The Age of Turbulance by Alan Greenspan

[Feenix566]

I just got done reading this book, and I was very, very impressed. I know a lot of people on this forum will be inclined to dismiss it outright, given Greenspan's prominent role in the establishment of fiat currency. Please try to avoid that "knee-jerk" reaction. I think if you relax and really listen to what the man has to say, you'll find it as refreshing as I did.

It turns out Greenspan has more in common with Ron Paul than I would have guessed. He constistently espouses support for free markets, limited government, and the practical virtues of liberty. Throughout the book, he refers to himself as a libertarian. He even knew Ayn Rand personally!

Obviously, anyone who believes that we need to return to the gold standard will find places to disagree with Greenspan as he recounts the decisions he made as Fed chairman. In my opinion, and the opinions of many of you, injecting artificual liquidity into the market produces illusionary growth and sets the stage for the inevitable downturn caused by inflation. Greenspan is obviously guilty of that, but what you don't know is how hard he fought to avoid making that mistake.

At the end of Ron Paul's book, "The Revolution: A Manifesto" (which I also just finished, I was reading both at once) Dr. Paul refers to an early essay by Greenspan in which he advocates for the gold standard. Greenspan admitted privately to Paul that he still believes that, but changed his tune in a public hearing. I don't know how much of that is true, but it gives me hope to know that even Greenspan can see the value of gold-backed securities and stable money.

You shouldn't expect to agree with everything Greenspan says, but nonetheless, I have no doubt that you will find a lot of what he says very compelling and refreshing to hear from someone who's been so deeply entrenched in the federal government for so long. So please, buy the book or listen to the audiobook. You won't regret it. The man's a genius.

[The One]

Throughout the book, he refers to himself as a libertarian. .

Throughout his career, George W. Bush has referred to himself as a conservative.:rolleyes:

[Feenix566]

Throughout his career, George W. Bush has referred to himself as a conservative.:rolleyes:

Greenspan also advocates for libertarian policies. George W. Bush does not advocate conservative policies.

[Fox McCloud]

Greenspan's problem was that he buckled under the power and weight of the Federal Reserve System; he's the one man that could have slowly caused deflation over a set period of time, then worked with those (erm 1) in Congress to return to the gold-standard; sadly, he didn't do this and engaged in the same thing Bernanke and all the other Fed Chairman have engaged in....the only difference is that Greenspan was able to use his speech, knowledge and subtleties to hide what he was really doing.

Ron Paul still saw through his crap though, and even told Greenspan "If I ran my medical practice like you ran the Fed, my patients would die."....ouch.

[Feenix566]

Greenspan's problem was that he buckled under the power and weight of the Federal Reserve System; he's the one man that could have slowly caused deflation over a set period of time, then worked with those (erm 1) in Congress to return to the gold-standard; sadly, he didn't do this and engaged in the same thing Bernanke and all the other Fed Chairman have engaged in....the only difference is that Greenspan was able to use his speech, knowledge and subtleties to hide what he was really doing.

Ron Paul still saw through his crap though, and even told Greenspan "If I ran my medical practice like you ran the Fed, my patients would die."....ouch.

Have you read the book?

[The One]

Greenspan also advocates for libertarian policies. George W. Bush does not advocate conservative policies.

Look at actions, not words. Both say one thing, and then do something else.

[Feenix566]

Look at actions, not words. Both say one thing, and then do something else.


That's not true. Throughout the 2004 election, Bush repeatedly said he was going to keep our troops in Iraq. Then he did it. (of course, Kerry said that too...)

[Kludge]

Greenspan was formerly a very active and well-respected Objectivist... He's now considered almost as traitorous as Bush was to conservatives...


Objectivist Harry Binswanger on Greenspan (http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?id=1825)

[Feenix566]

Greenspan was formerly a very active and well-respected Objectivist... He's now considered almost as traitorous as Bush was to conservatives...


Objectivist Harry Binswanger on Greenspan (http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?id=1825)

The article you linked to mainly talks about how Greenspan phrased his (correct) view of the late 90's stock market boom. Greenspan saw it for what it was, irrational exuberance. He referred to it as "infectous greed". I agree that was not a good choice of words on his part. He should have characterized it as investers making poor decisions without accounting for risk.

But the man's not perfect! Nobody is. I'm not trying to say he is. All I'm saying is that he's a very smart guy, and we would all learn something by reading his book.

[Brian4Liberty]

Greenspan was formerly a very active and well-respected Objectivist.

Ah, so he's good at using convoluted logic to justify anything. Sounds like Greenspan. Greenspan has been on a PR crusade since his retirement to justify and glorify everything he ever did.

[Feenix566]

This is a really sad state of affairs. The Ron Paul community is supposed to be a group of people linked together by our common love of liberty. One of the world's most respected thinkers writes a book full of praise of the values we espouse, and I tell you about it, and everyone refuses to read it because of some preconceived notions about the man! Can't you see that you're letting other people make your decisions for you? That's the exact opposite of what this movement is all about!

If you read the book and then conclude that you still don't like Greenspan, fine. You're certainly entitled to your opinion. But just please, please make that opinion YOURS, not one that you're repeating because you heard it from someone else!