THE GREENSPAN MAN

I have always thought that Alan Greenspan was not the man for the job. I was not aware of when or how he was appointed, but I remember being very disappointed when our then president Clinton appointed him to serve another term.

Little did I know that I was right and he should have been put out of office many years ago.

He is the most Ideological Fed chairman since the 1930s. He enlisted himself and the awesome governing powers of the central bank in advancing the “reform” agenda of the Republican right.

He crossed the line of neutrality when he prodded Congress and the public to accept the right’s larger goals. The money guys gained domination over the “real economy” of production and work. The consequences imposed on society are often described as “the tyranny of the bottom line”.

He endorsed Bush’s massive, regressive tax cuts and gratuitously embraced the GOP plan to deform Social Security by turning over its trillions to the private investment houses.

The so-called “independent” Federal Reserve should not be sticking its nose into party politics. This ideological shift by the Greenspan Fed is more extreme than generally recognized. Greeenspan seems now to be acting as an errand boy for the special interest crowd.

When Greenspan retires next year, you can expect waves of adulation for his extraordinary eighteen-year reign over the American economy.

Senate minority leader, Harry Reid had a different idea of his reign “I’m not a big Greenspan fan. I think he’s one of the biggest political hacks we have in Washington”

When the adulation fades and people begin to understand the full weight of Greenspan’s legacy, they should be able to see that Reid had it right.

Greenspan was a political hack and I was right all along.


The California Curmudgeon

Much of this commentary was stolen from William Greider