the back story on Allan Greenspan

[Optional]

Jack welch wrote in his autobiography something to the effect that "a leaders success is mostly determined by how the company fares after he leaves".
Greenspan left, and a shitstorm ensued shortly thereafter.

Its too Bad. Papa G used to be very sympathetic to the Austrian Economics and the Gold Standard.
One wonders what could cause someone's economic policy to shift so radically?
/sarcasm.

 

[4444CJones4444]

Quote from heypa:

He was a very smart highly educated man; however, in my humble opinion lacked common sense when considering possible consequences.

Greenspan was probably a genius, but geniuses can be wrong just like everyone else, though usually with greater consequences. I believe his biggest faults have deep roots in Ayn Rand's nonsense. There's nothing like real world experiences to prove pure capitalism works about as well as pure socialism.

Here's just a taste of Alan's ideology:

Monopolies = GOOD (the company is simply conduction business in its best interest)
Anti trust laws = BAD (the market will work it out)
Unemployment benefits and minimum wages = BAD (don't reduce them, put them at zero)
Any kind of regulation whatsoever = BAD (companies will govern themselves and
always do what's in their best interests. Destroying the environment in a micro or macro scale
is not in their best interests because they would lose their customer base or burn through the
resource from which profits are generated. And of course collapsing the financial system is not
in their best interests, so never interfere with a banker's business)

 

[pspr]

Water under the bridge. We could go all the way back to Carter and the housing bill he and the Dems passed that got the ball rolling.

Look forward and worry about those in charge now. Bernanke, Geitner, Pelosi, Reid and of course Obambie.

 

[southbeach4me]

Quote from piezoe:

It was done on borrowed money. It is easy to live well on borrowed money for a while. He was as much as any other individual responsible for the present financial collapse.

Greenspan was the chief regulator, unfortunately he did not believe in regulation. He clung stubbornly to the mistaken idea that financial markets would self regulate. Apparently he lacks understanding of human nature. On balance, he was an extremely poor Fed chairman and let his personal political proclivities interfere with sound judgment.

You hit the head right on the nail... two thumbs up!

 

[wilburbear]

Unbelievably, Forbes magazine carried an article that Greenspan's Phd was a fraud.

Forbes called him and he mumbled that he was traveling and couldn't get it.

The most powerful economic man on earth was a fraud.

 

[adadadog]

Quote from jjf:

"Greenspan is so well regarded in Britain that Queen Elizabeth II awarded him an honorary knighthood in 2002 in recognition of "his outstanding contribution to global economic stability." "

The true story is that Allan received the honorary knighthood for doing to the US what King George 3 failed to do all those years ago

The Bankers had brought back America to UK in 1920 when the Fed was established; the bankers were treated as equals by the UK royalty.