United Liberty
Greenspan, The Fallen God
Fri, 10/24/2008 - 10:30am | posted by Austin Wilkes
For years liberals, conservatives, independents, DC, Main Street and Wall Street seemingly defied all normality and not only embraced, but nearly worshiped the same individual, Alan Greenspan. After rising in 1987 to the position of Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the most powerful financial position in the world, he presided over the most sustained period of economic growth in the history of America. He rode the wave of private sector technological achievements that created abnormally high productivity growth. To many it was his greatness that brought about the increase in income, increase in homeownership, increase in credit, increase in all things material — while still maintaining price stability.
The truth is out. The house that Greenspan built was built on sand. Greenspan is not a God. He never was a good Federal Reserve Chairman. But he was still a brillant man who was able to conceal and ultimately pass on the inevitable for over two decades. Its about time Greenspan is bashed on national television on Capitol Hill.
Good article Austin.
In this free nation we do not choose to be ruled, we elect to be governed.
— Barry Goldwater
The only problem is that Greenspan is a false symbol of the free market. The fact that he’s saying the free market failed is being used as a rally cry for the left. I fielded a call today from a guy at work asking what I thought about my boy Greenspan, to which I responded with shock, “MY boy Greenspan? He is not nor was he ever MY boy.” This to an econ major who I’ve been discussing Austrian business cycle theory with — he obviously isn’t getting it.
I referred him to this post from Fredric Sautet on the Austrian Economists blog. Make sure you follow the link through to Rothbard’s commentary on Greenspan, which comes through, as so much of Rothbard’s work, as nearly prophetic.
http://austrianeconomists.typepad.com/weblog/2008/10/greenspans-mistake….
I completely agree. He is not only blaming the free market for his own mistakes, but doing it while knowing we did not have a free market in the first place.
The only ideology that is worth a damn in this world is the one that holds that all people and all things developed by people are flawed, and this must be taken into account always.
“Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.” - Thomas Jefferson
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