Alan Greenspan : the oracle behind the curtain / E. Ray Canterbery.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Canterbery, E. Ray.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Greenspan, Alan, 1926-.

Greenspan, Alan.

Government economists--United States--Biography.

Government economists.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).

Monetary policy--United States.

Monetary policy.

Biography.

United States.

United States--Economic policy--1981-1993.

Economic policy.

United States--Economic policy--1993-2001.

United States--Economic policy--2001-2009.

Physical Description:

xiii, 193 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Singapore ; Hackensack, NJ ; London : World Scientific, [2006]

Summary:

There is an endless supply of rave reviews for Alan Greenspan and the Fed. This is due to Greenspan's political manipulations, the reluctance of politicians to challenge the Federal Reserve, the press corps' willingness to trade glowing reviews for access, and private economists with ambitions of becoming Fed Governors. With Greenspan's announced retirement, the devastating effects of Fed actions are mounting. Even as institutional reforms are suggested, it is shown how they have been blocked by an ideology favored by financial wealth-holders at the expense of wage labor.

This thought-provoking new title, by the highly acclaimed author of Wall Street Capitalism and A Brief History of Economics, provides a much-needed counterbalance to the mythical distortions of Alan Greenspan. Canterbery exposes Greenspan's fundamentalist market ideology as overwhelming rationality in the making of economic policy. He depicts a Fed selfishly guarding its political independence, even as Greenspan has his way in virtually every major economic and social policy affecting the global economy since the Ford Administration.

This book reveals the hidden nodes of power that give the Fed vast authority over the global economy. It also explains why it is so important not only to understand those powers, but also to appreciate why they are resistant to moderation. Book jacket.

Contents:

Onward ix

1 Greenspan and the Myth of His Purity 1

2 Adam Smith, Free Markets and the Greenspan Standard 9

3 When Markets Have Failed, Greenspan Has Been on the Scene 17

4 The Independence of Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve System 27

5 Fedspeak and the Innocent Hypocrisy of Independence 36

6 White House Dependence and the Hypocrisy of Personal Interference 45

7 Greenspanmail Redefines the New Democrats 52

8 Fed and White House Dependence on Wall Street Investment Bankers 61

9 The Fable of the Goldilocks Economy 69

10 The Wolf at the Door of Ordinary Workers 75

11 Global Market Failures 82

12 The Collapse of the Great American Stock Market Bubble 92

13 Derivatives: Throwing in the Chips 102

14 Fed Dependence on Hedge Funds? 109

15 Greenspan Takes us from Goldilocks to the Soft Patch and Back Again 118

16 The Housing Bubble Conumdrum 126

17 Social Security: On the Cutting Edge of Federal Budget Deficits 136

18 Getting Personal with Savings, at Home and Abroad 145

19 King Alan II 155

20 Prospects for Reform 160.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

9812566066

OCLC:

61821869