Product Description

THE BOOK THAT BURSTS EASY AL'S BUBBLE-revealing the real story behind Alan Greenspan

The New York Times nicknamed him “Mr. Bubble” for his role in creating the two largest bubbles in recent years: in the stock market and the housing market. Now, MSN Money columnist Bill Fleckenstein reveals the unvarnished truth behind Greenspan's “Age of Recklessness.”

By slashing interest rates to bail out investors, Greenspan made a lot of people rich but his actions resulted in the dot-com disaster of 2000 and the mortgage mess of 2007. But Greenspan's recklessness goes back even further-to the crash of 1987, the Savings & Loan crisis, the implosion of Long Term Capital Management, and even the Asian crisis. This no-holds-barred account finally exposes Greenspan as the worst Fed Chairman ever-and offers an economic wake-up call for citizens and investors.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52234 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

Le Temps, March 5, 2008
Devastating portrait of the man who perverted the concept of risk.

Bloomberg News, March 14, 2008
Before Ben Bernake shovels more cash into the US's money trap, he should read Greenspan's Bubbles.

Daily Telegraph Online, March 19, 2008
The story of Greenspan's part in the sub-prime debacle is told with wit and clarity by William Fleckenstein.

Customer Reviews

Interesting but misjudged
I would recommend this book to readers of Greenspan's Age of Turbulence as a relevant counterargument. However, I would do so with some significant reservations. The key criticism leveled at Greenspan is that his monetary policy encouraged rather than hindered the Dot com and property bubbles. Fleckenstein's contention however is based on an erroneous assumption. The author implies that it was Fed's job to constrain ASSET price inflation. In fact the orthodox economic view, throughout this period, was that central banks should concern themselves entirely with achieving low and stable CONSUMER price inflation. Perhaps the Fed chairman did allow himself, at times, to become distracted by the performance of the US stock market but ultimately it wasn't in his job spec. to stop the speculative excesses of joe public. Trying to lay the blame solely at his door is ill conceived.

This account, written in the context of the current financial crisis, is a knee jerk and reactionary response. Nonetheless, it does contain the grain of truth that, going forward, economic policymakers will need to start focusing more on different types of price inflation to ensure economic stability over the longer term. No doubt, a much more balanced account of the man who ran US monetary policy for so long will be written in the years to come. In the meantime this effort shouldn't be ignored.

The condemnation of Alan Greenspan, in brief.
This book states the argument of those who oppose Alan Greenspan, the former chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve. William A. Fleckenstein and Frederick Sheehan, who sometimes seem to go a bit over the top in the intensity of their attacks, write that Greenspan, despite his reputation, was no "maestro." Instead, they report he was a poor manager with a habit of either deception or self-delusion. The authors support their argument by drawing heavily on extensive quotations from Greenspan's testimony before Congress and on minutes of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meetings. Although getAbstract might wish for less fervor in this presentation, it forwards this book to policy makers, financial services executives and others who wish to understand the downside of Greenspan's policies and how he may have contributed to the U.S. economy's current dilemma.

GREENSPAN'S BUBBLES
I always thought Greenspan was an idiot but had no idea how big an idiot he was/is. EZ-AL was nothing more then a snake oil salesman that promised great things and delivered misery. The collapse of the U.S. financial system can be directly tied to Greenspan through his not having a clue as to what he was doing while the head of the Federal Reserve. Perhaps now the U.S. is entering into the largest financial disaster since the Great Depression, citizens will come to realize that Alan Greenspan was a major contributor through his mismanagement of the supply/cost of money. In Congressional testimony he admitted it wasn't "possible to manage something" you couldn't define. This admission from the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States!!!!!!
In the mean time, we pay while Alan played.
READ THE BOOK FOR FUTURE REFERENCE BECAUSE WE ARE GOING TO NEED IT.