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You are here: Home / Politics / Alan Greenspan Has a Book To Sell

Alan Greenspan Has a Book To Sell

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And doesn’t speak highly of the Deciderer:

Alan Greenspan, who was chairman of the Federal Reserve for nearly two decades, in a long-awaited memoir, is harshly critical of President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the Republican-controlled Congress, as abandoning their party’s principles on spending and deficits.

In the 500-page book, “The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World,” Mr. Greenspan describes the Bush administration as so captive to its own political operation that it paid little attention to fiscal discipline, and he described Mr. Bush’s first two Treasury secretaries, Paul H. O’Neill and John W. Snow, as essentially powerless.

Oh noes! Criticism of Bush. Wingnuts- SET PHASERS ON SMEAR!

Reader Interactions

46Comments

  2. 2.

    Tom Hilton

    So Greenspan’s a NARL, eh? Well…good for him, I guess. Too bad he didn’t do anything about it when it mattered. As, for example, when he endorsed the massive tax cuts tax shifting that blew a hole in the budget.

    But, well, better late than never, I guess. Welcome to the reality-based community, Mr. Greenspan.

  4. 4.

    25%ER®

    Of course BJ Klintoon’s personal Federal Reserve chairman is going to criticize President George Jesus Reagan JR Bush.
    Just like BJ Klintoon ordered Ron Brown’s aiplane to be crashed into the side of a mountain, and when Ron Brown didn’t die immediately from the impact, BJ Klintoon had someone at the crash site shoot Brown in the head.
    I hope Michelle Malkin sics her goons on Greenspan.

  5. 5.

    Ted

    Shouldn’t the book be called “I should have come clean before the 2004 election”?

    That actually is a very important point. People like Greenspan have a lot of influence with the public in what they say, one way or another. If they feel any duty to their country at all to use that influence in service of their secret concerns about the direction the country is heading, they need to be asked why they kept their mouth shut in ’04. Greenspan’s book will do almost nothing productive to change things now. He’s just joining the already roaring chorus about the spending and deficit problem.

    How courageous.

  6. 6.

    grandpa john

    So when can we expect the big bonfire where he is burned at the stake for heresy

    Of the presidents he worked with, Mr. Greenspan reserves his highest praise for Bill Clinton, whom he described in his book as a sponge for economic data who maintained “a consistent, disciplined focus on long-term economic growth.”

    It was a presidency marred by the Monica Lewinsky scandal, he writes, but he fondly describes his alliance with two of Mr. Clinton’s Treasury secretaries, Robert E. Rubin and Lawrence H. Summers, in battling financial crises in Latin America and then Asia.

    By contrast, Mr. Greenspan paints a picture of Mr. Bush as a man driven more by ideology and the desire to fulfill campaign promises made in 2000, incurious about the effects of his economic policy, and an administration incapable of executing policy.

  7. 7.

    whippoorwill

    It’s long knives time in Bushrealm .Since Karl Rove recently smeared Barney, I hear the mutt’s working on a tell all about how Rove spends his lunchbreak in bathroom stalls just down the hall from Dick Cheney’s office.

  8. 8.

    Jill

    Colin Powell is another guy who should have come clean before the 2004 election. Betrayers and cowards are how men like Powell, Pace, Greenspan, etc. will be remembered.

  9. 9.

    KC

    Everyone, it seems, is talking shit about Bush now. I almost feel sorry for the guy. After all, it wasn’t that long ago, that I, while differing with him on many subjects, held out the possibility he might be considered a great–as in notable or era altering–president some day.

  11. 11.

    Pb

    So where is this chapter in his book:

    In testimony before the House Budget Committee on February 25, Fed chairman Alan Greenspan fretted over the enormous budget deficits that are now projected for the next decade and beyond – the very same deficits that have largely been created by the Bush administration’s tax cuts over the past few years. But his proposed solutions to this problem are deep cuts in federal spending and in future outlays for Social Security and Medicare – while making the Bush tax cuts permanent.

  13. 13.

    Incertus (Brian)

    I can’t get any more excited about this book than I did about Tenet’s, which is to say, I can’t get excited about it at all. Expect a whole slew of books along the same lines over the next couple of years–lots of ass-covering and little else.

  14. 14.

    The Other Steve

    The guys over at mortgageimplode claim Greenspan was advising people should be taking out mortgages with adjustable rate back in ’04-’06 even.

    I’ve not been able to confirm, but if so that’s just about the dumbest advice I’ve ever heard, and I question his economic wisdom.

  15. 15.

    craigie

    while differing with him on many subjects, held out the possibility he might be considered a great…

    Sure, if by “great” you mean “the worst president of all time, including into the infinite future.”

  16. 16.

    Rick Taylor

    Whoops, wrot this to th wrong thread; copying it here now.

    I’m glad Greenspan is talking now, though I’m still upset with him for giving the administration just enough cover to get their tax cuts past. That was a sweet bit of legerdemain. First under Clinton, be a deficit hawk, and get the liberals to work with you to save social security by increasing a regressive tax. Then when the liberals are out of power, hey there’s this surplus! Let’s forget about the trust fund and give a tax cut skewed towards the rich. Now we have massive deficits, and taxes have been skewed to hit the poor. Boy you conservatives sure put one over on us liberals!

    I supported the increase in the social security tax but that taught me a lesson. Don’t work with or try to compromise with conservatives; they’ll rip you off every time.

  17. 17.

    sparky

    A direct smear would be too difficult, so I propose
    (i) Crickets about the assertions in the book, followed by
    (ii) massive searches for moonbat comments about the book on somebody’s blog, followed by
    (iii) Bush would have done what the Maestro wanted but for teh GWOT, aka teh fawlt of teh islamofascists! Not me!

  19. 19.

    KC

    What I meant by “great–as in notable or era altering” is that at one fleeting point, it seemed as though there was a possibility he would be one of those presidents who really shifted things fundamentally. Like say FDR or Lincoln, or in the least, like Reagan. Now, I’m not comparing him to any of these presidents at all, but when Afgahnistan seemed to be going well, and immediately after we invaded Iraq (note: I was not for the invasion), for a moment it seemed that maybe he was more than I thought he was. Of course, my initial skepticism of him–I voted for Gore–proved to be right in the end.

  21. 21.

    Elvis Elvisberg

    Well, I consider myself a centrist, but would definitely fit more comfortably in the moonbat category than with the wingnuts.

    Still, I’d like to say, fuck Alan Greenspan.

    Incertus (Brian) is completely right. This is just like Tenet– he enabled disastrous policies in public at the time, and now that they’ve turned out to be disastrous, he’s trying to cover his ass by saying he knew better all along.

    Well, a six-year late, trillion-dollar short memoir isn’t going to rehabilitate your reputation, buddy. Try seppuku.

  22. 22.

    Rick Taylor

    By contrast, Mr. Greenspan paints a picture of Mr. Bush as a man driven more by ideology and the desire to fulfill campaign promises made in 2000, incurious about the effects of his economic policy, and an administration incapable of executing policy.

    Who wudda thunk?

    Paul Krugman pointed out all of this /before/ the 2000 election. He explained in detail what Bush was up to, and he was made fun of and called shrill for his trouble.

    Now that a few conservatives are finally saying the same thing, when it doesn’t make any difference as the damage has been done, do you suppose they’ll be any kind of acknowledgment given to people like Mr. Krugman who made the case when it mattered? I’d be happily astonished, but I’m not holding my breath.

  24. 24.

    Tom Hilton

    I agree wholeheartedly with Pb and Rick Taylor about Greenspan’s endorsement of Bush’s Free Money for the Ultra-Wealthy schemes…but with one quibble: they weren’t actually tax cuts, and we should never call them ‘tax cuts’. When you’re running a deficit, there’s no such thing as a tax cut; there is only tax shifting. In this case, taxes were shifted away from the ultra-wealthy now, and onto middle-class people in the future.

  26. 26.

    Rick Taylor

    Jinchi said

    Anybody else remember when Greenspan was worried that we were paying off the debt too fast?

    Sure. That’s why I’m not particularly impressed with him now. He gave the Bush administration cover when they needed it.

  27. 27.

    Jinchi

    March 2004:

    the Federal Reserve chairman set a new whazzat? standard recently when he suggested that the millions of homeowners who proudly hold a fixed-rate mortgage — roughly 80% of all those with a mortgage — are committing a financial blun-der that may cost them thousands of dollars a year.

  28. 28.

    jake

    Why look, another underling suddenly found his gonads.

    Does anyone remember the Doonesbury story arc about Bush the Elder placing his manhood in a blind trust when he became Reagan’s Veep?

    I wonder if GBT knew something we don’t.

    Or maybe people know that a book praising Bush the Younger won’t sell as well.

  29. 29.

    Perry Como

    I’m surprised none of you moonbats has pointed out Greenspan’s comment about the Iraq war being about oil.

  30. 30.

    grumpy realist

    Oh, I remember Greenspan’s comments about how wonderful ARMs were and how all the stodgy fixed-rate people were just leaving money on the table….

    Of course, now when I tell people I’ve got a nice fixed rate mortgage of under 6% I get congratulated on my wisdom and foresight. Go figure.

  33. 33.

    TenguPhule

    Let the Right eat Greenspan.

    He deserves nothing. No help, no kind words.

    Let him be burned with the rest of the people who helped Bush do his evil, then cry later about the evil done.

    Live by Republicans, Die by Republicans.

  34. 34.

    fishbane

    I’m waiting for Hewitt to say that Greenspan was a liberal all along, and just pretended to lick Rand’s boots at That Party, and you can’t prove it anyway, so shut up and look! there’s an AG appointment! The dhimmicrats didn’t see that coming, heh.

  36. 36.

    cogitoergodavesum

    Jinchi: I remember “paying off the debt too fast” and NOBODY seemed to ask what that counterintuitive comment could possibly mean. I still can’t figure it out.
    And Perry Como: Big Deal. He admitted what everyone with a brain already knows. Duh!

  37. 37.

    David

    Perry Como Says:

    I’m surprised none of you moonbats has pointed out Greenspan’s comment about the Iraq war being about oil.

    Drudge with the BIG, BAD RED HEADLINE OF DEATH~!

    The right-wing media and blog brigade should be outraged come Monday.

    Get the popcorn and soda ready. It’s going to be a fun show for those who enjoy watching blithering idiots blither..

  38. 38.

    Soliton

    Did Greenspan sleep through the Reagan/Bush I years?

    Republicans proved then that they have no interest in balancing a budget..

    That this knowledge is just coming to Greenspan in a flash now shows that he hasn’t been paying attention for at least the last thirty years.

  39. 39.

    Pb

    I remember “paying off the debt too fast” and NOBODY seemed to ask what that counterintuitive comment could possibly mean. I still can’t figure it out.

    Well it makes sense now when you consider that we’re living in a debt-based economy–something I’m sure “Bubbles” Greenspan knew all too well, even if he doesn’t deign to mention it in his book, even as Bernanke keeps the printing presses going….

  40. 40.

    Surabaya Stew

    There’s a term for this called “CYA”, or “Cover Your Ass”. In the worlds of film and video, it means taking every precaution on a project, making sure you talk with everyone involved in the project, and tripple checking everything that you are in charge of on the project, so that in case something does go wrong, you can be sure it wasn’t your fault. I guess in Bush World, CYA means to write a New York Times bestseller that exonerates yourself years after the time has passed to be able to do anything about it.

    I know Paul O’Neil wrote just such a book, and I know there have been others; I just can’t remember! Can anybody remind me who the other Cover-Ups for Bush with bestsellers are?

  41. 41.

    DougJ

    Greenspan is an old senile hack who was appointed by one of our most liberal presidents. He’s just mad that Dick Cheney shut him out of the most important decisions made by at the Federal Reserve board.

  43. 43.

    sglover

    The guys over at mortgageimplode claim Greenspan was advising people should be taking out mortgages with adjustable rate back in ‘04-’06 even.

    This is well known. Here’s Daniel Gross (just about the only reason with bother with the shithole that is Slate) commenting on it in 2004.

    This remark, combined with Greenspan’s notorious endorsement of the Bush tax cuts, gives the lie to his reputation as an honest and savvy guardian angel. Sure, I don’t doubt that he’s technically adept, in a narrow kind of way. But if he was genuinely unaware of how his remarks might be used by the unscrupulous, he’s got to be oblivious, practically autistic. On the other hand, if he WAS aware, then one is forced to draw far less forgiving conclusions…..

    Perhaps someday all the slavish devotion to Greenspan’s supposed genius will be seen as our own version of Lysenkoism.

  44. 44.

    timb

    Sure, but taking adjustable rate mortgages is a taking a mortgage. The problem is not the ARM’s; it was WHO they loaned money to.

  45. 45.

    Rick Taylor

    I doubt there will be much smearing. One of the few flaws it’s acceptable to accuse Bush of is spending too much.

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