenspan was all over in the press and nearly always shown in a positive light. inflation - Treasury bonds - The FOMC - The Fed fund rate vs. Greenspan is no longer the Fed Chair; however, I felt like it was a perfect time to finally bite the bullet and read the book. This particular book was published in 2000, which happened to be when I created my original to-read list.
Books on economics aren't exactly page turners and frankly I dreaded it. Greenspan, a Republican, was originally appointed by Reagan; however, he seemed to have the most influence on Bill Clinton who reappointed him twice. The parts I enjoyed the most were the anecdotes regarding the powerful and influential people he worked with such as Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., McCain, Cheney, and even Ayn Rand. He was considered the authority on American monetary and economic policy.
"Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce." ~James GarfieldI remember one day in the late 1990's, my professor in a macro-economics class said that Alan Greenspan was the most powerful person in the world. It will be sad if this current crisis tarnishes his legacy and years of service. The market would ebb and flow on his every word. When would he goof. He seemed to always have his finger on the pulse of what was going on. Bob Woodward proved to be prophetic.
John Yarmuth of Kentucky compared Greenspan to Bill Buckner whose fielding error caused Boston to lose the 1986 World Series. The book explained the following concepts/subjects in more detail: - How the Fed Chairman is appointed - The role of the Fed Chairman - Low interest rates vs. I decided I needed to know more about the man. The author Bob Woodward, yes that Bob Woodward (the reporter who helped uncover the Watergate scandal), praises Greenspan throughout the book and deservedly so. At the time I knew very little about the Federal Reserve and nothing about Alan Greenspan. It says the following: "When would the boom end. the discount rate - The stock market - Law of supply and demand - Disfiguration of capitalism by government - Black Tuesday of 1929 that led to the Great Depression - Stock market crash of 1987 and Greenspan's role in overcoming it - The Russian and Mexican financial turmoils - LTCM (Long Term Capital Managment) I did enjoy the detailed insight into why the Fed cuts or raises interest rates; however, the book was tedious at times discussing what seemed to be every interest rate move that occured between 1987 and 2000. Coincidentally, while I was reading this book, I saw Greenspan on the news in front of Congress explaining that he was partially at fault for the economic woes we now see.
The Red Sox fans have forgiven Buckner, after finally winning the Series. This intrigued me. Stock market, banks, oil prices, Asia, Russia, hedge funds, an environmental crisis, a health catastrophe, drought, famine, scandal, war." Unfortunately, we know what happens next. What was the hidden factor or brewing crisis that no one was anticipating. I realize that's not what the premise of the book was but I wanted to know more about him as a person. As a sports fan, I know just how harsh this comparison is, but we will eventually pull out of this crisis and all will be forgiven. It goes into his life a little but not enough to satisfy. This book was one of those exceptions.
Rep. He was able to convince Clinton before he became president of the importance of keeping the long-term rates down and keeping them down with a strong deficit reduction program that could sustain and increase economic growth. The reason I give the book three stars (I wish I could give it 3 and a half) was primarily due to undue repetion throughout the book and because I wanted it to be more of a biography. He admitted he was at fault for opposing regulation of financial institutions. If this is possible than anything is possible.
Its a book about wanting to believe rather than looking behind the curtain. From the prespective of 2008, this book is almost laughable. The great humanitarian economist who can create music with an instrument or with an economy. Its a book that doesn't want to look to deeply or ask difficult questions. It was as true at the time of this silly book promoting Greenspan as genius as it later was when Woodward started selling the Iraq War for the white house.The book is useful for amusement purposes only. In 2008, Alan Greenspan is a man who created two enormous asset bubbles in the world economy and led the entire world financial system to the edge of collapse.
Rather than question Greenspan's reinterpretation of economic data to make "bad" trends "good", the genius of greenspan in finding the hidden meaning in productivity figures is explained.The greatest fault of Bob Woodward the writer is that he allows himself to be used by his subjects. Its a fawning tribute to a man and an era that proved to be about constructing an illusion rather than building an economy.In the overheated smokey world of the book, Alan Greenspan is "Maestro". Rather than the truth that Greenspan is a Ayn Rand trained objectivist devoted to the idea that human events and behavior can be taimed by mathematics, the book wants to paint a picture of greenspan the jazz sax man who makes decisions based on hunches. The book is in most aspects a perfect reflection of the faults of the man and the era. Its a book more of the imagination than reality. Rather than reporting or analysis, Woodward is about backslapping, favors and access.
It should not be taken seriously.
I think that this book is very useful in the time we are living now. It show how the economy, especially the north american, but also the rest of the worl works. How the lack of responsability of what you offers to the market can destroy the market itself, and that, somehow must be supervise by some kind of goberment. anyway very interesting book.The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
It's a melancholy fate, and the market correction will be devastating. Ron Paul of Texas grilled him in hearings before the House Banking Committee.People can mock the alarmists and goldbugs, but the U.S. A wiser more honest Alan Greespan wrote an essay entitled 'Gold and Freedom' in the 1960s. It stands as a protector of property rights.
There is no telling how much it is today. This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists' tirades against gold. The results will be catastrophic if a shockwave hits, and those Dollars come back home in mass. In the 1990s, almost 65-70% of U.S. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard." Greenspan intuitively knew this was still true when Rep. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth.
The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves. But such subversion is always attendant to fractional-reserve banking. Bernanke will take the hit for his mistakes. If the markets set interest rates, we wouldn't see the vicious cycles of boom and bust, the subprime mortgage crisis, and the housing bubble. Dollars in existence were in circulation abroad.
Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. John Keynes, hardly a model economist, was prescient nonetheless when he observed: "By a continuous process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. For years, it has enjoyed prestige as the reserve currency of central banks and reserve currency for OPEC exchange, but it is steadily starting to unravel. ~Maestro: Greenspan's Fed and the American Boom~ is a rosy bit of economic subterfuge heralding Greenspan as an economic saviour when in reality we're paying the price for the Federal Reserve's inflationary scheme throughout the 1990s. It doesn't necessarily entail a 1929 crash, but it will likely result in economic stagnation where inflation surpasses real economic growth and/or near-double-digit unemployment.There is nothing special about Greenspan. He had wisdom to get out and find a fall guy in the new Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke. Bernanke is afraid to do any needed correction, or surgery in the form of tightening monetary policy, and will continue to prime-pump the economy and foment an inflationary shockwave and economic stagnation.
The cure for inflationary woes is always more inflation. By this method, they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily; and while the process impoverishes many, it actually enriches some.The process engages all of the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner that not one man in a million can diagnose.""The central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the Principles and form of our Constitution. Therein, he observed: "In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. I am an Enemy to all banks discounting bills or notes for anything but Coin. Dollar is poised to fall over a precipice of hyperinflation in the twenty-first century. Too much public sector indebtedness, a 10-trillion dollar debt, trillions in unfunded federal liabilities, and an aging workforce will all point to American economic decline. His career will be short-lived and he will be the scapegoat.
If the American People allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the People of all their Property until their Children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered."--Thomas Jefferson
After reading this book I realized how fascinating a book can be when it is written by a washington insider like Woodword. Amazing book describes Greenspan, Fed, Whitehouse and the economics and politics behind it in the most lucid manner possible.Very true in nature expresses very candidly Chairman Greenspan's political manuevering and how Whitehouse makes a non political instituion political.Excellent and much more interesting to read compared to Mr. Greenspans own auto biography which in itself is a very good book.
|
