Free Republic

How a Bubble Stayed Under the Radar By ROBERT J. SHILLER ONE great puzzle about the recent housing bubble is why even most experts didn’t recognize the bubble as it was forming. Alan Greenspan, a very serious student of the markets, didn’t see it, and, moreover, he didn’t see the stock market bubble of the 1990s, either. In his 2007 autobiography, “The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World,” he talks at some length about his suspicions in the 1990s that there was irrational exuberance in the stock market. But in the end, he says, he just couldn’t figure...

Alan Greenspan's book The Age of Turbulence is one of the best business and finance books out at the moment and will be a welcome stocking filler for any student of politics and economics. Its pages have been devoured by legions of market followers seeking insight into past events and wise words about the future. Greenspan's US recession warning But one of the more worrying predictions from the former chairman of the Federal Reserve was not in the pages of his autobiography but came floating across the airwaves of American Public Radio. Greenspan has joined the rising chorus of influential...

'FED' UP WITH AL ANALYSTS DECRY 'I'M NOT TO BLAME' SPIN By PAUL THARP 18, 2007 -- Alan Greenspan's critics are crying foul over the former Federal Reserve chairman's new spin on why the economy is hitting the skids. In numerous interviews promoting his book "The Age of Turbulence" - for which he received an $8 million advance - Greenspan claims the White House's spending binge is largely to blame for the current credit crunch. But some analysts and portfolio chiefs say Greenspan was the problem from the start. In fact, many market observers loudly predicted the coming mess four...

In his new book, "The Age of Turbulence," my longtime friend Alan Greenspan argues that President Bush's economic and budget policies have been fiscally irresponsible. I've known and admired Alan for years, and I believe he was a great chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. But I think his assessment is off the mark. Alan tells of his first meeting with then President-elect Bush on Dec. 18, 2000, at the Madison Hotel in Washington. I recall this breakfast meeting very well, especially Alan's comments on the state of the economy. The Fed chairman told the president-elect and our team that...

Clarifying a controversial comment in his new memoir, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he told the White House before the Iraq war that removing Saddam Hussein was "essential" to secure world oil supplies, according to an interview published on Monday. Greenspan, who wrote in his memoir that "the Iraq War is largely about oil," said in a Washington Post interview that while securing global oil supplies was "not the administration's motive," he had presented the White House before the 2003 invasion with the case for why removing the then-Iraqi leader was important for the global economy. "I was...

Once upon a time, Republicans stood for small government, and left the private business of people's bedrooms to the people. Mentioning religion was considered bad manners in politics. Those Barry Goldwater days are what former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan misses, and says in his memoir that the party to which he has belonged all his life deserved to lose power last year for forsaking its core, small-government principles. In "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," published by Penguin Press, Greenspan has some withering comments for congressional Republicans and President George W. Bush for fiscal irresponsiblilty. Greenspan...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan sharply criticizes President George W. Bush's administration and Republican congressional leaders in his memoir for putting political imperatives ahead of sound economic policies, several newspapers reported on Friday. "Little value was placed on rigorous economic policy debate or the weighing of long-term consequences," Greenspan writes of the Bush administration. Accounts of Greenspan's book, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," which is due to be published Monday, appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post and USA Today. Greenspan said he unsuccessfully urged the...

In a withering critique of his fellow Republicans, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says in his memoir that the party to which he has belonged all his life deserved to lose power last year for forsaking its small-government principles. In "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," published by Penguin Press, Mr. Greenspan criticizes both congressional Republicans and President George W. Bush for abandoning fiscal discipline. The book is scheduled for public release Monday. The Wall Street Journal bought a copy at a bookstore in the New York area. Mr. Greenspan, who calls himself a "lifelong libertarian...